56 non refurb

[AK shooter]

This is my only Russian. I still have not taken it to the range.

[Worm]

Wow  That thing is real nice 

[CARBINE]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

[AK shooter]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

I didn't realize it was that rare. It has been fired already, but not much.

[John Galt]

That is a sweet sks!

Wow!   

John Galt

[Loose}{Cannon]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

How rare?     I thought just about all russian collectors had a D or two.   

I say shoot it AK...   fantastic gun!

[AK shooter]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

How rare?     I thought just about all russian collectors had a D or two.   

I say shoot ot AK...   fantastic gun!

I will shoot it a little and take good care of it.

[Dannyboy53]

Wow, that's a real beauty AK.    I agree with Cannon, it was made to burn powder and dispense projectiles...do it!

[CARBINE]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

How rare?     I thought just about all russian collectors had a D or two.   

I say shoot it AK...   fantastic gun!

Yeah everyone has a original as issued laminate D

Shoot it but be very careful, once something breaks you can't unbreak it.......Shoot the refurbs I say, or sell it and get 3 shooter chinese 

[running-man]

I gotta side with Tony on this one.  If you have to shoot it, shoot it sparingly just to have the satisfaction of having put some rounds through it, but then put her in the safe and blast away with a Sino-Banian or better yet, a run of the mill Chinese!

[Loose}{Cannon]

That one should stay off the range, that's a rare bird.........Sweet carbine dude!

How rare?     I thought just about all russian collectors had a D or two.   

I say shoot it AK...   fantastic gun!

Yeah everyone has a original as issued laminate D

Shoot it but be very careful, once something breaks you can't unbreak it.......Shoot the refurbs I say, or sell it and get 3 shooter chinese 

How many russian letter gun Ds have crossed forums and GB alike over the years?

I think your confusing very collectible with rare. I can list at least 20 other sks rifles that are far more rare then an as issued D. Im not saying they are not nice, collectible, desired etc. 

Just keeping it real carbine.   

[K-9]

Yes, there are plenty of SKS that are rarer/harder to find than a D.  How rare is rare?  When does it become collectible vs rare? I guess it depends on the degree of rarity, right?  I really don't know how many Russian SKS are in the USA. 

Does anyone know how many D are around in laminate? 

I have two Ds and one has the ex-"ex-DDR" characteristics (and, no, I don't agree with the Liski theory).  How many of those are around in the US? 

[Loose}{Cannon]

How many rifles are around with serial # 3023674? 

All your telling me is thay you have a D from a known refurb location.  I like russians just as much as the next guy, but there is and never has been any data to support the ex dee dee argh theory.  To elaborate on the sebject, not all horizontal serialized guns are "Liski" refurbs.  Many have other refurb facilities stamped in the same location as the "liski" refurb mark.  So even the "liski" term being applied to all horizontal serial guns is grossly inaccurate.  People are still looking for bigfoot because they were "informed" he is out there. 

Collectable and rare are are two completely dif aspects. I would call a non furb D collectable because its a no brainer that russian anything is collectable and especially when talking about a letter gun that russian collectors want to get one each of etc. And a non furb is les less common to a furb, but 'rare' is hardly the term I would liberally toss around and apply to something I have seen so many of over the years.  If there are '500,000' of something in the US but they are all in collectors  safes, they may be harder to find then others but not 'rare' by any means. 

My guess is, if they are 'rare' someone would have started recording letter D serials long ago. Although having a letter after the serial is cool and all, at the end of the day its simply another year of russian sks and isn't any harder to find then any of the others.

[Worm]

May I chime in here?

The term rare is an overused term. Someone may come here, read that a letter "D" is rare, and then presto, the next "D" is $1,000+ on GB because he just had to have it.

No, a letter gun Russian is not rare.. Oh, well it's in laminate? Still doesn't make the gun rare. It may be uncommon, but certainly not rare. An EG is rare, an NK is, an Early M21 is.

There are less IC's than there are Russian letter guns, and are IC's rare? Nope, just an ucommon variant.

K9, I don't mean to push any buttons, but what evidence has you thinking the exexDDR's are still German when there was no true evidence to begin with?

/1\ is a refurb mark, just like the hex marks found in the same locations, which is also a refurb mark, and others.

[CARBINE]

May I chime in here?

The term rare is an overused term. Someone may come here, read that a letter "D" is rare, and then presto, the next "D" is $1,000+ on GB because he just had to have it.

No, a letter gun Russian is not rare.. Oh, well it's in laminate? Still doesn't make the gun rare. It may be uncommon, but certainly not rare. An EG is rare, an NK is, an Early M21 is.

There are less IC's than there are Russian letter guns, and are IC's rare? Nope, just an ucommon variant.

K9, I don't mean to push any buttons, but what evidence has you thinking the exexDDR's are still German when there was no true evidence to begin with?

/1\ is a refurb mark, just like the hex marks found in the same locations, which is also a refurb mark, and others.

I thought uncommon and rare have the same meaning , sorry guys but this gun is rare if your collecting the russian sks in general, not as rare if collecting all varients of sks.
Thats just my opinion..

[Greasemonkey]

Not everyone see anyone certain thing as rare. I can't justify a "letter" series as rare. maybe in the small.scheme of the Russians, it might be rare, but, I lean towards uncommon.  But, if a letter series is rare, whats a '49, uncommonly rare?

In the grand scheme of things, a letter series is uncommon at best. There is so much much more rare variants by other nations,  is there more Albanians than letter series, doubt it, what about Soviet Sinos, nope, how about long barrel Yugos, no way.

The letter series might be uncommon in the little Russian pond, but look at the ocean of them, its pretty run of the mill in my book.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Welp...  everyone is entitled to their opinion.   

May I chime in here?

The term rare is an overused term. Someone may come here, read that a letter "D" is rare, and then presto, the next "D" is $1,000+ on GB because he just had to have it.

No, a letter gun Russian is not rare.. Oh, well it's in laminate? Still doesn't make the gun rare. It may be uncommon, but certainly not rare. An EG is rare, an NK is, an Early M21 is.

There are less IC's than there are Russian letter guns, and are IC's rare? Nope, just an ucommon variant.

K9, I don't mean to push any buttons, but what evidence has you thinking the exexDDR's are still German when there was no true evidence to begin with?

/1\ is a refurb mark, just like the hex marks found in the same locations, which is also a refurb mark, and others.

I thought uncommon and rare have the same meaning , sorry guys but this gun is rare if your collecting the russian sks in general, not as rare if collecting all varients of sks.
Thats just my opinion..

[carls sks]

looking good, just have fun with it. 

[CARBINE]

Not everyone see anyone certain thing as rare. I can't justify a "letter" series as rare. maybe in the small.scheme of the Russians, it might be rare, but, I lean towards uncommon.  But, if a letter series is rare, whats a '49, uncommonly rare?

In the grand scheme of things, a letter series is uncommon at best. There is so much much more rare variants by other nations,  is there more Albanians than letter series, doubt it, what about Soviet Sinos, nope, how about long barrel Yugos, no way.

The letter series might be uncommon in the little Russian pond, but look at the ocean of them, its pretty run of the mill in my book.

letter series are very common......as issued laminate letter D, ummm not so much, but I here what you are saying. I like LC's term.............Collectable, to me that makes sense. Uncommon and rare can be very wide in terms of peoples opinion.

[Loose}{Cannon]

As I see it...  All non-furb Russos are less common to refurbed russos so therefore are more desired and collectible.

How did do?