You won't BELIEVE What I found out About my SKS!! 

An Albanian mob sks? That’s badass on so many levels!

My uncle lived there at the time when SHTF hit the fan. People looted the armorys. He had an AK. His sister had 3. His naighbor had a T-55 which he drove around the block for fun. Some other neighbor got ahold of a horse and he road around like the guy from movie Sleeping Hollow fireing his AK up in the air. Later on some guy try to blow up a dam near by with a RPG to reclaim his confiscated land. Yep total shit show. Uncle said he doesn't watch movies cos they are boring and they don't come close to what he saw that time.

Our savior Mike B, getting this evil gun off the streets.

Now Mike is going to get a "friendly" letter from one Leonard Rafiki kindly asking for his SKS back. Or else. 😆

That’s pretty epic to be able to know so much! Love these kind of videos!!!!

He's out, and looking for his rifle!!!! Awesome story Mike!!!!

Can you imagine if the history of every milsurp firearm was known........

Wow...we all say "if only it could talk". I guess you scored one that can!

Dude! Being able to find out that much information is crazy! Props to everyone involved for bringing this interesting info to light.

That has to be one of the most interesting gun stories I've ever heard! Thanks for sharing. definitely looking forward to seeing more with this rifle.

Very interesting story. Beautiful gun too! I love my military surplus like that, banged up, and worn. Gives them more character in my opinion.

Cool video. I really enjoy knowing that type of history about a firearm

Every gun is a witness to history. Its freaking cool that you found out the history behind this one. Not only about him but also the breakup of the country and breakdown of the military. This gun has a lot of history. Great find!!!

Outstanding, great job with the research! Brings history to life when you can hold and shoot surplus.

Fantastic Story! It’s so cool that you were able to get someone to help you track down some of the history of the rifle. 👍

Dude. Mine has the name "Alfred Shkurti" carved on it, along with some other stuff. He was also an Albanian mobster. Appears he was arrested some time ago.

It's cool how you could trace it back. It's always been a thought of mine of how awesome it would be to trace back used surplus to the original user(s).

That’s super cool! Thanks for sharing!

Man I found your video while I was struggling to get my sks mag back it for what ever reason it wouldn’t settle back in so I decided to take a break and watch this because history interests me mad bam I got it back in thanks for the good luck in getting the old sks back together.

Love the look and history of the sks. They have so much character. Ive unfortunately sold many of the ones i used to own. Pay 80-125$ for em 15 years ago. Now i wanna collect geez

Nice piece Mike! Enjoyed the story.

thanks for posting this great story!

Very cool. Kudos for tracking down the provenance.

Wow, now that's a different kind of provenance......That's a keeper, for sure !!

I love how guns have their lives in a sense u say this gun is retired but u don’t know where this piece will go in a 100 years

What a great conversation piece, I'd definitely take it out and plink with it every once in awhile

very cool! thanks for sharing! always super interesting to hear storys behind rifles.

Nice score. If only we could all find this much backstory on every milsurp that drops into our laps. I have one of the older 1950's Chinese SKS rifles, blade bayonet. There are some stains on that bayonet that I cannot remove, even with a copper brush. It makes you wonder, and appreciate the potential gravity of the lives these things have lived.

Thanks for sharing. I also received one with a name carved into the stock. Did some googling which only confirmed that it was Albanian and a somewhat common name.

Nice video, Mike!

I love carved up stocks like this from back in the day. Guns already tell a story, but having the carved in pictures/names only enhance it. Hopefully I'll come across some stuff like this some day.

I know Lenard. He said he wants his rifle back.

Awesome! I wish I could find out info about my SKS' and my Mosin.... Very cool Mike

Wow, that's some pretty crazy history. Way cooler than a pristine example.

A lot of surplus rifles aren’t that interesting but that one is a treasure trove a history good investment mike 👍

That's an amazing story, definitely an interesting history to that rifle. I have a couple that are interesting as well.

What a story. Hey its its safe hands now. Thank you.

That's awesome. I checked out a crate of these at a local gun shop. I found one with the name "Enver" carved in it, who was an Albanian politician..also a 10mil serial

Very interesting to be able to discover the history!

I think it is a interesting story. Knowing a bit of history for an old surplus gun is cool.

You cleaned real good

I really like your video . You have done so much research to get all that info . I don't think that most gun owners would know the names of all the different manufacturing plants or the names of the cities they were in . That's a good bunch of work that you did there . It's similar to but not the same as the story of the famous Bren Gun. It was being built in Toronto , Ontario in Canada . One of the buildings where the Bren Guns were built is still standing now in 2020 . The back stops where they test fired the Bren Guns are still standing now in 2020 . If you are ever in the Toronto area drop in at the old site and walk the grounds , it's very interesting just like your video .

Very interesting story and nice rifle man.

Holy shit. That’s a hell of a story! All I know about Chinese SKS is it was my dad’s and he had it since the 80’s.

Great story!

Forgotten Weapons hosted by Elvis

That's a pretty interesting souvenir with a sorted past.

I have an early blade Type 56 SKS that I believe also was sent to Albania. It has "DND" carved on the stock along with a few gashes

Cool vid and rifle. Don't have anything quite like that, but have had a couple items in the past where I was able to contact the original owner of the item. The first time it happened was with a Swiss K31. One of the "troop tags" was left under the butt plate. I was able to track the person down by their name and where they were living. He was quite surprised when I made an international phone call to him. We exchanged emails and sent some pictures, and he confirmed it was the rifle that was issued to him sometime back in the 1980s. He said he had returned it to the depot, and no one removed the tag. It was in his own handwriting too. It sat at the depot until it got imported in to the US. The other item was a WWII Luger holster. I was digging through these boxes of Luger holsters looking for one to fit my Russian Captured Luger in to. The very last holster in the very last box I ended up buying. It had some holes in the flap, and some Panzer SS skull outlines and holes from where someone poked them through the leather flap a long time ago and they sat there. While there was still no pins or anything on the outside of the holster, the back of it had an etched in design of the US Army eagle logo, along with a name, serial number and unit. So I googled the unit, found a neat PDF file of the unit history, and in the names of people that were in the unit, sure enough here was this guy listed in Madison WI. I called local to Madison for a listing by the name, and sure enough there was. I was connected and started talking to the guy. He had the holster with a gun in it when he originally had it, but ended up giving it to one of his friends on the train in 1947 when he came back from Europe. There was a piece of cloth jammed down in the extra magazine pouch on the outside of the holster. He has since passed away I found out later, after emailing with his daughter a few times about it some years ago. He was very surprised when I asked him about his unit and serial number. Both super cool instances to be able to talk to someone with these items they had in their hands once upon a time.

My Yugo SKS had Cyrillic all over the stock and a great big heart carved on it. Wasn't really useable.

i just bought back a chinese sks from a second cousin that he bought from my father when he was dealing surplus firearms in the 90's. the sks is literally brand NEW! still has the cosmoline every where on it. 300$ seems like alot for a sks but man i feel like i stole a gold bar.

Nice dude!

I have one that came from the country of georgia.it h as a catholic double cross carved in the stock.also barrel is stamped 762 by 59.but its actually 762 by39.i got mine right from the dealer who had bought 200 and picked them up in Norfolk va straight from the ship back in the 90s.

Look at all the “orbs” flying around! Definitely a haunted piece! Just kiddin bro. Nice catch with a cool story 👍🏻

Pretty awesome dude

Civil unrest? Sounds like my kind of party!

almost got the factory name correct lol, the She of Jian She is more sounded like the She of Sherman and tht's background of the SKS was just waaaaay freaking cool

Awesome!

That’s awesome

That's an amazing story. I knew these were in Albania for many years but I didn't know they were looting military depots. I have a arsenal 26 1966

That is a nice battle worn sks, with an awesome story

Great story

I have seen a lot of these back home but I can’t remember that much because I was young. It was pretty common by us to write the name on some of the rifles. Cool story though

This is the kind of thing that makes Mil surp collecting so awesome!!

Very cool story

Being chinese myself this SKS is special and a one of a kind find

OK, this is way cooler than the troop tag if found under the butt stock plate on my swiss rifle!

Interesting story. It might be worth looking the gentlemen up and getting the story.

Damn that's crazy. Never expected it to be named to a criminal lol

You got a good one. It has milled trigger group.

stuff like that is so cool

You do realize this means the owner is still alive

Very cool

Love my SKS! :-) I hope this guy doesn't see your vid and show up wanting his rifle back lol

I bought a SKS back in the early 90s they were dirt cheap they were around 70 bucks but this certain one I had turned out to be fully automatic loaded up a 50 mag pulled the trigger and holy shit it emptied it in a few seconds

I just picked up a Yugo sks that has some trench art, initials and someone's name carved into the stock.

I have an SKS with a great deal of trench art is there a way to get you some photos of the art?

I Have a 1956 SKS with a name and the same town name on it. Mine has about 13 names on it with the exact same town name.

Interesting!

That's a hell of a story! It's only "cool" because of the time and distance. Note the quotes there.

My Albanian chinese type 56 also had trench art. The city Q. Stalin was carved and below was the name trosk. according to the Albanian subreddit this was some town named after Stalin and was basically a military base. Also trosk is a really common Albanian name so my rifle isn’t nearly as traceable as yours but it would be nice to get more info for mine.

I own Chinese, Russian and Albanian SKS love them all

Would you not put some gun oil or Break Free CLP on the weapon after degreasing it?

well Leonard must get around, yours is the 3rd rifle I have seen personally with "Leonard" carved on the stock

That thing look sweet

my milsurp SKS has a word carved on it AITIN which roughly translate for Vietnamese to obituary.

I have a lot of surplus rifles checking numbers and dates markings you can build a history

NICE!!!! You got a thugs SKS. Badass lol

My uncle who lived in Vlore took an sks and some granades to protect from the mobsters and then at the end of the unrest he gave it back to the army since his brother was in the navy at that time and the army wouldn’t get prosecuted

17 years is a long time. He served his time much like you would in the USA. I know an American attorney that killed a man, was sent to prison for 15 years, served his time and is a good citizen now.

I recently bought S&W 1917 that was previously owned by John Wilkes Booth. At least that’s what the older gentleman at the gun show told me….

it was probably imported to usa by the mob lol, gun smuggling is pretty common in albania

I have one from that same batch of Albanian imports, but I wasn't lucky enough (if that's the right word) to have a gangster's name on mine. Just a lot of marks from rough handling, but the bore is in great shape and it shoots very well. It really would be interesting to hear Mr. Rakipi's side of the story, whether he accepts guilt, or thinks of himself as some kind of freedom fighter. Vlorë was the epicenter of the rebellion in 1997, which started because the government encouraged people to put money in private investment plans with suspiciously high returns. About 2/3rds of them invested in these plans, which were backed by politicians, business leaders, and banks, and they all turned out to be Ponzi schemes. Growing up under Communism didn't give people a good idea of realistic expectations for financial instruments, so they lost everything. There was a popular uprising, arsenals were looted, and gangs did take control of some cities as the government collapsed.

so I just cleaned up an SKS that also had somebody's name on it with an Albanian city in the carving wonder if its the same gang wouldn't that be interesting, Tom.

Ace Ventura gun detective

Ive an old japanese arisaka rifle i would love to know more about!!

I have a Type 53 with "shpresa hasmes" carved in the stock and I think it might be a name

So are we going to completely ignore the orbs flying around in the video? I used to own a mosin nagant that everytime we took pictures or videos of it orbs and faces showed up i. Them around the rifle

You should contact him and get the full story.

Kool story no matter what. How many of us would not want to know the history of our milsurps