KFS PU Sniper scoped SKS

[Power Surge]

Picked up this neat SKS today. It's a Kengs Firearms Specialties PU sniper scope version SKS.

Both KFS and AAI made a version using this scope mount. Most of the Kengs have a completely shaved FSB, and this is one of them. This gun interestingly also has TWO KFS import stamps, on different parts of the barrel, and saying different things.

According to the guide, these are usually seen with the 974 stamp, and mine also has that. I have taken the gun apart for inspection and cleaning. It's an interesting gun. The guide also mentions these guns were often made from mismatched parts. Well you don't get much more mis-matched than this one! There are no two parts on this gun with the same serial. And it's a mix of old gun parts and new production parts. It's even so pieced together, that it has the "D" shaped firing pin retainer forced into rounded bolt relief (I fixed that, lol). The barrel is not receiver matched either.

One really interesting thing I noticed, is there is an oval with a single chinese character in it stamped on the stock right in front of the rear sling mount. Never seen that before.

It did not come with a scope, however I picked up an NOS Red Star 4x20 on ebay, which seemed to be a period correct scope for this gun.

Right now it has a duckbill...but I may put a stock 10 rounder on there as this scope gives me room to use stripper clips. Not really sure yet...the duckbill does look pretty cool on there, but I have never used one and I've heard they don't work too well. It definitely has some really thin feed lips.

Now for some pics!

[Dannyboy53]

Really unique and cool looking carbine Power, congratulations. Regarding that stamp on the stock, my /26\ 11mil series gun has the same stamp in the same place so if you ever find out what it means let me know please!

[Justin Hell]

Alright, where on earth do you live and why do so many cool variants keep showing up for your purchasing power?

Most of what you have posted lately I have never even seen in the wild before, much less had the cash on hand at the right moment.

Nice score!!!!!

[Power Surge]

Alright, where on earth do you live and why do so many cool variants keep showing up for your purchasing power?

Most of what you have posted lately I have never even seen in the wild before, much less had the cash on hand at the right moment.

Nice score!!!!!

To be honest, I am going through a very lonely, rough point in my life, and my enjoyment of these cool rifles are what's keeping me having something to enjoy. I literally spend most of the night on gunbroker and the local facebook gun trader pages. I don't have a lot of money, I have sold a few other non-SKSs to buy some of these ones. Trust me, on ANY given night, there are at least 5 different collectible version SKSs on Gunbroker. I wish I could jump on more of them.

[Justin Hell]

Alright, where on earth do you live and why do so many cool variants keep showing up for your purchasing power?

Most of what you have posted lately I have never even seen in the wild before, much less had the cash on hand at the right moment.

Nice score!!!!!

To be honest, I am going through a very lonely, rough point in my life, and my enjoyment of these cool rifles are what's keeping me having something to enjoy. I literally spend most of the night on gunbroker and the local facebook gun trader pages. I don't have a lot of money, I have sold a few other non-SKSs to buy some of these ones. Trust me, on ANY given night, there are at least 5 different collectible version SKSs on Gunbroker. I wish I could jump on more of them.

I have been there buddy...you should have seen my reptile collection in the early nineties.  I was under the impression these were local scores.  I was just relaying last night to the wife about the brief period of my life when I was single, lived alone and my paycheck was all mine.  I kind of miss it, relish it whilst you can....just don't wallow in it too much.  I did, and became an alcoholic...and it continues beyond 'getting my crap together'.

In the meantime, feel free to keep living the dream for the rest of us....and post plenty of pics!

[Power Surge]

Alright, where on earth do you live and why do so many cool variants keep showing up for your purchasing power?

Most of what you have posted lately I have never even seen in the wild before, much less had the cash on hand at the right moment.

Nice score!!!!!

To be honest, I am going through a very lonely, rough point in my life, and my enjoyment of these cool rifles are what's keeping me having something to enjoy. I literally spend most of the night on gunbroker and the local facebook gun trader pages. I don't have a lot of money, I have sold a few other non-SKSs to buy some of these ones. Trust me, on ANY given night, there are at least 5 different collectible version SKSs on Gunbroker. I wish I could jump on more of them.

I have been there buddy...you should have seen my reptile collection in the early nineties.  I was under the impression these were local scores.  I was just relaying last night to the wife about the brief period of my life when I was single, lived alone and my paycheck was all mine.  I kind of miss it, relish it whilst you can....just don't wallow in it too much.  I did, and became an alcoholic...and it continues beyond 'getting my crap together'.

In the meantime, feel free to keep living the dream for the rest of us....and post plenty of pics!

Oh yeah, this is the only one I bought off GB. The others have been local . I still have a cool 24mil /26\ I haven't posted yet too

[Justin Hell]

I would love to see that, I have a 23m that I have been refurbishing from its bubba state when purchased...scored a correct, but misnumbered stock...and what is supposed to be the right tint of French Tickler handguard...yet they don't quite match.  I probably have a 24m stock. banghead2

[Power Surge]

You know what's weird on this gun... even though the trigger, receiver cover, bolt, and bolt carrier are mis-matched, they still all have 4 digit numbers stamped on them. Usually serialed parts have 5 digits, aside from some really early guns, but these are not early parts.

[Power Surge]

Any thoughts on this?   ^^^^

[running-man]

The early guns are easy.  They are very, very consistent.  After the non-/26\ arsenals got into the mix, things went to hell in a handbasket!

It's not uncommon to have 4 digit stamped parts on late guns, especially on a XXYYYY gun like this:





Sometimes there will be 4 digit numbers on late XX0YYYY guns like this, and they aren't nearly as consistent.  Sometimes they will be 4 digit, sometimes 5:


Look at the curveball they threw with the leading 0 on this stock where everything else is a 4 digit number:


The XX00YYYY guns are all over the place 4, 5, or even 6.  With the 6 digit, some will stamp every single leading 0 which is ridiculous when the factory obviously doesn't produce more than a few thousand guns per year:




Sometimes, you just have to wonder WTF they were really thinking :

[Power Surge]

LOL...crazy Chinese! I never really noticed any 4 digit late partial serials, that's why I asked.

[firstchoice]

  Cool rifle Power Surge! I thought I was looking at one of my previous collection when I first saw it. I think this one had to be sitting on the rack close to yours when they were refurbed.

  You can still see some of the original, (or, at least, previous), serial number. I wonder how many times some of these receivers were scrubbed? The 974 stamp was real faint on one side. 
  I bought mine as a barreled action w/PU-style scope mount and rail, and the fitted stock. I ended up selling it to a member on another board and he assembled it into a finished shooter.
 
  firstchoice
 

[Power Surge]

Took the KFS-PU to the range today. I was initially a little concerned how accurate it would be, being made from all mis-matched parts.....boy was I wrong! This might be the most accurate SKS I have to date.

Below is two targets from today. The left side is 5 shots, open sights. The right side is 6 shots, using the 4x red star scope. There is a quarter in the picture for size reference. The gun operated nicely, aside from the crappy duckbill mag. Can't wait to get an original 10 round box back on there.

BTW the quarter is not covering any holes. That's three rounds in the top opening, and two rounds in the lower opening.

[Phosphorus32]

Looks like a winner!  Nice shooting!   

[Power Surge]

Took the KFS back to the range today because I had to get another red star scope. I also got some green box Chinese arsenal 31 ammo (copper washed steel case) from my buddy at work who's into AKs.

After getting the scope sighted in, I did two 5 shot groups of chinese and Tula ammo.

I think they both shoot very close to each other, hard to say if one is any better. I need to work on the trigger on this gun...it's got an abrupt release, resulting in two off shots in each group of 5. The other 3 good shots on each group, are pretty darn comparable.

[Power Surge]

Here's a little update on the KFS Sniper SKS.

I wanted to add some of the info recently discussed in the auction thread for the AAI version. I had mentioned that PU mount didn't hold position very well. I looked into it more and found this:

"I guess I never looked that close at the mount...there is actually a big adjuster screw behind the mount. So you move it in or out till the mount is in the right spot, then tighten the big thumbscrew to lock the mount against it. The only thing that sucks is that the adjuster screw isn't adjustable without taking the mount off, so it's just a bunch of trial and error till you're close enough to adjust the scope. "




So today I took her back to the range, and re-sighted her in, using the big adjuster screw on the back as well, and she held position just fine. And it was quite easy to take the mount on and off to adjust. I can also see why this design was made - to allow the scope and mount to be removed when not needed, and then quickly put back on when needed.

After sighting her in, I was getting some nice 3.5" 10 round groups with Tula FMJ. I then switched to surplus Russian Ulyansovsk FMJ and got a slightly tighter group, that was a few inches higher than center over the Tula.

[pcke2000]

The stamp (Character) on the stock is JING, which means Capital City, usually an abbreviation of Beijing

[Loose}{Cannon]

Good deal PS... Glad you sorted it out.  Good info on the inner screw to tighten up the mount.   

'Capital' eh....   I'm wondering if this coincides with where the conversion was done?