RUFF STOCKS

[carls sks]

was looking  at my recent purchased sks and was wondering why most of these recent classic rifles have ruff stocks. most guns i have i try and treat them nice. its like these have some stories to tell. what does everyone think is the reason for them being beat up? mnore pics just to keep all interested in viewing. 

[astronut]

Just my guess is that those that were carring them back in the day were more interested in surviving than the appearance of their rifle, as long as it functioned fine to help them survive.  Me personally I would rather have an "ugly duckling" that fuctions very reliable than to have a "safe queen" with problems!   

[High Noon]

My guess is they were carried around (in Albania and maybe China?) and the soldier didn't worry about it much.  Then when they were shipped to the U.S., they got packed up and damaged then, more rough handling during unpacking at the U.S. importer and then again at Classic. 

Mine shows some apprarant damage from another bolt handle hitting/rubbing it - areas are small circles.  If you watch the Classic videos, they bump them against each other many times taking them out.

I try and take care of my guns as well, but these were issued and handled by guys over 50 years that didn't just pay for it, so perhaps they didn't really care. Just my opinion of course.......

[Bubbazinetti]

I think that is Vietnam era military turn-in kept in Albanian storage from the Kosovo war,and that explains a lot about the condition and handling character marks.I guess they decided not to have them arsenal refinished.We're so lucky that they can be imported into the country at all.It is what it is.

[echo83]

I kind of wondered the same when I got mine from Classic, too. At first, I was curious as to why mine was beaten so thoroughly, then it was brought to my attention how old my SKS actually is (1956/1957). After that, I researched a little of the trench art, which I'm really fond of.

...and then I noticed a small crack up front that I didn't think would improve with age, so I saved my stock and bought another surplus one, this time with some lacquer still remaining.

Since the Albanians had an incredible amount of stockpiled rifles, the armories were looted pretty thoroughly during the civil war. I'd imagine the looters were even rougher on the stocks than the original conscripts were. And then they went through another war.

And since the Albanian "refurbishment" process was even rougher than THAT, (my blade stock had a spike bayo slapped onto it) I guess it's a small miracle we even got what we got from the importers.

Tl;Dr: If my SKS could talk, it would probably ask to see a therapist.

[Larry D.]

Tl;Dr: If my SKS could talk, it would probably ask to see a therapist.

[Bubbazinetti]

Beaten like a red headed stepchild?

[Ghost51xxx]

I'm thinking that about 30% of the dings came from the rifle being used as a brush guard while running through the jungles of Vietnam. Another 30% came from the Albania wars. 20% from being tossed around on a cargo ship in the middle of a typhoon and the remaining 20% came from Ben.

[running-man]

None of the Sino-Banians from Albania ever saw anything close to action in Vietnam.  That is a wives tail perpetuated by sellers that like to embellish things in order to move more product.  It is patently impossible since the build dates of the carbines, dates of the Sino-Soviet Split, dates of the Alby-Soviet split, and date of the Sino-Abanian split only allow one possibility: The carbines were provided as aid by China to Albania (possibly via multiple shipments) in the ~1966-1972 timeframe.   

Vietnam "era" carbines yes, Vietnam "used" carbines definitely not. 

[Bubbazinetti]

So the rough stocks is likely due to very poor storage and handling conditions in-country or their armory got looted and the rifles were rounded up again.

[High Noon]

None of the Sino-Banians from Albania ever saw anything close to action in Vietnam.  That is a wives tail perpetuated by sellers that like to embellish things in order to move more product.  It is patently impossible since the build dates of the carbines, dates of the Sino-Soviet Split, dates of the Alby-Soviet split, and date of the Sino-Abanian split only allow one possibility: The carbines were provided as aid by China to Albania (possibly via multiple shipments) in the ~1966-1972 timeframe.   
Vietnam "era" carbines yes, Vietnam "used" carbines definitely not.   

And yet, they still say this on the website:
"Now for the good stuff.  These are all very early rifles -  i.e. Pre Vietnam to Early Vietnam Era rifles which probably saw use in that conflict... "

Just didn't make sense too me that this "Vietnam use" would have occurred.  I guessed that they were just produced for export or were surplussed out when they befriended Albania.  Since by then, the AKs were in production and a few thousand SKSs were considered extraneous.

Any idea of how many were shipped to Albania as aid? 

[ffjoey]

It seems that Albanians were not too particularly concerned on rifles cosmetics.

[Greatguns]

I think the stocks are RUFF because they are made from DOG wood

[Larry D.]

The type of wars these were involved in usually devolve pretty quickly into essentially who's "army" (read gang) is bigger and meaner.
Arsenals get deserted by professional soldiers who are unpaid. These are then looted either by gangs or locals just looking for protection and self defense.

Since there's no real discipline involved, these "soldiers" (gang members) decorate their stuff to personalize it.

I have a post somewhere about the Yugo stuff. The info there was given to me by a man who was there, saw it all go downhill, and managed to get his family out before the whole thing went completely to hell.

[Bacarnal]

I think the stocks are RUFF because they are made from DOG wood

And here I thought it was CHEW (Chu) wood .

[Greatguns]

I think the stocks are RUFF because they are made from DOG wood

And here I thought it was CHEW (Chu) wood .

Well, they definitely look like they've been chewed on.

[Larry D.]

Beaver treats?

[Greatguns]

Beaver treats?

Dam, that's funny................get it? Dam...Beaver...

[Larry D.]

Beaver treats?

Dam, that's funny................get it? Dam...Beaver...

Ai carrumba!

[Bacarnal]

Chu toys...