Tula SKS

[Rregdab]

I finally filled the 5th slot in the rack. Picked it up from a local collector.
1955-56 Tula SKS "Letter Gun".

 

[amoebicmagician]

She's beautiful!

Come to see it, they're all beautiful. There's a little bit of cosmoline under the rear sight slider, however.

Still, the bluing looks to be in great shape. I've long ago stopped asking if the bore looks good on any of the non early soviet or Yugos. Chrome is amazingly effective at keeping bores pristine. I once had a chinese SKS with the Catalpa wood stock that I thought was a pure beater. The bluing was in decent shape, but the bore looked like it literally had mold growing in it. So I ended up buying it as a parts gun for 100 bucks.

Went home, cleaned it up, got around to swabbing the bore...

And by the time I was done it was immaculate. It took some serious scrubbing with a copper bore brush, but when I was done it literally looked brand new! I think it had just literally NEVER been cleaned. Come to find out later on that when the previous owner had said he 'cleaned the gun with breakfree' he really meant he sprayed some down the bore every once in awhile, and then proceeded to shoot it some more.

It was incredible. The carbon and other residue in the bore literally came out in flakes! I plugged the bore with a dowel, sprayed in some ballistol and let it soak overnight, and then scrubbed the living crap out of it. It was almost like geological strata. You could see some carbon that had been smushed down by the bullets, then some copper fouling, then some more carbon, all smushed down with enough pressure to make into something like metamorphic rock! It literally was so compacted that the ballistol didn't even dissolve most of it, it just got under it and allowed it to be pushed off the bore, so I ended up with a bunch of these flakes suspended in a flood of black ooze pouring out the front of the barrel.

The whole reason the previous owner had decided to sell it to me was because it wouldn't cycle anymore. Well, it would, but not nearly enough to pick up a new round, and most times not enough to eject the casing, or even begin to.

Come to find out the gas port hole was covered with this crust. It literally took a brass punch and a tiny hammer to unclog it.

Anyways, my point of all this is, after all was said and done, the chromed bore underneath all the crap was beautiful, and although it isn't anywhere near my most accurate SKS, it's nothing to sneeze at, and since cleaning it there hasn't been a single malfunction.

 

[Melnic]

Sweet, lets get info on the rest of the collection while your at it please.

 

[dapefley]

She's beautiful!

Come to see it, they're all beautiful. There's a little bit of cosmoline under the rear sight slider, however.

Still, the bluing looks to be in great shape. I've long ago stopped asking if the bore looks good on any of the non early soviet or Yugos. Chrome is amazingly effective at keeping bores pristine. I once had a chinese SKS with the Catalpa wood stock that I thought was a pure beater. The bluing was in decent shape, but the bore looked like it literally had mold growing in it. So I ended up buying it as a parts gun for 100 bucks.

Went home, cleaned it up, got around to swabbing the bore...

And by the time I was done it was immaculate. It took some serious scrubbing with a copper bore brush, but when I was done it literally looked brand new! I think it had just literally NEVER been cleaned. Come to find out later on that when the previous owner had said he 'cleaned the gun with breakfree' he really meant he sprayed some down the bore every once in awhile, and then proceeded to shoot it some more.

It was incredible. The carbon and other residue in the bore literally came out in flakes! I plugged the bore with a dowel, sprayed in some ballistol and let it soak overnight, and then scrubbed the living crap out of it. It was almost like geological strata. You could see some carbon that had been smushed down by the bullets, then some copper fouling, then some more carbon, all smushed down with enough pressure to make into something like metamorphic rock! It literally was so compacted that the ballistol didn't even dissolve most of it, it just got under it and allowed it to be pushed off the bore, so I ended up with a bunch of these flakes suspended in a flood of black ooze pouring out the front of the barrel.

The whole reason the previous owner had decided to sell it to me was because it wouldn't cycle anymore. Well, it would, but not nearly enough to pick up a new round, and most times not enough to eject the casing, or even begin to.

Come to find out the gas port hole was covered with this crust. It literally took a brass punch and a tiny hammer to unclog it.

Anyways, my point of all this is, after all was said and done, the chromed bore underneath all the crap was beautiful, and although it isn't anywhere near my most accurate SKS, it's nothing to sneeze at, and since cleaning it there hasn't been a single malfunction.

So, you wanna sell it for $125 right?? Thats awesome.. And OP, those look great on the wall.. Good job

 

[Soul Rebel]

damn, those are scary. someone should really pass a law banning these to keep us all safe...

love the rusky SKSs. nice collection!

 

[AssMan]

Nice! Was this the one that was listed on GB in Keedysville?

 

[Jimbob2.0]

You need a new rack

 

[Oldcarjunkie]

Nice, I collected SKS rifles for a bit, it's a addiction

 

[Rregdab]

Sweet, lets get info on the rest of the collection while your at it please.

The other 4 are 1956 T56's. Two with several Russian bits.
(Didn't mean to misrepresent them as Russian.)

Nice! Was this the one that was listed on GB in Keedysville?

Indeed it is. I spent almost 2 hours in his basement looking over his collection and workshop. Quite the setup he's got down there.

She's beautiful!
Come to see it, they're all beautiful. There's a little bit of cosmoline under the rear sight slider, however.

Yep, I haven't broken her down yet.
Great story BTW.

 

[Jradack]

I'm very partial to romys but that's nice addition you have. I have two romys but it might be time to add a Russian. Chrome lining is amazing on keeping these bore good. Prolly why I never really wanted a yugo.

 

[Alphabrew]

Really nice!!!

 

[ShallNotInfringe]

Why does anyone NEED 5 SKS's?

 

[wilcam47]

Why does anyone NEED 5 SKS's?

cuz one more and he could make this?

 

[Rregdab]

Why does anyone NEED 5 SKS's?

'Cause 4 in a 5 gun rack was annoying me.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

 

[ShallNotInfringe]

cuz one more and he could make this?

Wowowowow!

Congrats OP, btw! The rack looks lovely full.