I have been thinking about buying an SKS. Any opinions? What should I look for and what should I expect to pay... going to a fun show this weekend

Right now the best buy for sks's on the market are the yugo's, if you have a Dunhams sportsman store i'd go look there first, i bought two from there 100 bucks each and they look beautiful, you can expect to pay between 100-185 for a yugo. I have a chinese sks as well and like the fit and finish better than the yugo but you can expect to pay a bit more say in the 175-250 dollar range. A russian would be a nice find but there in the 250-whatever range. Theres also romanian sks's but i dont know anything about them except that i want one. If your going to buy one and only have one buy the best you can afford, look for good blueing, matching numbers, dings in the stock sort of thing. If you see a potential yugo look down the bore to see how much rifling there is left, dont buy a dark bored one. Alot of the surplus yugo's out there are caked with cosmoline and could be a gamble on whats underneith. A buddy of mine took the gamble and came out on top, the rifle is better than both of mine and he got his for 89 bucks. Cosmoline comes off easy so dont let that be a determing factor weither you buy one or not.   McM

I just got an "excellent" M59/66 from AIM for BlammO Jr.  For $139, I am very impressed with the condition.  Other than a single ding on the stock, it looks like it just came out of the factory.  No cosmoline, but lots of oil all over the metal.

It's a fun little blaster.  The range we took it to only has 50 yard max and we were focused more on plinking than accuracy, but it seemed pretty respectable, given the conditions.  BlammO Jr. (10 years old) was able to reliably make bowling pins and plastic jugs jump all over the end of the range.  

I'd love to put a folding stock on it, but after wading through pages of internet opinions, I'm not convinced that it's kosher.  Funny, you can buy the folders just about anywhere, though.  

I see shooter grade Yugos for $99-$125 at gun shows all the time. My yugo with the dinged up wood and no blueing shoots like a champ. Hard to go wrong with them. Also, here is a link that shows how to take the gun apart and where all the cosmo will be hiding after you think you got it all off.
www.surplusrifle.com/sks/carbine/index.asp

+1 for Yugo SKS's...they are among the best SKS's that have been available and the prices are right these days.  If you use corrosive ammo in a Yugo then remember that they do not have a chrome bore so clean accordingly.  Interestingly, a lot of corrosive Yugo ammo is also out there for good prices in bulk.

SKS's all have forged receivers, are tough as nails, every bit as reliable as an ak47 and a little more accurate due to longer barrel.  I have fired thousands of rounds through many of them.  Never broke a part.  Doesn't matter where it's made...it will work.  The first one I ever owned was one of the first ones brought in from China before they were shipping unissued ones.  My old SKS showed considerable wear and tear but never missed a beat at the range.

SKS's knock down on hellova lot of deer, too, in states where they're legal to hunt with.        

go yugo don't look back the sks buck for buck is the best  for the money. you can arm 10 man unit with sks's or one man with a ar15.

thanks guys. I will be on the look out. Does anyone know if they are considered Assault weapons in CT. I like to shoot there and would likely want to bring it...