russian sks letter rifle worth more ?

[wacman85]

i have a refurb russian sks letter rifle and was wondering what y'all know about them? it has the russian looking letter "A" that is "D" in english. 1956 w/laminate stock which his site says later end of 1956 build's. refurb stamp only on dust cover, which is as it should be going by Yopper site. refurb stamp on r/h side of butt stock, s/n stamped on l/h side. numbers match but for the gas rod. mine has a star stamp on the rear sight of the slider where Yopper's pics show an russian "A" stamp. it says on his site these are rare. thinking of selling but if it's very rare will have to find something else to do so as to keep this. it is in great shape wood, bluing, bore. just a very few scratches on the wood.

have 2 pics of anyone wants to look at it i can email them to you cause i don't know how to load them here. to much trouble or you can look on the sks/ak forum on gunbroads.com.

guy i got it from has collected over 30 years and this came right out of the import crate as is. he or i haven't shot it.

thanks for any help. if i was to go by Yopper's site i'd say it's very rare but then again there maybe millions out there i don't know. would hate to sell it and then find out it was worth more then what i may get out of it.

[MEBears]

Letter guns aren't as common but they aren't rare. If you check out the GB listings Running Man does a great job of tracking sales on Gunbroker to give a general idea of what things are selling for. The way you describe it I'd say it would be around $500 in my neck of the woods but local prices vary.

[pcke2000]

numbers match but for the gas rod. mine has a star stamp on the rear sight of the slider where Yopper's pics show an russian "A" stamp. it says on his site these are rare. thinking of selling but if it's very rare will have to find something else to do so as to keep this. it is in great shape wood, bluing, bore. just a very few scratches on the wood.

Mismatched serial number (EP'ed) on the gas rod would reduce the price, as the carbine is no longer all-matching.

Tula star on rear sight is one of early production characters (up to 1952), but not so rare. And it indicates the rear sight on your carbine is a replacement.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Small inspectors like star on rear sight leaf is an early 'feature'?    Since when?

Wacman...  The Ep mismatch isn't going to knock the value by anything significant. Most of us only care about stamped numbers.   

[pcke2000]

Small inspectors like star on rear sight leaf is an early 'feature'?    Since when?

show me pictures of the rear sight leaf with Tula star on non-refurb Russians made in 1953 and after.

[running-man]

wacman, you can email them to me if you want.  Use my username (running-man) @sksfiles.com or send me a PM.

I've got to agree with bears on this one, ~$500 on up.  '56 guns are neat, there are a group of KP prefixed guns that are transitional to the blank receiver covers, but other than that, they are neither particularly rare, nor are the head and shoulders more valuable than their brethren.  The stock on this one is going to give you the most value drop I think.  Laminate likely isn't the original off the gun, and with the refurb mark on the right side of it, there's a very good chance it's been heavily sanded and restamped. 

Since it's already a refurb, the lack of a matching EPd gas piston isn't as significant.  If it was in as-issued condition, then yes I think it would ding the value a bit, but like LC says, I don't think it would be a major ding as all the stamped parts would by definition be matching. 

I've not seen the star stamp on the RSL to be anything other than a refurb or inspection mark.  Early guns do not all consistently have it (which kind of points me in the direction of it being some type of secondary mark stamped long after the rifle has entered service)  Nowhere as consistent as the circle K, circle O, or circle Y barrel lug stampings.  Where'd you find that this mark is pre '52 Pcke?

[wacman85]

ok guys. lot of great info and about what was thinking. only pics i have are one of each side so no need to post any really, thanks RM. i got all the info i need so thanks again. take care you guys.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Im really not trying to be a prick here,  but this seems to be more of an 'idea' then a fact.  To be honest, it sounds like something oldoutlaw would say.

Tula star on rear sight is one of early production characters (up to 1952), but not so rare. And it indicates the rear sight on your carbine is a replacement.

I dont collect rear leaf pics and I'm not saying its not accurate or true.  I just think research and data to make it plausible and or likely is severely lacking. 

Show me the evidence this is anything more then an inspection type stamp.  How do you know the star doesn't actual indicate its a replacement.  Ever think it 'could' go the other way around?  Ever think 'if' these were marked with that stamp in earlier years, that they could have simply been used on later rifles from nos? 

Waaaaay to many variables to definitively state one way or another at this point I think...

I see this star on ghosts leafs for pete sakes.... 

[pcke2000]

I don't have official Soviet documents and I am not an expert, actually I am still a newbie to the SKS world. What I can provide here is the results of my own research and observations. Are those results absolutely correct? No idea. Are they best to my knowledge? Yes.

Initially I thought this forum was more like a platform for discussions and collecting interesting findings together. But now I realized that members here prefer strict academic-type research and official/hard evidence. I don't think I am good enough to offer any opinions to real SKS researchers.

As a result, I have decided that I won't make any more stupid comments here. At this stage, I should spend more time on other amateurs' forums.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Initially I thought this forum was more like a platform for discussions and collecting interesting findings together

.

Precisely is..  You just made my point.  You didn't discuss anything, you stated it as if it was a bonifide fact or something.  If its an observation etc then say so.  I know as well as anyone there is no hard documents on much of the sks. 

As a result, I have decided that I won't make any more stupid comments here. At this stage, I should spend more time on other amateurs' forums

.

You said it not me.  I only hold you to the same scrutiny as you have me.   

[running-man]

No need to get worked up about any of this pcke. I'd like to think this place is open to all ideas regardless of experience level or how many guns are in XYZ's collection.  It is, however, perfectly valid to ask what data points towards your hypothesis. You could be 100% correct, but the data will ultimately determine this.

I've got 600 guns in my Russian 'survey' (which technically isn't a survey yet but simply a collection of guns that have been posted somewhere on the web).  Of those, only a very small portion are 'as-issued', and the numbers go down exponentially when you try to pick a specific year and a clear RSL shot, and a star.  I'll look and see what I can find, but I'm not optimistic that I'll find more than a handful.

I would encourage you to post whatever you want. If people ask for proof, don't automatically assume they are attacking your ideas. If the data backs it up, you're good to go. It's the statements that are presented as 'fact' instead of hypothesis that cause issues for collectors. This is how the /1\ mark suddenly became Ex-DDR, the letter gun early Chinese suddenly become the first build 'Sino-Soviets' and the like. Those myths will continue as long as old information is out there to be picked up by unsuspecting new collectors.