by Michael Keleher
Okay, so all you sharp eyed gun enthusiasts have probably seen this gun propped up against the fence in Florida earlier this month. Well photos emerged via the New York Post and like I said in an earlier article it is an SKS rifle, not an AK-47 like all the world news organizations initially ran.
In fact, upon a closer look, this is a SKS OMG Variant Poors Model. Whew. It is a doozy. Can’t believe the potential shooter Ryan Wesley Routh brought this gun to a gunfight!
He is charged with possession of firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number. He really should have saved up a few more Happy Meal dollars to buy even a cheap rifle! This makes Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle look like a Weatherby!
Now SKS rifles have been around since 1949 in 7.62x39mm format with between 5 and 15 million of them having been built (Commie record keeping is a bit spotty on those numbers in the last 75 years.) Dollars to donuts this one is Chinese made…just saying, as the Russian models might actually cost money!
Drilling down on this crap-fest of a rifle, I could understand a fiberglass stock over the original crummy wooden stocks made from suspect trees and lacquer which are too short for most grown ups. But when you get a closer look at this beauty the detail work really begins to shine!
An original SKS has an internal magazine that holds 10 rounds. This Florida seized gun has been modified with a magazine adapter, which can hold up to 30 rounds, a significant upgrade in number of bullets. Yet our bright boy, Monsieur Routh’s gun was found to contain…yes, you guessed it, 10 rounds and one in the chamber. Maybe he couldn’t afford to fill up the whole magazine! However, a single round in the picture reveals it to be a steel cased, lacquer covered FMJ, the cheapest round currently found in the imported ammo market, somewhere around ten dollars a box of 20! Again, shouldn’t any self respecting rifleman have saved up to get a full box?
This guy de-evolved this dependable Korean War era battle rifle into something way below Hi-Point pistol value price! (To be fair to Hi-Point, they do seem to shoot an awful lot of poor people.)
Next up is my favorite piece, the telescopic sight. It looks like it has been beaten and drugged repeatedly, and then…oh be still my basement gunsmithing heart…yes it is strapped on to the gun with “tactical black” electrician’s tape! Obviously he did not go with metal hose clamps or zip ties to secure it. You can understand how hard it would be to get it to look “just right” with those half-assed items and not nearly “tactical” enough like electrician’s tape.
Who knows if the gun was ever zeroed, but taping it on to the receiver and stock is sheer folly! How proud that crazy man must have been to see the scope sitting on it – briefly! That combo would not have stayed accurate with the slightest bump or touch and may have had a MOA somewhere between three and nine feet at distances of oh say…three to nine feet! A plain old iron sight SKS could go to 400 meters effective range prior to felonious tampering.
But we are not through with the scope just yet. Yes squint down at the rear eyepiece, and there is a cardboard roll with a Rexall brand logo (maybe from his prescription meds) attached to the eye piece. Once again, he forwent the standard 40mm toilet paper tube (Yes, you know I measured dammit and luckily Adventure Wife did not catch me in the bathroom with a ruler measuring toilet paper rolls) or a 37mm Orange push-up pop paper roll, in favor of the rolled up Rexall cardboard. Brand imaging can be important in any film or photo I guess. Maybe he was hoping to get an endorsement deal.
I think Brainiac may have put the tube on the back of the scope to help him find the eye relief distance with that particular scope. Any other reason might be…well…just crazy.
Looking at the photo, it appears the bolt may actually be able to strike the front of the taped on scope. Ah ballistic bliss achieved!
Routh or someone else (imagine some back alley deal “Man I got a rifle for you”) has removed the bayonet which comes factory installed. I think this is a good thing, because with a bayonet still on it, Routh might have actually hurt someone with this rifle. Quite possibly himself.
Some local and expert commentators have spoken to me about this gun (in my own mind): One Guns Save Life writer who lives at my house, was overheard saying, ”Damn. You will go down in history as the dumbest potential assassin with the absolute worst weapon, and you are going to federal prison for the rest of your life over this piece of crap!”
Community organizer Karen Vander-Karen, of Birds of Integrated Team Community Health (B.I.T.C.H) said when I may have asked, ”Well, we hate all assault weapons, but we aren’t even going to fight this one.”
A lesser known Hamas/Hezbollah veteran said, “I wouldn’t even shoot a hostage with that thing.”
A Southside Chicago unlicensed pharmaceutical distributor and fraternal organization member related, ”Damn. Just Damn. I hate when murderers can’t even save up enough money to buy a Glock or even a PSA Dagger with a fully automatic sear in it. Makes you sad you know? What is happening to the dream?”
From far off Afghanistan, one of their political/religious/military soldiers may have commented, “Ugh. If it’s not an M4 we don’t even go there. Biden left us 978,000 M4s and M16s. You’d think an American could do better what with their streets awash with easy to buy illegal guns!”
….and don’t get me started on the fact Routh brought ceramic plates – in a reusable grocery sack. That punk kid in Pennsylvania had far better gear and planning than Routh the Wanna be Ukrainian Commando! (Yes kids even the Ukrainian Army wouldn’t take Routh!)
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