My First Chinese SKS from Classic, questions

[why2kmax]

Ok so bought a Chinese SKS from Classic from their latest bunch; finally finished removing all the cosmo from it and have a few questions. IVe gone through the type 56 FAQ and am unsure where mine falls.

Its a 6 digit serial number but there are no cyrillic letters before the number and no factory stamp anywhere on the receiver. There is no /26\ anywhere on the gun. Just the 6 digit serial. SO does that mean it was made in the first million after the Rooskies left? Seems that FAQ suggests that there should be that fact mark on it.

There is a #27 on the receiver below the stock line and a #26 on the barrel lug. Is this of any significance? (pic below)

There is also a 4 digit number under the barrel lug with either an arrow or a russian "L" in front of it. could NOT get the camera to take that one clear though. Pic there anyway.

There is also a "H" stamped on the right side of the bolt, and some unid circle with a dot? in the middle stamped on the top right of the barrel lug.
The "H" could be a cyrillic "N"


All numbers match and are stamped on the stock, receiver, dust cover, trigger guard, magazine, and bolt. There is a matching number under the gas tube but it is electropenciled not stamped. No other number under there and nothing was crossed out. Didnt know if that was supposed to be stamped too or if they pencilled those in since the piece wasnt exactly rigid.

Overall the gun looks good and hopefully I can test fire it tomorrow. I have a 2nd one coming but havent gotten a shipping conf yet so that wont be until next week sometime. Some pics.

Thoughts?

UPDATE: 7/6/13; went shooting this afternoon at FA and put about 80 or so rounds through the gun. Mix of Tula, Wolf and Norinco. It was only 50 yards but I easily kept it within the center and inner 9 ring on a man size target. Ate it all and spit it all back out without a hiccup. Primer strikes were good and the initial cases I looked at were fine. Damn good shooter. Nothing like a little heat in the barrel to show you where you missed the cosmo though. LOL

 

[Machodoc]

Others will hopefully be able to chime in about this. Understand that my limited expertise about this is from the aggregation of info available largely on the internet. Also understand that there is very little hard factual information available about these, and that most of what we know about them is reasonable conjecture. Keep in mind that even very informative and in-depth websites about these rifles are working on "best available information" that has been pieced together from what evidence there is to be gathered. There's virtually no Chinese documentation on these that is currently known.

That said ...

What you have is a 1956--the first year of Chinese production. It is widely accepted that the 6-digit Chinese rifles were all made in 1956. It is also widely accepted, but not a documented fact, that the ones with the cyrillic prefixes are the first ones made at Jianshe, and they were made when the Soviet techs were there supervising. If that supposition is correct, then yours would be one that was made not long after the techs had left.

Why there is no Jianshe /26\ marking is a puzzle. Another one like that has been posted here. It may be transitional, or it may be ... who knows? Maybe the production processes were still being refined, and someone simply overlooked stamping it (making it unusual). If all we believe to be true about these is indeed fact, earlier (and later) models had the Jianshe stamp.

I'm not certain about the numbers on the barrel and receiver. My recent one has a "23" on both pieces. They may be inspectors' marks, but that's just a SWAG.

 

[why2kmax]

Thanks for the info Doc. At least the SN Confirms what I thought. It will be interesting to see what others have gotten.

 

[Threeband]

Mine made a side trip to tour the historic sites of Philadelphia in honor of Independence day.

Location Date Local Time Activity


Laurel, MD, 07/06/2013 1:19 A.M. Arrival Scan

Philadelphia, PA, 07/05/2013 10:56 P.M. Departure Scan

07/05/2013 3:22 P.M. Arrival Scan


Laurel, MD, 07/05/2013 1:18 P.M. Departure Scan

Laurel, MD, 07/04/2013 10:32 A.M. Arrival Scan

Richmond, VA, 07/04/2013 8:09 A.M. Departure Scan

07/04/2013 4:11 A.M. Arrival Scan

Raleigh, NC, 07/04/2013 1:55 A.M. Departure Scan

07/04/2013 12:19 A.M. Arrival Scan

Monroe, NC, 07/03/2013 9:05 P.M. Departure Scan

07/03/2013 7:55 P.M. Origin Scan
07/03/2013 2:30 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

 

[yellowsled]

^hahaha

 

[SevernBob]

Nice one. I appear to be the only one to get one with very little bluing left. The bore looks amazingly good though. It looks like the rifle was carried a lot and subjected to the elements, but not shot much. The stock looks about the same condition as yours. It's still oozing cosmo in the sunshine. At least the weather cooperated. Almost there. I can see the star on mine. yay Did you guys pay the extra $20 for a pick? I might go one more time.

Thanks for the shooting report. It'll be a while before I can get out to a friend's farm and it's nice to know that one out of the batch shoots well.

 

[why2kmax]

I did pay the extra $20 for the pic. And I ordered another on Wednesday afternoon but it is still waiting to be picked.