This presentation was given prior to the release of The Collectors Guide to the SKS by George Layman. That book is the ULTIMATE book for SKS collectors

The first SKS I bought was in 85 and I paid $199 in the box with all the stuff like a sling ,oil bottles, chest rig for stripper clips and adding 500 rounds of 7.62X39 ammo brought the total to $239.99. This was at a Rose's department store. Chinese AK 47s were $249.99.

We can learn so much from Stan and other speakers you share with us. Really appreciate these videos!

Stan is a wealth of knowledge, love his presentations.

great presentation, thank you for hosting & sharing this

I absolutely love stans presentations! Keeps my attention all the way through! Awesome guy!

Best SHTF rifle ever designed.

Stan’ you are a legend my friend’ I have been binge watching the bejesus out of all em’ this presentation on one my favorite carbines today really made me smile! Keep up the good work pal.

If your SKS won't cycle, check the gas plug for corrosion. If so, then get a stainless-steel plug for it. Inexpensive and will last for years.

Thank you sir. EXCELLENT presentation

Started collecting spam cans in the early 80's. Back then I couldnt afford to buy guns, but the spam cans of 7.62x54r, 7.62x39, and 7.62x51(308) were pretty cheap. Still have most of the spam cans to this day. Also bought Yugo corrosive ammo M57 on stripper clips sealed in a metal can and in a wooden crate for like 200 after 2005 and I keep those for a rainy civil war day.

Weve got butt loads of chinese surplus ammo and sks in canada our recent shipment has alot of 1978 to 1980 factory 26 rifles with the bakelite handguard. These were chinas last production runs for the military and they are absolutely beatiful the quality control on them in unmatched to previous years and even the going forth when they switched to the civilian side norinco.also these are unissued ones people be finding metal filings still in the charging handle

Fantastic presentation Stan! Though those Type 56’s you saw recently covered in trench art and cosmoline actually came out of Albania, not Ethiopia my friend. Crates and crates full of them. They were part of a Military Aid package from China back in the late 60’s after the Sino Soviet Split, and after Albania argued with the Soviets on the ideological particulars Stan mentioned. Stan gives a glimpse into the price fluctuations since the 60’s, 80’s-94, and the recent prices of what he saw most recently of the “still caked in cosmoline” variety which are around 500-600 nowadays. Now let’s set a base price for an SKS that was imported let’s say in the late 80’s-early 90’s before the ban. Let’s set the price on the height side of what they were selling for back then just so we can calculate inflation into the equation. We’ll agree on 200 dollars as the price of a Chinese SKS in let’s say, 1990. According to inflation calculators 200 bucks in 1990 is the equivalent of $486.50 today. And remember. 200 bucks in 1990 would have been expensive for a Chinese SKS. From the stories the older guys tell, they were really more like around 120. So in conclusion, have prices actually increased? It seems like the dollar is worth way less, but but the prices are the same.

Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you for making it and sharing.

GREAT VIDEO.

Looks like triangle 26 in the front seat there

I bought my first last year at the age of 66, a Chinese Type 56. It's probably one of the most well made rifles I have ever fired. Runs anything I feed it, and hits whatever I aim at. Not a tack driver, but perfectly acceptable hunting accuracy. I would definitely buy another one. Mine has the neutered bayonet lugs, so I wouldn't mind a complete one.

I miss the days of piles of old commi firearms at dirt cheap prices. Spam cans for 60 bucks..... those were the days. I still have 3 spam cans of 7.65×54r just hanging out in .you gun room. I'm not sure how much 5.45 and 7.62 ×39 I have but it's a lot.

I have a very tired Chinese and a very cool Yugo. I missed an Alaina ladt month, you have to always be looking. Great guns

I had a beautiful Russian Tula 1953 SKS that I bought for $99. I sold it for $99 and have been kicking myself in the ass ever since. Polished bolt and polished blade bayonet. Now I want another one for big bucks.

Yall need to take a look at the north korean honour guard sks shes a beauty

I wonder if u could still find the cowboy carbine sks?

Greg presentation. You didn’t mention the SKS-D?

Need 9000000000000 of those to buy ok

Never heard of a security force SKS

Good video! have you ever seen/heard of an Fiberglas Viet Nam jungle stock? Mine has one!

This rifle would have dominated the world war 2 battlegrounds

First of all I'm a great fan of your channel and appreciate your work. But unfortunately some of the historical information is outdated and has been supplemented my a lot of information in the recent years. The SKS is in fact younger as previously thought. After the AVS-36 was rejected in 1937 Simonov started work on a simplified version he called the SVS-14. It got a V for Vintovka instead of a K for Karabin in its name, because is was longer and a competitor to the SVT-40. But is also lost to the SVT-40 because is has been to expensive to retool the factories from SVT-38 production to SVS-14 production, to retool for SVT-40 production was way cheaper. In 1939 the Soviets were looking for a shorter and lighter semi-auto carbine for tankers and rear echelon troops. This is the birth of the SKS (with a K in the middle) by name the SKS-30 and SKS-31. The SKS-30 was loaded with en-block clips from the bottom like the French RSC, the SKS-31 were using stripper clips. Both were rejected in favor of the "SVT-40 Carbine" but it didn't went into production because war broke out. Only after that Smionov stared his work on the PTRS-41, his anti-tank rifle is a scaled down version of his previous SKS-31. The next step is the SKS-44 that was tested in small numbers because is has been to produce cheaper in mass. Is was still chamberen in 7.62x45mmR and was testes at the Belorussian front in small numbers. The in 1943 a new cartridge was designed the M43, but is was not yet 7.62x39mm. Du to new previously classified documents we know, the its measures were 7.62x41mm. The Soviets requested 4 weapons for this cartridge. A rifle (Vintovka) a belt fed light machine gun (Rutschnoij Poljemot) and a weapon doing anything else (Awtomat). The forth weapon was meant to be a bolt action rifle, but that was skipped early on. Simonovs entry was the SKS-45 in 7.62x41mm and is was a promising weapon. But in 1947 during arctic test the cartridge shows some weaknesses and the bullet had to bee enlarged by 2mm in length to keep accuracy. Because the most weapons of the M43 program were already finished a redial decision was made, to reduce the case length to keep the overall cartridge length the same the case was shortened by 2mm, creating the 7.62x39mm as we know it today. The problem for western historians was, the the designation stayed the same. There are two M43 cartridges the old 7,62x41mm and the new 7.62x39mm. The SKS for the new 7.62x39mm was just called SKS with out any number. This case shortening was the main reason the SKS performed so similar to the AK, the it was replayed by it. Source is the German version of the book "Kalashnikov the Man and the Arms" called "Kalaschnikow, Das Genie und sein Lebenswerk", Maxim Popenker's web page and some articles of TFB.

I traded my Russian for a Bushmaster M4, but my Yugo 59-66 with the launcher on the barrel is never for sale or trade. Shoots so fine

20:14 a classic Clinton pinch point. Punishment for a deal gone bad

Your missing the sks-d,m.

5 countries SKS video kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pNF4pbGgxpe8hZs.html

👍🏼🥃🇺🇸

I know it's been 5 years but he failed to mention the models that were converted to take AK magazines and the cast and sheet metal receiver versions.

Albania had 3 million people, 6 million small arms and 750 Thousand fighting bunkers to defend a nation too poor to justify anybody invading.

I picked up a security force sks in the 80s from Keng's Atlanta Ga. 0144 factory. Haven't seen much on these. Are they run of the mill or collectable?