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Old June 26, 2012, 09:44 AM   #14
Technosavant
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Join Date: May 29, 2007
Location: St. Louis, MO area
Posts: 4,040
Quote:
What do you guys think an SKS will be going for in 10 years?
It's hard to say.

I'd expect they will remain about half of what a budget AR would run or 60-70% of a Mini series rifle. Reason being, they're never going to being more than what a new in box rifle with actual factory support will bring. They also will tend to stay lower than the AK pattern rifles as well; if AKs stay in the $600ish range, it's going to be something of a cap on what the SKS might pull in.

Then you have the fact that overseas supplies have pretty well dried up. With the ban on Chinese imports we just aren't seeing new condition SKSes showing up. So the existing supplies of the SKS are all essentially "used" and only getting more so as their owners shoot them. It may well be built like a brick outhouse, but even the most resilient design has a given service life.

And we have not even begun thinking about exactly what kind of SKS we're talking about. The collectors are only going to be interested in ones that haven't been bubba'd up to being a poor man's AK. That supply is shrinking, so those will likely retain their value better than the ones that have had the Tapco and ATI catalogs visited upon them. The tactical'd ones will vary wildly in price... few people will be that eager to drop much on them because there's no telling if it will actually function properly.

So, with all that said, here's my guess: the ones in good collector condition (good bores, good physical condition, hasn't been modded) will likely increase in price along with anything else. I'd even expect them to get to $500-600 if the price of everything else goes up. The ones that have been modded out will probably remain well under those, with the value depending on the gullibility of the buyer and the quality of the conversion, but likely $300-400 (again, if the price of everything else continues to rise).

So if you're looking for one, I'd probably hit up some gun shows while they can still be found at fairly reasonable prices.
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