Familiar stories here. I bought 2 SKSs in the early 90s, one was a Chinese (Norinco?) model for $99, and the other was a Russian SKS for about $250. The Chinese ones were in wooden crates of 10 guns if memory serves and LOADED with cosmoline. I WISH I bought a crate. They aren't great guns (although the Russian version has much better wood, and the bolt was much more polished). I still have both guns, and while their accuracy is only "minute of 5 gallon pale lid" at 100 yards, they are a hell of a lot of fun to shoot.
At the same time, one of my work friends heard that I paid $99 for my Chinese gun, and he bought one too, from the same shop. He came in to work shortly thereafter, pissed as hell, and told me the gun tore the case head off the cartridge at the 1st firing. I asked him if he stripped the gun down and de-gunked the rifle of all the cosmoline, like I told him to. "I forgot" was his response. Based on how loaded up my gun was when I bought it, I can't believe he had fired it without breaking it down and cleaning it.
