was I wrong?

[locomotiveguy]

I bought a Norinco new SKS in the old days for $67 and shot the Rumanian hollow points in it. It was a nice enough firearm but I never felt its accuracy was much better than hard ball sized groups at 25 yards. Years later when a guy offered me $275 for it I said buy bye.

[Darryl]

What does it matter ....now?

If you are a "shooter", then maybe you did right. If you are a collector, then maybe you just did OK.

Dolk

[Junk Yard Dog]

It's a commercial sporter, sell it, no history in it, use the money to buy one of the Chinese military surplus type 56 SKS's that could have been had for $25 back in the late 80's. I had one given to me in '89, I gifted it to a friend who still has it as his only long gun. I always thought the milsurp type 56 Chinese SKS rifle was an interesting piece, I thought the Norinco commercial copy was a cheap piece of shit mass produced in a hurry to gain hard cash from the US market. I used to see piles of them on flea market tables for $75 each, less if you bought more. At that time Red China was flooding the US market with anything that might shoot, we are talking some serious crap here, beat to death type 53's so bad they weren't even worth something for parts, various homemade Mausers and '88, AK's, and the SKS. Of all of them I thought the real military issue type 56 SKS was the best of the lot even if some did have the been there and done it all look complete with wood damage. Commercial sporters come and go with me but milsurps rarely leave me.

[locomotiveguy]

There definitely was no romance connected to the Norinco and I bought it strictly as a shooter so I guess time decided no regrets...

[Greasemonkey]

I'm not going to say yes or no, it could have been a regular military style Type 56 or a true modified sporter, Norinco sold both military variants as well as various commercial sporters. In which some of the sporter versions today command a pretty high price, some were limited production. By limited production, I mean 10k or so were imported or a much lower number than the conventional style rifle. I'm not generally a person who would buy a sporter, but I do own 2 different high cap 16.5 inch barrel variants, the Type 84 and SKSNR. I happened on them for a decent below market price, so I picked them up. They work as they should, there is no history and they are essentially toys to have fun with. Are they collectible to a military only type person, no, but they do have a collectible value to some, or the market prices wouldn't be in the 500 to 750 range or higher for some models. At the same time, your typical run of the mill Norinco Type 56 military version sits in roughly about the same price range as the earlier true old school military Type 56s. Now a boon for prices on both, neither are imported any longer and there are less and less of each every year, because like normal military weapons, bubba does his thing.

[steelbuttplate]

I bought my Norinco late 80's and sold it early 90's. Compared to the Type 56, Yugo's, and Russian milsurps It seemed like a cheap knockoff to me. I didn't have a very high opinion of the SKS until I got my first milsurp about 10 yrs ago.

[Greasemonkey]

Just because it's stamped Norinco doesn't always mean it's a cheap knockoff. One should never judge a SKS just by the name on the side.

I have a perfect example why.. many buyers turned their nose up and passed it by, simply because it was stamped Norinco, Made in China... Sure it is stamped Norinco and it even looks the part with a later light wood "knockoff" stock and Chinese sling, but at it's heart, it is a matching parts '55-'57 Russian, note the Tula star stamp. Known as a SovietSino, thought to be one the very first Chinese produced.. it's 1 of maybe 10 rifles that are known and documented.

[Junk Yard Dog]

It was 1988, Reagan was still The Man, my Cadillac was a mile long, the Soviet Bear still menaced us , and everybody knew all the cheapest crap was made in China. We knew nothing of the SKS, zero, zilch, no books, no internet boards, maybe a few story's from a Vietnam vet who remembered a buddy bringing one home in '68. To most of us at that time it was just another commie weapon from a commie country, and positively commies were The Enemy. We knew a bit more about the Mosin because they had been made here, and imported in the past, but still knowledge was not vast by any means. I remember when I was picking up several new items from a dealer I knew well at the time, I see him put something on top of the heap. It was this greasy piece of shit with a stock that looked like the floor of a horse stall. I remember my exact response, what the fuck do you expect me to do with that? He gives me a line about good customer, and all that, then admits it's been in his shop for a year, nobody would buy it even at $25, just take it out of here as his customers only want the new ones when they ask for an SKS at all. The wood disintegrated, I put it in a plastic stock that was all I could find at the time and gifted it to a friend of mine who had no long gun. I later had to replace the stock when the assholes in the government both state and fed made the stock illegal . We didn't even know that the SKS originated in the USSR, we thought it was Chinese invented, OK, we called them the Red Commie ratfuck bastards back then, and pretty much distrusted anything they came up with. The weird rifle looked solid enough for the five or ten rounds I knew was all my pistol shooter friend would put downrange with it, and so far as I know that's all he's fired with it. Later on I learned more about the SKS, acquired a Vietnam War trophy, then the 1950 Tula, and a horrible AK magazine conversion " paratrooper" model that was a waste of a perfectly good Chinese surplus type 56, and then a Yugo model. I never bought a Chinese AK, all of them sporter shit anyway, I paid a bit more and bought the Egyptian Maddi , I just could not bring myself to give the Commies any of my money directly. Now 30 years later I wish I had bought every Surplus SKS I could find, I could retire from the profits selling them to all the SKS collectors today. At least my buddy doesn't think I am a cheap bastard anymore for not giving him a US M1903 since I told him that SKS was worth 2-3 hundred bucks, not a cheap bastard about the commie rifle anyway, other things yes.

[Greasemonkey]

Off Topic

Now 30 years later I wish I had bought every Surplus SKS I could find, I could retire from the profits selling them to all the SKS collectors today.

oh...damn then more than likely..you would be retired, and I'd be even more broke than I am now

[steelbuttplate]

So a Sino-soviet refurbed by Norinco. I've never heard of that. Any idea about how many were done like that?

[Greasemonkey]

The highest serial number found with the Tula star is 1999, the lowest serial number is 5xx I do believe. The next highest serial is in the 3 to 4xxx range and does not have the Tula star. 2 SovietSino examples were modified by China to commercial para length barrels.

I have several Norinco stamped SKSs that are older military Type 56s, from various factories. Norinco made weapons, but was also a huge exporter of various weapons. PolyTech was another manufacture and exporter, I also have a PolyTech SKS and a M14 made by them.

[locomotiveguy]

I have a Norinco 22 semiauto Browning clone. /Browning copy and Norinco was told to seece and desist and Sarco sold the left overs. This rifle is wonderfully accurate and take down to boot. Also had a Norinco cheap bolt 22 that was more than worth the money but probably the sks was not worth a tumble. Probably will never find a milsurp I can afford. Thanks guys it was interesting.

[rice paddy daddy]

In 1999 I was given a Norinco as a gift.
Since it was free, I have lost nothing. I still have it and still shoot it.

[Darryl]

I've only owned one "SKS" style rifle. A Norinco "Paratrooper". It was made for the idiots in the USA like me!

Not sure what it is worth, but it sure is fun as hell to shoot in the desert!!! Not sure of it's value either, but I paid under $150 for it new in the box.

One day, maybe I'll pick up another. Probably a Russian.

Darryl