How cheap was it per case back then? My late father was buying the hell out of it back then just wandering how much it was costing him.

Anything over $150/1000 was getting expensive. I can't remember any more exactly than that as Russian ammo sometimes came in odd lots. American made ammo was generally higher, even low-end stuff like Winchester White Box.

I.remember seeing Tins of it 760rds or 640,s IIRC for 59 to 79 bucks in 91 92.

I was paying $89 per thousand DELIVERED in the late 90's through about 2004.

I still have an ammo can with 20 boxes in it. As I remember, it was $110. I couldn’t get the guy down to $100.
It was good ammo.

I recall buying sardine cans of it for about $60. But I don't recall how many rounds were in the can.

I have 1000 rds of yellow box norinco ammo. The rest of my stash of 7.62x39 is wolf and Tula.
I really need a reliable, accuate AR upper.

My buddy had a license back in the early/mid 90's and while I don't remember 7.62x39 ammo costs, I do remember SKS's being stupid cheap. Something like 69 each or 3 for 150. AK's could be had for about 150 each.

I think it was around $80. I can remember buying an SKS, and a case of ammo for $175 in 1993.

When I left Johns Manville, it was $17 a can. And we thought that was highway robbery.

I gave $100/1000 in 2000 when I bought my CZ carbine. These were 120'ish )too lazy to look) soft points that worked just fine on Texas whitetail and blackbuck.

Why is this a thread........have the chinamins infiltrated all the way to the very innardmost core of the fire?


Who alls banging feng feng and is it indeed sideways?

I've got several sealed bricks of these from the 1990s. Each brick contains four 30 round boxes. Russian made.

Yep. In the 1990s, I bought four Russian SKS rifles that looked factory new for $100.00 a piece. One I sold to my brother for what I paid (I think he still has it). The best one I kept for myself. I sold two for $350.00 a piece after the supply of Russians dried up. Today, they are going for much more than that. I still have the best of them in my safe.

Bought a norinco sks in '94 from a rural truvalue for $119 thinking it would do well as a semi auto deer gun in the woods. It played out like one of those phases people go through but aren't crazy about recalling details.

1992 SKS was $90 and the ammo was 8 cents a shot steel core bullets.

I994 Clinton cut off the China ammo, and then the cheapest was Russian at 14 cents a shot lead core bullets.

In about 1988 I bought a Norinco AK and a crate (1000 rounds) of ammo from a rather notorious gun store just outside of Oakland (it was named Trader's: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/procon/menace.html). They catered to gangs and basically charged them 2x what they charged normal customers. I got the AK and ammo for about $300 and back then, there were no waiting periods or bans, so I walked out the store and down the street with goodies. Those were the days...

I've still got a small stash of that Chinese steel core.

If I remember correctly, steel core was about $2 a box.

My dad bought a MAK90 for $139 in about 91-92. He got a letter not long after from the ATF that it needed to go back to the importer or ATF for an inspection. We took it back to Compasseco that imported it and it was taken by ATF. Was built on a machine gun receiver instead of having the receiver changed out before export.

Norinco SKS’s were $79. Crates upon crates of them in the gun store, slopped in cosmology.

Back in the day you could pick an SKS out of a barrel full of’em and a thousand rounds for $150. I have a case of 5.45x39 that I wound up with a few years ago but nothing to shoot it in so I s’pose now might be a good time to sell it or trade it for something I “need”.

Ahhh....the good ole days.

Cosmology and The Big Bang. I always thought it was about getting a fancy haircut.

Bought 1 or 3 at $80 trying to get one that would consistently hit a paper plate at 100 yards, gave up and bought a Russian one, it was better.

The best price I remember was 7.5 cents per round delivered but that was corrosive. Non corrosive was 11 cents per round. This was in late 80s in NM. Even at today's prices I can afford it better now than back then while active duty.

Edited to add it went into a $100 Norinco.

Same exact thing happened. My dad snd I ea bought one at Toses department store. He was away for a few weeks and when he came home he had a letter from ATF. I can’t recall all the details but I think he took it back and they exchanged it at the store.
He still had the letter a few years ago when it came up in conversation. Timeline would’ve been same because I was 18 in mid ‘90 and it was soon after that.
Bought SKS’s at same store for $69.99 on sale.

That’s crazy talk! You need an AK74

After the Chinese SKSes were outlawed, the Russians came in just like that, crate after crate in gun stores, slopped in cosmoline, and for only a little more money.

About $30 for a 640 round spam can

I remember that place well...

kvar in vegas was selling that at one time, russian military stuff, that ha d the bubble in the bullet and s teel core.
would be kind of pricy if you could find it.
7. 62 when the berline wall fell, east germany produced, was going
for from memory about 70 bucks for a spam can. good stuff

I paid $110 for 1000 rounds of East German steel cased 7.62x39 at a gun show back in the day.

Just realized that I'm old enough to say "back in the day."