Project Unbubba

[Justin Hell]

I took everything back to 'normal' and put all of my SKSs back into wood...some of it might not be original, but it is wood.


Most of these are as proper as can be if not 100%. Then, there is the 0226 sporting the Spanish receiver cover.... I never had a real cover for it, and after finding that rare cover, and finding it only fit on one of these guns new out of the box, loose as a three dollar whore on all of the rest, fit like a swiss watchmaker was involved in sculpting it for the 0226...at this point, I don't think I will bother trying to get a real one at all.  Viva Espana!  It also has a cheese grater and the William's peep sight on there from the 49...as I don't have anything but a bare wood handguard, and no spare sight ladder...so, this is as un-bubbafied as it is going to get...Chinese gun, Yugo mag, Spanish cover, Russian bolt, American piston and sights....I might as well slap a Ford Escort emblem on it...as this is a 'World Gun' as much as they were a 'World Car'.    I might put the Albanian carrier I have on it, and possibly an Albanian bayonet...except I have yet to find a bayonet handle that won't sag on this gun....I can't figure out what the hell it wants!  Topping that one off in the realms of inappropriatnessisms...it's in an inverted take down stock.

Also moments before this photo was snapped, another snapping sound happened. That of the wife and I popping in the final part to complete the 49 Tula...the new Russian sight ladder it was missing.  Purchased on Christmas, arrived on New Years eve, 'completed' on Valentine's day. There is more work to do, but...it is a complete SKS.



1) M59/66 D series....no night sights 100% original
2) M59/66A1 R series....Cherry's 100% original
3) 1949 Tula sporting many parts from a single 1950
4) /26\ 9m one of the earliest spikes on record
5) /26\ 10m 100% original
6) 1970 DB 100% crap...this gun will have an expose' soon...it is a trainwreck.
7) /206\ 1.4m My 1st SKS...never had the stock, but 100% otherwise...incorrect embelishments (can you pick them out?)
8 ) /906\ 1.6m 100% original
9) 0226 1972? sn. 72025 (must have been a slow year?)
10) /26\ 23m blank mag and blank stock, cut for a scope...otherwise matching
11) 1992 Sporter I can't help but keep that Krink on there...it looks too right.

[Dirtydawg81]

Nice, just got mine back in a wood stock today. 10 m,  everything matches but the wood. Now I'm starting to want another one. Think  I'm coming down with the sickness..

[Phosphorus32]

That is quite the line up JH.  Love the wood!    The SKSs are nice too 

[Justin Hell]

Nice, just got mine back in a wood stock today. 10 m,  everything matches but the wood. Now I'm starting to want another one. Think  I'm coming down with the sickness..

If it truly is a sickness, I don't want the cure. I generally like to have a bubba version of most of my SKSs, but only after getting them as close to original as possible...if they didn't come that way. It's like having twice the gun, and in some cases 1.5 times the fun hunting down the correct stuff along with a nice bubba package as well.  I probably should have included a photo of what is next to this...a couple of gun racks full of both wood and plastic stocks, and a shelf full of aftermarket stuff.

That is quite the line up JH.  Love the wood!    The SKSs are nice too 

Thanks! The walls are an ongoing project in my house, what started as an easier way to cover holes in walls turned into me building a house inside my house. I was hoping to reinforce what two raging alcoholics were pretty good at tearing up, and seal in the asbestos laden vermiculite used to insulate the place since the 1930s. Turns out, Northwestern Rustic is a thing...I had no idea, who knows...I have been at it off and on for so long...maybe I started an interior design trend?  I set the gun rack up this time to not allow room for much more than a scope on these...Once I determine what is going to be free wall space, I am going to have a spot for one to be bubba, this will leave a hole in this particular display I am hoping wifey will be bothered by enough for future impulse buys at the local pawn shops.

This look is pretty nice for displaying guitars too....my living room looks like a KISS themed Guitar Center.

[Boris Badinov]

Nice!!!

Guitar hoarding is my other all consuming vice. But it's only about half as bad as yours.

Is that sunburst, small bodied Les Paul  an Epiphone or a Gibson? The oblong headstock looks like possibly Epiphone?

I hope to get one this summer. Jet black with the white piping-- a la Slash.

[Justin Hell]

Nice!!!

Guitar hoarding is my other all consuming vice. But it's only about half as bad as yours.

Is that sunburst, small bodied Les Paul  an Epiphone or a Gibson? The oblong headstock looks like possibly Epiphone?

I hope to get one this summer. Jet black with the white piping-- a la Slash.

That is an Epiphone Ace Frehley...and it is actually a factory prototype. Ace actually inspected it for variables they could do with the inlays and finish. There is a section of the binding down by the controls that is white, where the rest shows an aging process to give it a more antiqued cream color. It also has the short lived double lightning bolt 12th fret inlays that most models had a block with an autograph.  The one next to it is the less common transparent black version....that one is the one I play. It has the slim neck taper that Ace and I prefer, which is lacking on the prototype, which is mostly a souped up version of a regular production Epi.   I cannot recommend this model enough, I am unsure of other Customs with that neck, and the triple Dimarzios are just fantastic.  I have always liked my Epiphones, they can't be beat for the money....and you can buy five of them for the cost of a Gibson.

If I had to get a non Ace Frehley, I would get the Black Beauty triple humbucker Custom if they still make those...next best thing, but I don't know about the neck.

[Luke2236]

That's a real nice collection right there - and I agree about the wood thing.