I ordered two SK's out of Shotgun News about a year ago. I paid $10 bucks extra for "select grade". Came to less than $300.00. to my FFL. I don't have them anymore. I sold them for $550 each to a collector ! ! ! It seems that they were a part of a set-aside batch (that's why the "select grade"
, and they just coincidentally had a roll-mark on the bolt-cover that was from the TULA ZAVOD, the best place to build an SKS in the 40s. The roll-mark resembles a narrow inverted "V" with an inverted "T" within it, as I recall. But ANY roll-mark adds value. SKs from TULA are very desireable. Mine were in ink-printed cardboard boxes, in English, with no styrofoam. Their description was "SKS-47". The next thing I found that made them unique was that they had TWO brass cross-bolts in their wood. And the picture on the box did, too. One cross-bolt just ahead of the action, and another in the narrowest part of the "pistol-grip" area of the stock. Also, every moveable / removeable part of each gun, except the bayonets and magazines, had a matching serial number stamped or ground into it, including each "half" of the bolt. So, your SKS may have a value higher than you may expect. The first place to look is where the TWO brass cross-bolts are set. I have also seen (No, I won't say I own one) SKs reworked into Select Fire (yes, "on" & "off"
. The barrel gets cherry-red......I hear. Good hunting.
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