Every SKS a Truck Gun

[eneat1119]

So went to the local gunshow today and took two of my SKS with me.  My Clayco M8 and M21, both in exceptional condition.

Had several guys ask how much.  One wanted it to use the Clayco as his buddies truck gun.  Offered two-hundred.   Pfftt...  Tried trading a couple guys my M21 for a Cowboy revolver for my dad and a M&P 15-22 for my son.  The revolver goes for bout $400 and the AR .22 $450.  Guy wanted my M21+$100 to trade for his revolver.  Other guy wanted M21+$200 for the $450 22 which he had marked up to $550.  Whatever.

Amazing how the SKS in your hands is a worthless POS truck-gun and the ones on the table are $500 collectors items.  Saw several today, all $400 or more.  Saw 2 typical /26\ Norincos each for $400, SKS M for $750, Tula 52 refurb laminate for $550, and a mismatched Romanian for $370.  Considered the Romanian as the stock was in fairly nice condition but decided not to.

What is it about the SKS that makes people just think truck gun? 

[beachbumwithagun]

What is it about the SKS that makes people just think truck gun?

Maybe that until 6 or 7 years ago you could get one for $100 or less?

[hogjon13]

I ask the LGS where I do most of my business to appraise my 03A3.  Depending on circumstances his opinion; If you need to sell it-$300.00-400.00.  If you find someone who wants it, really wants it,$800.00-900.00.

I don't really have that many.  Bought all to shoot, not as a speculator or reseller for profit.     
O/O

[GraniteStateGreene]

People compare them too much to the Ak. I think it is better than the Ak. I'm glad you didn't sell them. Let them stay in a home that apprieciates them.

[enginecat]

I think it really does have something to do with up until pretty recently you could pick one up for a bill or two coupled with the unfounded reputation as cheap commie crap. Pay a few dollars and use abuse as you please. Seems like as one country dried up another took it's place with $100-$200 examples so there were never shortages of rifles to pick from.

Now, the SKS is starting to get some of the respect it deserves (as it always has amongst keen eyed people like us ) with newer collectors just as we've hit the point were we have what's already here and that's it. That fact hasn't quite caught up with most of the public just yet.

[ARYLIOA]

If you are talking about "dealers" in the trades you have to also account for the fact that they buy at wholesale and sell at retail.  There is always a spread that seems unfair to us.  But when you think of it, that's how most make a living, and how almost every trade we do except one-on-one happens.  Knives to airplanes and everything in between.

They weren't necessarily bad-mouthing the value of your rifles because, sure as heck, if you had traded they would have been back on the tables at the "new" price.  They were talking about the value they would place on them so they could make a profit on the deal.

If that wrankes, and I guess it rankles us all a bit, think about a world where no profit is allowed.  I think the Russians tried it for about 80 years and we are getting awfully close ourselves.  Starvation and mass murder, anyone??????

[Varmit1]

Seller's are aware of the popularity of the SKS and are getting higher prices.

Buyers need to shop around.

I bought my Norinco carbine for $200 two years ago.  Saw the same thing the other day in a gun shop for $499.00

[Varmit1]

I agree with Granite.  I have both and the AK goes "ka-CHUNK" and rattles each time it's fired like its full of loose parts.

The SKS with the factory wood goes "pow pow pow" and is tight and solid in its feel.

I like my Eskay much, much better.  I'll keep both though ... Don't much care for what's going on in the USA lately, not much at all.

[recklessdriver]

Last gun show was the same.   SKS ranged from 400 to 800 dollars.   800 dollar was some Chinese model in a tapco t-6 stock.

[trailblazer]

You have to be patient at gun shows to get the deal you want , wheather buying or selling. Not all booths are buying and selling at the same values. At one show several years ago I picked up a cheap .25ACP pistol for $40.00 and sold it a few minutes later at a booth on the other side of the building for $80.00. If you frequent the shows and take your time, you just may find someone willing to give you close to what you want. A couple of years ago, I traded a Ruger Blackhawk I had bought new at a good price (at a gun show) for a SKS Paratrooper with cash back. I ended up with about $225.00 invested in the paratrooper.

[Old Outlaw]

You have to be patient at gun shows to get the deal you want , wheather buying or selling. Not all booths are buying and selling at the same values. At one show several years ago I picked up a cheap .25ACP pistol for $40.00 and sold it a few minutes later at a booth on the other side of the building for $80.00. If you frequent the shows and take your time, you just may find someone willing to give you close to what you want. A couple of years ago, I traded a Ruger Blackhawk I had bought new at a good price (at a gun show) for a SKS Paratrooper with cash back. I ended up with about $225.00 invested in the paratrooper.

But as you state, that was a "couple of years ago." No relevance to today I'm afraid. Milsurps are nearly all gone now.

[trailblazer]

Old Outlaw,
The Paratrooper trade was actually less than 2 years ago. The guy in the booth didn't like millitary weapons, had got it in a trade with some other guns and just wanted it gone. Those deals are still out there. I haven't missed a local gun show in decades. Just like garage sales, you gotta be there when the deal is available. You may go to 20 or 30 shows  and see nothing but overpriced or average priced merchandise, then the next show there is a Colt Detective Special 2nd generation for $199, or a Savage 24 .22lr/.410 for $169, or a jungle stocked Norinco SKS for $150, or a Remington Nylon 66 for $139. A few of the deals I've got at gun shows and gun dealers when I should have paid more than twice those amounts.
Patience pays off.
Jus say'n, Tom

[eneat1119]

Patience?

I live 5 hours from any major city and we get two gunshows a year down here.  Sadly these vendors at the shows know this and charge accordingly. 

Wish I lived in Ohio.  Small state and seems every SKS built has been through there. 

[trailblazer]

Some of my good deals come from pawn shops...a Colt Police Positive Special for $175, a Mossberg Maveric 12 ga vent rib choke tubes in great condition for $139 (just a few months ago) and gun dealers...a Ruger Blackawk .45Colt for $250, the Savage 24 .22/.410 for $169 was a gun dealer.

[roadking rider]

I know I do not look at my SKS as a truck gun. IMO condition is everything, and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I still believe there are good deals to be had on SKS's as I just picked up a Yugo 59/61 a1 in very nice original condition two months ago for $269 + tax out the door of a local GS. Other places there $350 t0 $380 in so so condition.For me part of the joy of owning a carbine like the SKS is the hunt for one that I consider to be a good deal.  I've stumbled across some very fine rifles and pistols that were on my bucket list when I wasn't really looking for them at that moment. IMO, Patience and cash is everything. I've come home with more than one rifle strapped to the handle bars of my Harley.