Just picked up this Para SKS

[SCMA-1]

Brinklee was once Federal Ordinance in South El Monte, Ca. A real gun nut candy store :O) They moved in the mid late 90's to some other state. I was a regular there and still have the very same SKS yo have that I bought from them. Think I paid $75.00 and they were pretty much new SKS's. MY SKS is VERY accurate and functions perfectly.

BTW I dont think you can leagally attach a bayonette to a Chinese SKS.

I used to work in Pico Rivera 80's-90's and would go to Federal Ordinance during my lunch break. There was a certain point where Chinese SKS's could not be imported with the bayonet; forgot when that was exactly but tons of them before that point were legally imported and sold with bayos. I did some research about Briklee and found this:

http://www.pacificcanvasandleather.com/about_us.htm

[Average Joe American]

Hey calgunners, new guy here with a new toy I stumbled accross on backpage.com. Its a rare SKS Paratrooper just like the OP's except without a scope and scope mount. (plane jane)

I love its super short length and light weight feel. I sold off my first SKS years ago because it felt really long and heavy with the grenade launcher muzzle break, grenade launcher flip up sights, 20" barrel and blade bayonet. I just didnt like it even though I only paid $149.00 for it.

This one cost me $300 and I am going to keep this one and hand it down to my boy in the years to come. They were hard to find years ago and even harder to find today. I know its only an SKS but to me its like the perfect "poor-mans Garand".




I'd like to get a spare stock and build it into a poor-mans SOCOM II

[bigthaiboy]

Is there a Russian Para, becus i could swear I saw a guy at gunshow with a really short Russian SKS, It was really light and short. I loved it. How much para go for these days?

No Russian or Chinese military units ever issued a 16.5" barreled SKS to their airborne units - it was purely a commercial creation. Midwest Ordnance, the story goes, modified some SKSs by shortening the barrels to 16 1/2 inches and removing the bayonets, and when this proved a popular item, Norinco began making them at the factory, and sold as the "Paratrooper" model.

If you saw a Russian "Para" SKS, it was likely to have at some point been bubba'ed after being imported into the US.

[B Strong]

I have a samey-same model, bought it at the Traders for 169.00 iirc.

The scopes are worthless - the best thing you can do with it is trade it to a rube for 7.62 x 39 ammo.

The "para" nomenclature is a term of art though, and the same model was also marketed as a "Cowboy Companion" by another importer.

[SVT-40]

Here are a few scans of Briklee sales fliers from "back in the day". Fed Ord / Briklee Trading was a great source back then. The "Hunter's" were a big seller





These rifles were also imported and sold in great numbers by Navy arms.

[El Gato]

love my PARA... wanted to sell it at conficatory pricing off and on but refused the temptation...paid a buck and a quarter for it back in the day... had to put a synthetic stock on it as the stupid wood one got so beat up it wouldn't really shoot well anymore...

love the shortness...
love the simplicity...
mine will shoot 3 in groups at 100 yds with S&B and the iron sights... the front sight is cocked to the side a bit which looks stupid..but once the sight itself got adjusted properly..was on target.....what more can a guy ask for...

[echo1]

Thats a very nice para. How's it shoot?

[N_S]

Paras are pretty nifty.
Keep in mind though the name is intentionally misleading.
They were never used by paratroopers. In fact they were never used by any armed force. They were designed specifically for the US market.

[Average Joe American]

Thats a very nice para. How's it shoot?

Dont know yet since I just got it today.

As for the Paratrooper history, you are correct that they were never made by Norinco (or any Arsenal for that matter) as a shorty carbine for Paratroopers. But if it has the Arsenal /#26\ on the receiver then it was made as a standard 20.5" barrel "combat rifle" by a military only Arsenal and could possibly have been used in combat by the military before the importer cut it down? Technically speaking that is? lol.

Man those prices are sweet! Did I see a BHP for $399? I wonder what year that ad is from?

[echo1]

I'd say around '90-'92.

[SVT-40]

Man those prices are sweet! Did I see a BHP for $399? I wonder what year that ad is from?

The Briklee / Fed Ord fliers are from Sept and Dec 1994.