1955 Tula question and intro - Lots of pictures!

[itmustbeslim]

Good Morning!

I wanted to say hey to ya'll from the Mountain West! I am a new member and a brand new SKS owner. The amount of info on here is overwhelming, but in a good way. I have been pouring through the GB logs by Running man and some of the other 1955 Topics but the reality is that I have a ways to go.

As such I figured I would start here first and give you experts the chance to take a look at my rifle and let me know your thoughts.






















I can add more pictures of different things upon request. I really really appreciate your help on this!

Edit: Fixed the picture links

[Phosphorus32]

Nice light refurb 1956 Tula based on the Д suffix. That means the receiver cover is a replacement from a 1955 that has been scrubbed and restamped to match the SN of your carbine.  I'd be happy to have that one 

[running-man]

Welcome to SKS-Files Slim!  Glad to have you here! 

As P32 mentioned, you have a '56 series SKS.  The cover is very likely a replacement as the receiver contains both the Д suffix as well as the "Tula" star.  (If it didn't have the receiver star there would be a chance that the receiver cover was original and it was a *very* early '56 model.) 

The stock is what I call "laminate amber" in the survey.  Lots of "laminate red", "hardwood red", and even "hardwood amber" stocks are original, but I've never seen a "laminate amber" stock that was original to an SKS45 so make of that what you will (I think it's a replacement stock as the majority of the Д suffix guns were hardwood stocks anyhow.)

Your rear sight ladder is a replacement and looks to be a stripped hand-me-down from a '52 or earlier rifle based on the star stamping (see: http://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=1989.0 for background on this)

Quite a nice firearm there.  Very clean; mechanically - it's likely in new shape unless it's seen lots of use in the US.  I would call it a 'heavy refurb' in the GB listings based on the receiver cover paint, but honestly, the difference between heavy and light refurb on a gun w/o a bbq bolt carrier is only semantics at this point. 

Thanks for sharing! 

[itmustbeslim]

Wow, you guys are awesome.

I was thinking the same thing on the sight ladder. It also still has the rod and a cleaning kit. I say "a" cleaning kit because you never know if it was original to date of manufacture.

So a heavy refurb huh? And besides the cover, everything else seems correct? Now I wonder where the stock came from, especially since the stamping seems correct. So interesting.

Are the letter guns the ones that are considered fairly rare and collectible? If so, given the climate, what kind of value should I declare on it?

[Loose}{Cannon]

Letter Russians are def collectable...  Your stock was added new at the time of rework. 

[running-man]

I would say that letter suffix guns are neither inherently more rare nor more collectable than the other years of Russian SKS45s, they are simply SKSs made in '56, '57, and '58.  Now they are different and anything different is certainly collectable, but take away the markings from a late '54 and a '56 and compare them side by side and you will find that the guns are virtually identical. 

Everything else looks correct to me.  The replacement receiver cover is not a big deal, a large majority of owners wouldn't even notice that the cover has been swapped and restamped at refurb and those that know see that it's obviously a refurb so the price hit is negligible.  Value is in a pretty wide range, there really isn't a one size fits all price for a Russian SKS it seems.  For a heavy furb like yours in good to very good condition with a white bolt and a very nice replacement non XXX'd laminate stock, I'd say low end is $450 (and that would be the very low end) while the high end could easily be $800+ if someone took a really liking to how it looks and absolutely had to have it. 

[carls sks]

hi Slim and welcome. good to have you here. that is a beauty.