Msry [updated] | Sks

Buy the best example you can afford, clean it religiously, and enjoy one of the greatest military surplus rifles ever produced.

From the frozen trenches of the Winter War to the humid jungles of Vietnam and the dusty plains of the former Yugoslavia, the SKS served with distinction. Today, the surplus market is flooded (and sometimes starved) of these rifles, offering a fascinating cross-section of history, politics, and manufacturing prowess. Designed by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov in 1945, the SKS was adopted by the Soviet Union just as WWII ended. It was a revolutionary design: a gas-operated, tilting-bolt semi-automatic rifle fed by a fixed 10-round magazine via stripper clips. sks msry

While the AK-47 (adopted in 1949) proved superior for full-auto firepower, the USSR didn't scrap the SKS. Instead, it became the standard for satellite states and second-line troops. By the early 1950s, the Soviets had moved on, but they had already exported or lent-licensed the design to a dozen countries. Buy the best example you can afford, clean