K31s and SKS' drying up

[SKS Ray]

I've heard and read from a few different suppliers that K31s and Yugo SKS rifles are drying up. We all know there won't be any other SKS rifles imported except for the Yugos and even though they are rumored to still be in production I doubt that with all the new laws and regulations we'll see anymore imported anytime soon. If any of you are thinking of buying one of these or have held off because you figured they'd be arond forever, I say buy now while the prices are still fair.

 

[Soxfan9]

I have grabbed 2 K31's this year for just that reason.

 

[tele_mark]

The place I bought my SKS from in AZ is showing all SKS's except "Like New" (which are back ordered at $169) as sold out. I take that to mean the won't be selling any more.

 

[jhrosier]

When the first bunch of SKSs came in from China, in the late 80s, IIRC, literally millions were sold (for around $65.) I always kinda assumed that when the cheap ammo, of that time, dried up, that there would be lots of folks dumping them, but it never happened. Are they all still sitting in the back of a closet, somewhere, with the last can of steel cored ammo, waiting for the SHTF?

 

[USMA-82]

The problem with these "XXX's are drying up, better get them now" threads is you never know if it's real, or a distribution gimmick. Certainly, some low-production milsurps are getting scarce, but when I look at the production numbers of some of them, I wonder...

We don't know if some distributor has a boatload of XXX's sitting somewhere, just waiting for the laws of supply and demand to drive the prices up another notch, and adding to their profits. The only good news is that those of us who already "got ours" can ride the wave, watching our investment grow.

Maybe we need to set up a MILSURPS DOOMSDAY CLOCK that shows a list of various milsurps, and which ones are most likely (based on observation of distributors, auction sites, and personal knowledge) to disappear, or suddenly skyrocket in price.

Milsurps4Me - you up for the challenge? If we could make it a sticky, it would be a good guideline on what to get NOW for folks sitting on the fence.

As for K31's and SKS's - I'm not quite convinced yet.

 

[SKS Ray]

Heres something to think about considering K31s. When they first came around they were under $80, they've now doubled in price in a few years with really nice examples getting almost $200. The ones coming in now have less bluing and non matching numbers. That sounds to me like bottom of the pile.
GP11 surplus ammo is drying up and most places say they can't get anymore. This was bound to happen because as more people got turned on to Swiss rifles, the ammo started selling faster and is getting used up.

 

[1903Collector]

Is the GP11 ammo berdan primed? Haven't fired any yet.

 

[SKS Ray]

All I know about GP11 is that its considered match grade ammo and from what I heard its a PITA to reload.

Heres something that was posted on a distributor's web site recently regarding Yugo 59/66 SKS rifles:

YES, WE HAVE A FEW IN STOCK RIGHT NOW. UNFORTUNATELY HOWEVER, IT APPEARS THAT WE ARE COMING TO THE END OF THE AVAILABILITY RUN ON YUGO SKS RIFLES. ALL BUT ONE OF THE MAJOR IMPORTERS ARE OUT AND THAT IMPORTER HAS MORE STANDING BACK ORDERS THAN THEY HAVE RIFLES. OUR ORDERS ARE IN THEIR PILE BUT THEY ARE WEEKS BEHIND IN SHIPPING. I EXPECT SUPPLIES TO BE LIMITED, AND THE PRICE TO CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL THEY ARE ALL GONE. THERE ARE OTHER COUNTRIES THAT HAVE SKS RIFLES AVAILABLE. BUT IT APPEARS THAT THEY ALL HAVE SOME FORM OF GOVERNMENTAL IMPORT BAN AGAINST THEM. WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED. THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR THE K-31 RIFLES BELOW.

 

[calsdad]

I just picked up a K31 the other day - I have seen a number of vendor sites saying that the K31's are getting to be in short supply. I may pick up another one before they run out.

Still trying to decide if I have the want or need for an SKS - or if I should put the money towards something else I want more - like an M1 Carbine.

 

[Len-2A Training]

A mini-avalanche of catalogs and SGN happened in my office this past week. In cleaning up and saving the articles from old SGN prior to throwing them out, I saw a real trend wrt K-31s!

One AZ vendor's ads in SGN:
- $84.95 - 1/1/06 (Vol 60 Iss 1)
- $139.95 - ~3/10/07 (Vol 61 Iss 8)
- $169.95 - 4/10/07 (Vol 61 Iss 11)

One FL vendor's ads in SGN (all exc condition):
- $139.95 - ~12/20/06 (Vol 60 Iss 36)
- $159.95 - ~3/10/07 (Vol 61 Iss 8)
- $189.95 - 4/10/07 (Vol 61 Iss 11)

Certainly makes it look like we're seeing the end of these great rifles in any quantity . . . and the beginning of their values climbing rapidly.

Grab them when/where you can!

 

[calsdad]

First I bought one K31 because I really liked them and figured I better get one now before they are all gone. A few weeks later I got another one for the same reason. Dammit - now with your latest email you got me thinking I should pick up yet another because the prices are going up and it wont be a bad investment. Please stop - my wallet is getting thinner and thinner.

 

[BigBill]

I said this before the only thing that is keeping the prices down on all the other brands of the sks's is the flood of the yugo's right now. If you remember before the first yugo's hit our shores the prices were climbing on the other sks's and once the yugo's flooded the market the prices on the other ones can down a but and leveled off. Once the yugo sks dryup its a whole new ball game price wise on all the sks's just wait and see.

I'm sure the prices on the swiss k31 will end up near or actually pass the prices on the swede mausers. I think the swede mausers, the finnish mosins and the swiss rifles will be in or close to the same value price wise.

If I were you its time to get your C&RFFL01 if you don't have it and get on board the C&R bus and get what you want now before everything dries up for sure, we know its going to happen plus its already started on some stuff. In the near future most of this stuff is going to be untouchable price wise too.