Here are some photos of my Military Surplus Riles

This is a 1951 Tula Russian SKS.  It has been arsenal reworked.  You can tell this by the black painter bolt. Some of the these rifles even have a black bayonet.  I recently re-finished the stock using a Tung-Oil Finish.  This is a very accurate SKS putting in a 3 MOA @ 100 yds. Notice the stock repair right below the rear sight. The bore is bright and shiny as it chrome-lined and not as prone to pitting and frosting.

Here is the receiver cover for the above SKS.  The re-arsenal stamp can be seen under the Tula manufacturer stamp. It is a box with a diagonal line through it.

Here is a Yugo M59/66 SKS.  I do not know what year it is as the Yugoslavians didn't attach a mfg. year to their SKS.  It is not as accurate as the Russian, but effective just the same.  It has some more scars on the stock than the Russian, as it may have actually saw some action. The Yugo SKS usually comes with a NATO grenade launcher on the muzzle. However, here in California, it is considered a dangerous option to have on a rifle. I mean, grenades are picked off trees like apples here in California, so of course we can't can't have something to launch them with...

The bore on this was very dirty and grungy when I got this rifle. I scrubbed and scrubbed and it is now nice and bright, but will never come clean.

Here is my favorite. This is an Eddystone US Model M1917. Barrel mfg. date is 9-18. It also looks to be all original matching parts. All parts are marked E for Eddystone. The barrel is also original.  This is very rare for a M1917, as many were re-arsenaled after WW I.  These rifles were sent to Allied troops over seas and my particular rifle was sent to the Shanghai Volunteer Corps in China.

When I received this rifle, the stock was black with grit, dirt, old grease and oil. I had broken down the rifle and took all the metal off.  I took some Easy-Off oven cleaner and stripped all the old finish off and saw the beautiful walnut stock underneath.  Originally, al US rifle stocked were dipped in hot Tung-Oil and hung to dry.  I took some Tung-Oil fish and applied to the rifle. It turned out like you see above. I turned my attention to the receiver and barrel. I took some gun cleaner and small brush and scrubbed the sights, receiver, and breech. I took a stainless steel brush to the bore and  scrubbed and scrubbed. I decided not to use a brass brush as the copper would be left behind in barrel and leave residue.  I used a combination of Shooter's Choice and Hoppes Copper remover. The bore is nice and shiny but shows signs of pitting. They built these things to last back then and it has endured where other rifles might have failed.

I recently took this rifle to the range and set a standard human profile target out at 100 yards. Using a spotting scope, I was able to see that I was making head shots with iron peep sights. A truly amazing rifle.

Stay tuned for my next acquisition: The US Model M1  Garand.

SU 16 CA