Found some cheap SKS's...

[MP43]

I went ahead and ordered one. Arrived Wednesday. Stock isn't just cracked, it's practically kindling. Fortunately, the metal seems surprisingly nice. Thing is slathered in cosmoline, so hard to tell for sure. I was looking for a Chinese SKS with a blade type bayonet to match up with a red fiberglass stock set I've had for a while. It should be about perfect for that, once it's cleaned up.

 

[bsmith918]

I ordered one too and it should be here this week. I have seen some pics on other forums and it is pretty much the same story with trashed stocks and nice metal. I guess I need to start looking for a cheap original stock. I have also read that these have a TON of cosmoline on them and take forever to clean. Good thing I have 3 weeks of vacation coming up!

 

[orangeRcode]

I ordered one too and it should be here this week. I have seen some pics on other forums and it is pretty much the same story with trashed stocks and nice metal. I guess I need to start looking for a cheap original stock. I have also read that these have a TON of cosmoline on them and take forever to clean. Good thing I have 3 weeks of vacation coming up!

They had some decent ones for $7 a while back at Outdoor America. I bought one for mine and it turned out good.

 

[Gabriel42]

FYI: Outdoor America has a few crates of SKS stocks.

 

[bsmith918]

Well, my $200 SKS is in much better shape than I thought it would be. It is a Sino-Soviet with all matching numbers, which includes the stock. The stock is actually in good condition with no cracks and only a few gouges. This thing is drenched in cosmoline and is going to take a long time to get cleaned up.

 

[AKguy1985]

Well, my $200 SKS is in much better shape than I thought it would be. It is a Sino-Soviet with all matching numbers, which includes the stock. The stock is actually in good condition with no cracks and only a few gouges. This thing is drenched in cosmoline and is going to take a long time to get cleaned up.

Get you a cheap stew pot and boil some water and that cosmo will come right off.

 

[jbrentd]

I did the oven trick on my SKS stock. Took several iterations, but worked well.

 

[bsmith918]

I know many ways to remove cosmoline quickly, unfortunately this one is still going to take quite a while. It looks very much like they dipped the whole gun in a vat of boiling cosmoline. I pushed it out of the barrel and is looks like a really long worm! Not a big deal, just going to take some time.

 

[MP43]

Here's the one I got.

Aside from the thick coating of cosmoline, at first glance, it doesn't look too bad:

That's a pretty big gouge in the wood, but looks salvageable:

The extent of the crack in the buttstock is more apparent on the other side. Stock serial doesn't match the rifle, but the exterior serials on the metal appear to be the same:

Uh oh:

Interestingly, this appears to be a "ghost" rifle, devoid of factory code or other markings to indicate its origins:

From what I've been reading, these were previously quite rare in the States, but a number have turned up in this import batch. There are a number of theories about them, but no one seems to know the true story behind these. http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=121146.0
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=125645.0

Anyway, I'm kinda glad the stock doesn't match. This way, I won't have any guilt changing it out.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

That's rough as hell...