SKS engravings

Hello,
I just bought my first SKS a while back at a local gun show for $250.00. When I bought it I knew there was a naked woman engraved on the side right above the trigger. However, when I took it home I was able to take a closer look at the stock and discovered a family crest also engraved on it. I would like to know what these carvings mean, if anything. My boss who is a big time gun enthusiast seems to think that these carvings were done buy a soldier in an eastern European militia. I would like to upload pictures, but for some reason it won't let me. Please let me know what you guys think, and any advice on how to upload pictures would be appreciated!

Nora Rowland

Probably Yugoslavian.

Open a Photobucket account and upload the pics there.

In the account hover your cursor over the pic you want till you get a drop down of codes.

Cut and copy the IMG CODE only.

Paste the code in a reply box in whatever thread you are commenting in or starting.

The naked woman means he was hetero.

Many Yugos, especially the M59/66 with the grenade launcher, had carvings in the stock. Most of these guns were used in the Balkan wars anywhere from the 1970's through 1990's. They were basically ethnic and religious differences that broke out into independence and power struggles. Many thousands were slaughtered just because they were Christian, Muslim, men, women or just from the wrong region.

What was formerly Yugoslavia is now several smaller countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Vojvodina.

My guess is that the carvings on your gun were not made by a Muslim, as the Koran prohibits nudity and pornograghy.

A lot of these guns were not well cared for. Corrosive ammo was also extensively used and a good percentage of bores on the Yugo SKS's have pitting. Please check the bore on yours (and any others you might be interested in BEFORE you buy them). Some are so pitted and worn that they are no longer accurate. And some with milder pitting have no issues at all with accuracy.

Get us some pics, but make sure you (bleep)! Don't want to offend anyone.

A friend of mine purchased a Yugo after I bought mine. I of course inspected the bore on the rifle I purchased, But he did not. My rifle is older than his but has an excellent like new bore. When he brought his over for me to work on I couldn't believe the shape the bore was in! The rifling was all but gone, I wish I had been with him when he picked it up!:sad_small

http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv76/norar19/May2032.jpg
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv76/norar19/May2033.jpg
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv76/norar19/May2029.jpg
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv76/norar19/May2036.jpg

Ok some of these pictures are really blurry but if you look closely you can see the family crest. I took the gun apart, inspected everything and found no corrosion. It looks like it's only been fired a few times, very little carbon deposit.