Picked this one up in June. The description said it wouldn't cycle. I suspected it was a North Vietnamese gas block issue and that was the case. It was an easy fix after soaking the gas block in oil then removing and cleaning all corrosion and fouling. The heavily corroded butt plate had a trap door that was stuck open due to corrosion of the "mousetrap" spring. Also an easy fix.
It makes me wonder if the North Koreans, or North Vietnamese,
did refurbish their SKSs. The serial number on the stock has clearly been sanded or worn down prior to the current coating of shellac. But the shellac is well worn from use around all of the reinforcing pins, at the pistol grip near the trigger group and aft of the receiver where your thumb rests, near the buttplate, the handguard etc.
In any event, it's a matching Type 63, with jungle patina but in very good mechanical condition with just surface pin-prick pitting and oxidation staining. The bore is excellent. I'm glad it was recovered from Vietnam by a US serviceman most likely about 47-56 years ago, and brought back for us to enjoy
I had it out at the range this morning and ran a magazine load plus a few through it. It's sighted in and has no trouble smacking the gong at 250m.
Hey, I know it's a roughly $4K rifle, but it's a nearly bomb-proof SKS, after all
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