my dad's had this for awhile and i've never gotten around to looking into it. from what i can tell its a public security sks i think due to the CJA stamp. i have no idea really i'm not too informed on sks'. here are some pics.









what are these generally running nowadays? not sure of current prices after the whole panic. any help would be great guys!

Made in 1968 at State Arsenal 26 in China.  Pic of whole rifle?  Numbers match on receiver, bolt carrier, bolt, trigger guard, top cover, magazine, under rear sight, gas tube, etc?

they do on the bolt, receiver, magazine, and and trigger guard, didn't know where else there was a serial number. i think it should all be matching

I think that is a  cia stamp...

Century International Arms...


could be wrong, but they have imported a lot of stuff over the years.

Think it's already been covered, but it is a 1968 Jianshe arsenal SKS. The 26 inside of a triangle identifies it as a Jianshe arsenal, which is good, because those are the only Chinese SKSs that you can reliably date - all of the other ones have numbers and dates from all over the place. The fact that your serial number is a 12,xxx,xxx number means that is was made in 1968 because the Chinese numbered their SKSs by serial number equalling date, IE 1956 (original date the Jianshe factory started producing SKS) + 12 (from your serial number) = 1968. Had it been a 11, it would've been a 1967. You get the idea... A lot of this information can be found on Yooper John's SKS page. You might find additional information concerning your SKS there as well. Pricewise? Well, I think Classic was selling matching SKSs for ~$400 last week, but I haven't gone looking to be honest.

i guess its hard to tell due to my shitty picture but upon closer inspection it definitely looks like a CJA rather than CIA

I had a couple SKS's with the same import mark years ago, it is a CJA.  The company is China Jin Ahn out of Southfield, MI.  They are a US Importer, not sure if they are still in business though.  That was back when you could still get a nice SKS for $89

Chinese Type-56...plus what everyone else has stated.

what makes this one a "public security" SKS?  I thought the actual public security SKSs were marked as such in Chinese?