I picked this up from an elderly neighbor yesterday, he's thinking about moving this summer and is starting to let a few things go. My wife was interested in the furniture, I asked him about firearms, so he brought out this SKS. Missing the bayonet and a pinned-on muzzle brake. He said he had the original bayonet, and only wanted $120 for it. Knowing it was worth a lot more, I refused, and offered him a minimum of $250 "if he was OK with that" - He replied "I would have been OK with the $120"... my wife thinks I'm nuts, but she's a bargain hunter and I was raised to treat people fairly. She was too, but again, she's "all about the bargain".
Anyway, I took the rifle home, and picked up the spare parts this afternoon. It's back to it's original state, with a repro Chinese sling added. All numbers matching and he had 380 rounds of Wolf ammo for it, a bunch of stripper clips and 2 extended magazines. I gave him $300 cash and refused his offer of change back. I won't lose any sleep over that, and he was pleased to have more money than he expected.
Tomorrow, test firing.
Here's the rifle as I received it yesterday with the brake still installed, and no bayonet or cleaning rod. It also had a ratty nylon hunting sling on it that I had to cut off with my knife.
Here's the rifle after I removed the brake and re-installed the bayonet and cleaning rod.
And all visible numbers match.
Plus the extras....