List of Commercial Chinese Importers

[running-man]

Here is the compilation of all the import stamps I can find on Commercial Chinese SKS variants.  Click on any photo to see it full size.

If you have a Commercial Chinese import stamp that isn't shown here, please post up a photo and I'll add it here. 

• 18" barrel No photo available yet.
  
  
• Briklee Hunter No photo available yet.
  
  
• Clayco M8
  • CLAYCO, Clayco Sports Ltd. out of Claycenter, Kansas:
    
    M8 <S/N> MADE IN CHINA AT NORINCO SHAN YI JI FACTORY <right side>
                                          7.62X39MM
    CLAYCO SPORTS LTD. CLAYCENTER, KS <left side>
    Engraving on both sides of receiver in a somewhat crude font.
    
    
• K-Sports
  
  
• Midwest Ordnance
  
  
• Navy Arms
  • NA, Navy Arms out of Ridgefield, New Jersey:
    
     CHINA     7.62mm    N.A. Co.
                             RIDGEFIELD, NJ
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver, usually just forward of the scope mount (though sometimes covered by it).  I have also seen these stamps w/o the "CHINA 7.62mm" near the "N.A. Co." portion of the stamp.
    
    
  
  
• Paratrooper
  
  
• Polytech Hunter
  
  • CAI, Century International Arms out of Saint Albans, Vermont:
    
    POLY   TECH
    SKS    HUNTER
    7.62x39mm    <S/N> <left side of receiver>
    CAI ST ALB VT         NORINCO          MADE IN CHINA <barrel>
    This one is an interesting one as there are two distinct markings, one on the barrel, and one on the side of the receiver.  I don't know enough about PT Hunters to say that they are all CAI imported guns, but this example certainly is.  (Image courtesy of Power Surge)
    
    
• PU Sniper
  • KFS, Kengs Firearms Specialty Inc. out of Atlanta, Georgia:
    
    KFS ATL GA SKS 7.62mm CHINA
    Stamped on the bottom of the barrel, between the FSB and the gas block.  A little blurb about Kengs:
    

    In 1985, David Keng founded Keng’s Firearms Specialty, Inc. (KFS, Inc.) He began the retail business from his garage in Southwest Atlanta, and traveled countrywide to different gun shows.

    (Image courtesy of Power Surge)
    
    
    
• Six Corp
  
  • IA CO, IA Co. out of Sacramento, California:
    
    SIX CORP <S/N> <left side of receiver>
    IA CO SAC CA <side of barrel>
    This one is a neat SIX CORP 20" gun with a detachable bayonet like is used on the SKS D's  Barrel is stamped with a light stamp on the left? side.  This company has been called "Import Arms Co." (IA CO) in some circles, "Inter-American Import Co." (IAI) in others, and still others "Inter-American Import-Export Co." (IAIE).  My research shows them to all be companies run by the same man: Edward Faust out of Sacramento, CA.  A user named Fede from the International Ammunition Association forum knew the guy and put together this very nice post:
    

    This was one of a long and somewhat confusing list of companies owned by Edward Louis Faust between 1958 and 2008, all of them located in a small area of Sacramento, California.
    He was born on April 13, 1938 and as early as 1958 started doing business as Faust Military Ordnance, Box 8022, Sacramento 18, California.
    This trade name was used until late 1962 and on January 9, 1963 he established Western Military Arms Corp. at 1609 "E" Street. The latest ads I have from this company date from 1966.
    During 1967 he advertised as Inter-American Export Co., Box 8022, Sacramento, CA 95818, but it seems that this was a trade name and not a real company. Also, during the same time he traded from the same address as Inter-American Import-Export Co., and by 1973 the address of this last company changed to 2416 16th Street, Sacramento, CA 95818 (only 1 1/2 mile from the previous one).
    Then, as early as 1972 he started trading as Pacific International Import Co., also from the latter address. This trade name and address was used as late as December, 1977.
    On January 13, 1972 he established Old Sacramento Armoury, Inc. at 2215 "J" Street, Sacramento, CA 95816, also very close from the other ones. At this same address, on March 9, 1973 he established Pacific International Merchandising Corp., which lasted until at least 1989.
    On February 8, 1977, he established New Helvetia Mercantile Corp. (NHMCo), doing business as New Helvetia Trade Group, and on September 19, 1980 he also established Alpha America Trade Group Ltd. In both cases, their address was 2215 "J" Street.
    Finally, on October 28, 1993, he established GFCC Corp., also at the same address as above. His long lasting company was Old Sacramento Armoury, which closed its doors late in 2007. Ed Faust died on May 4, 2013.

    The thing that really jumps out of this one is that New Helvetia Mercantile Corp. (NHM) is the same NHM that imported Russian SKS's in the '91-'94 timeframe.
    
    Much of the info in his post is verifiable via the California Secretary of State Business search webpages too.  (Image courtesy of armedhippie)
    
    
• SKSS
  • C&A #1, C&A (Undeciphered abbreviation) out of Virginia Beach, Virginia:
    
    MOD SKSS 7.62X39MM C&A, VA BH VA
    MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver to the left of the S/N.  Interesting to note that the & in this stamp is really an "8" that has an extra tail.
    
    
• SKS 63
  
  • CSI #1, China Sports Inc.? out of Ontario, California:
    
    63 7.62x39 CSI ONT CA
    MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    Nice clean stamp on the left side of the receiver, to the left of the S/N.
    
    
• SKS 93
  • B-WEST, B-West out of Tuscon, Arizona:
    
    NORINCO SKS 93 7.26X39 CHINA
    B-WEST TUSCON AZ
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver.
    
    
• SKS D
  • BETA: Beta Arms Inc. out of Los Angeles, California:
    
    SKS   7.62X39MM
    MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    BETA ARMS INC.L.A CA USA
    Stamping on the left side of the receiver, to the left and below of the S/N.  (Image courtesy of bbush44)
    
    
  • DIG #1, Delta Investment Group, Inc. out of Virginia Beach, Virginia:
    
    MADE.IN.CHINA BY NORINCO 7.62X39MM
    D.I.G. INC, VA.BH.VA
    Deep stamp applied to left side of receiver, above and left of the S/N.  Many have stated that DIG is Dominion Import Group, but Greasemonkey's reasearch into archived yellow pages shows this to not be the case as Dominion wasn't incorporated until 1997, well after the '94 ban.  (image courtesy of Firstchoice)
    
    
  • DIG #2, Delta Investment Group, Inc. out of Virginia Beach, Virginia:
    
    D.I.G. INC.-VA. BCH. VA. U.S.A.
    Hard to tell where this stamping actually is, but I believe it’s probably on the barrel.  (Image courtesy of Fragger)
    
    
  • FOI, Federal Ordinance Inc. out of South El Monte, California:
    
    
    FEDERAL ORDINANCE INC.
    SO. EL MONTE CA
    This one is just a neat stamp all in all.  Stamped on the inside floor of the receiver.  When the gun is fully assembled, this marking is totally invisible, how nice is that?!  Alas, this marking is a no-no per ATF regs as they demand that it be "conspicuous" and covering over this stamp is frowned upon.  (Image courtesy of belllboy)
    
    
  • Unknown, ?:
    
                        MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    S K S 7.62X39MM
    This appears to be a partial stamp as the importer name and location are not included.  The portion shown in this photo is located on the left side of the receiver,
    
    
• SKS KS-30
  • SIX CORP is the Chinese exporter, American importer may also be them or a subsidiary, but is currently unknown:
    
    MOD.KS-30 CAL.7.62X39MM SEMI-AUTO
    MADE IN CHINA BY SIX CORP
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver, above and to the left of the S/N.
    
    
• SKS M
  • C&A, C&A (Undeciphered abbreviation) out of Virginia Beach, Virginia:
    
    SKS M 7.62X39MM C&A, VA BH VAMADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver, left of the S/N.  (Image courtesy of xxxsks)
    
    
  • BTC #1, Briklee Trading Co. out of South El Monte, California:
    
    NORINCO SKS M 7.62X39MM
    BTC S EL MONT. CA MADE IN CHINA
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver, left of the S/N.
    
    
  • BTC #2, Briklee Trading Co. out of South El Monte, California:
    
    
• SKS MC-5D
  • C&A, C&A (Undeciphered abbreviation) out of Virginia Beach, Virginia:
    
    MC-5D 7.62x39MM <S/N>         MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO C&A BCH, VA
    Stamped on the left side of the receiver both to the left and the right of the S/N.  (Image courtesy of Power Surge)
    
    
• SKS NR
  
  • CSI #2, China Sports Inc.? out of Ontario, California:
    
    SKS NR 7.62X39MM
    MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    CSI ONT CA <much farther to the right>
    Different than the other NR mark.  Stamped on the left side of the receiver to the left of the S/N with the CSI portion etched to the left of the S/N under the receiver cover..
    
    
  • CSI #3, China Sports Inc.? out of Ontario, California:
    
    SKS NR 7.62X39MM CSI ONT CA
    MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
    Very similar to the SKS 63 stamping.  Stamped on the left side of the receiver to the left of the S/N.
    
    
• SKS Sporter
  • LABANU, Labanu Inc. out of Ronkonkoma, New York:
    
    SKS SPORTER 7.62X39 MADE IN CHINA BY
    NORINCO LABANU, INC. RONKONKOMA, NY.
    
    

[Power Surge]

RM, this is what's on my rifles....some of these are on your other list, and some are worded differently. Let me know if you want pics of any of them.

89 Sporter - (you have it above)

Type 63 - (you have it above)

SKS-M - "C&A, VA BH VA MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO"

MC-5D - "MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO C&A BCH, VA"

NA TYPE 84 - "N.A. CO  RIDGEFIELD NJ"

KFS PU SNIPER - "KFS ATL GA SKS 7.62MM CHINA"

PARKA PARA - "SKS 7.62X39 MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO KSI POMONA CA"

POLYTECH HUNTER - "CAI ST AI B VT NORINCO MADE IN CHINA"

[running-man]

Definitely the last 6 Sal.  I'll start populating this page with pictures when I get to them in my photos list.  Thanks for the assistance!

[Power Surge]

Here you go...

SKS-M



MC-5D



Polytech Hunter



KFS PU Sniper



NA Type 84 - very light strike on this gun



K-sports Parka Para

[bbush44]

I didn't see BETA ARMS on the list. Here is my SKS-D

[firstchoice]

I can't get Photobucket to rotate this pic, sorry. This is a D that was imported by DIG INC, VA BH, VA.



firstchoice

[Greasemonkey]

After some digging, I mean it is in my back yard after all, I've come to the conclusion that the C&A,C8A and D.I.G. are the same importer. 

Now here is the way I think it broke down over time, GM's theory on researching the history of it.....

The last "known" address for D.I.G is, at least everyone says this is what it is known as, but lets reboot it, lets shed light on the address and such....
Dominion Import Group Ltd  <------------wrong name, try Delta Investment Group Inc, see all the info below
5051 Euclid Rd
Virginia Beach VA

In 1977/78, Va Beach has no listing for such address, address is non existent, so I jumped ahead to 1984:
Naw.....this ain't an import company.. , but now, the address at least exists
VIRGINIA REALTY CO
(W F Thornton Jr), Realtors, Member Multiple
Listing Service, Real Estate Sales-Rentals, Property
Management Insurance Residential Builders, 9646
Granby St, Norfolk, Va (23503) Tel (804) 583-2311
” Reel h3300 Sandfiddler Rd
” Sales 5051 Euclid Rd
” Salt Water Fishing Tournament Claude Rogers Dir 968 S Oriole

I bounced to 1987 and I think I hit pay dirt... this was the business listed at the: 5051 Euclid Rd Va Beach Va address:
China Trade Intl Inc 5051 Euclid Rd

Then in 1988:
China Trade International Inc Robt J Roskovich
Luan H Nguyen Ofcrs trading 5051 Euclid
Rd

These are, I'm guessing were the C8A and C&A import stamp days, now, see below.

Then in 1991, Va Beach has this as the business name locked to that address... note...a D.I.G. name variant pops under the same persons/owners name. 
Now this coulda changed somewhere between 1988 and 1991, key thing is, the name changed.

Delta Investment Group Inc Robt J
Roskovich Ofcr 5051 Euclid Rd Tel
473-3535

In 1995, still around and kicking:
Delta Investment Group Robt Roskovicb 5051
Euclid Rd

Now, the above address is now a roofing/siding place from what a friend tells me who laid eyes on the physical address not so long ago, so no more goodies, unless you want siding and shingles.

To add to the confusion , there is or once was a small place called Dominion Import Group Ltd, at a totally different address, roughly 6 miles away, it's address reports as 4524 Rothwell Dr, Virginia Beach, Virginia, listed as importing Wholesale Novelties, durable goods, near as I could find, records show it was established in 1997-'98. I believe this is a totally different, separate entity, owned by the same fella, but possibly not involved in importing firearms.

Given the time frame of establishment of 1998 and courtesy of Clinton who halted Chinese weapons in '94, they really couldn't have imported Chinese weapons.

More info: According to the Washington Post from Feb of '89...in 1989 there was suddenly a "Delta Investment Group Inc.(a.k.a. D.I.G.) in Virginia Beach." This narrows down the name change even more, too between '88-'89, it was listed as one of the top 15 importers for Chinese Aks/weapons. Note....no mention of a Dominion Import Group Ltd., it wasn't even around....yet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/02/02/ak47-rifles-flood-into-us-from-chinese-sales-war/6a509816-0602-45f6-a4db-d347c0cb7802/

Top sellers listed in the above article, note some familiar ones in the list:
THOSE SELLING AK47s AND RELATED WEAPONS Beta/Crow International Dallas, Tex. Century Arms St. Albans, Vermont Chinasports, Inc. Santa Fe Springs, Calif. Delta Investment Group, Inc. Virginia Beach, Va. Firearms Services of America Bellflower, Calif. Federal Ordnance, Inc. South El Monte, Calif. GLNIC Corporation of America Los Angeles, Calif. Golden State Arms Distributors, Inc. Manhattan Beach, Calif. Inter American Import Export Co. Sacramento, Calif. Keng's Firearm Specialty, Inc. Riverdale, Ga. Navy Arms Co. Ridgefield, N.J. Royal Arms International Woodland Hills, Calif. Sherwood International Export Co. Northridge, Calif. Sile Distributors, Inc. New York, N.Y. Weapons Corp. of America Milford, Conn. SOURCE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms


Also a some other juicy tidbits from further digging  ... This importer was headed by a guy(going off the above name, Robert J. Roskovich) he was actually a lawyer. In June of 1999, he died of a heart attack, so as it's said, his associates assisted his wife in continuing the business and by partnering with Intrac. Near as I can tell, Intrac was an importer located in Knoxville, TN. Intrac imported trademarks manufactured by Arsenal Bulgaria, and by IM Metal Production facility in Croatia late 2000-2004. Also at some point D.I.G. imported the PSL and quite a few other items. It seems to be speculated D.I.G had kind of formed alliances with Dunav International Trading, Inc. in Lynnwood, WA as well as Sentinel Arms in Detroit, MI, but there is no clear data as to with what or during what years.

So I'd guess somewhere in the 00'-05's time frame, D.I.G. vanished of the planet, leaving a mystical legacy of what's what.

Ok, whats yawls thoughts?   Am I close

[firstchoice]

  Excellent research, RM! I tried to find more out about DIG but came up with little to zero. I had pics of a D that I ran across on the web years ago and posted it above. (I don't think there are many D's with the DIG import stamp) I also have a standard Chinese Type 56 SKS with the DIG import stamp, so this is interesting to me.

  So, the name is Delta Investment Group. I'd heard the Dominion Import Group name batted around before, but not this new one. Any info on this Luan H Nguyen name associated with the company in 1988?

  I was going to post some pics of INTRAC import marks on a couple of Bulgarian AK-47 Milled Receivers, but Photobucket has been "Down For Maintenance" for a while now. I hope they get their problems resolved soon.

firstchoice
 

[running-man]

  Excellent research, RGM! I tried to find more out about DIG but came up with little to zero. I had pics of a D that I ran across on the web years ago and posted it above. (I don't think there are many D's with the DIG import stamp) I also have a standard Chinese Type 56 SKS with the DIG import stamp, so this is interesting to me.

There, fixed it for you!  GM did all the work and presented his findings. Very logical and hard to argue with. IMO he's dead on with this one.

I'd love to see a photo of your DIG marked type 56 FC!  Is it a late 88-94 S/N'd gun?  I was thinking some of those guns, while they can't tell us a bunch about the actual gun itself (due to scrubbing, being built from parts, mix masters, etc.) can tell us when certain importers were active!

[Greasemonkey]

  Excellent research, RM!

firstchoice
 

Thats twice..... You've about hurt my feeling, and Jimmys feeling.   Break my brain...and get called RM... wow. 

Any info on this Luan H Nguyen name associated with the company in 1988?

That name only showed once in the info I dug through.. he may be listed in say.. '88 '89. Possibly an import partner, investor/business partner, or just a contact partner from China or their exporter. Narrowing down the exact guy will be somewhat difficult....cause currently, their is at least 32 matches for a "Luan Nguyen" just in Virginia Beach Va metro area. Now, Va Beach is like a tri-city metroplex area, consisting of Va Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, Chesapeake and Newport News all lumped together, the area has around 2-2.5 million people. Just in the Norfolk area there are 29 listing for a "Luan Nguyen". Question is, is he even still alive or even still in the Virginia coastal area after almost 30 years.

[armedhippie]

Any info on this Luan H Nguyen name associated with the company in 1988?

That name only showed once in the info I dug through.. he may be listed in say.. '88 '89. Possibly an import partner, investor/business partner, or just a contact partner from China or their exporter. Narrowing down the exact guy will be somewhat difficult....cause currently, their is at least 32 matches for a "Luan Nguyen" just in Virginia Beach Va metro area. Now, Va Beach is like a tri-city metroplex area, consisting of Va Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, Chesapeake and Newport News all lumped together, the area has around 2-2.5 million people. Just in the Norfolk area there are 29 listing for a "Luan Nguyen". Question is, is he even still alive or even still in the Virginia coastal area after almost 30 years.

May be a bit of useless info but I used to work at a meat packing plant, with a bunch of Vietnamese people with the last name of Nguyen. IIRC its the most common last name in Vietnam. Sure enough you'll notice it come up quite often. Think there's a pro football player with the name as well. It's pronounced "Nu-Win" or "New-In"

[XXXSKS]

Thank you GM for your efforts in researching this subject and post you findings. I have one question. When you say there is a person or company listed at this address in this year. What list are you refering to? Is there a public record that you are accessing? Thanks.

 ..............Joe

[Greasemonkey]

Thank you GM for your efforts in researching this subject and post you findings. I have one question. When you say there is a person or company listed at this address in this year. What list are you refering to? Is there a public record that you are accessing? Thanks.

 ..............Joe

I found access to old Va Beach Yellow Pages in an archive for the years in question, the business listings, what I posted was the listing from the phone books from the respective year that edition was printed, I just cut and pasted the info. I went off the address, cause the "Dominion" name was zilch till later, Delta was the name tied to both the owner and that address in the late 80's early 90's.

 Now, the Dominion Import Group info, I found I'm guessing a historical tax or business info record that showed an establishment date of late 1997, plus other info, like nature of the imports, less than 3 employees and such.

Granted, I could just as easily called and tried to obtain the info from the local courts, or just drove there and and verified all the above info. I'm sure the local Chamber of Commerce has records. I've heard they still maintain property records from the 1600s down that way..  Heck, I shoulda just drove, The Armory ammo store is there, not but a couple of miles away..

[running-man]

Ok, starting to flesh it out.  Photobucket has been a POS for a week and it's really trying my patience.  a 20 minute job took me 3 hours tonight and it's still not finished.   Ahh well, it'll get there. 

If anyone has any standard paratroopers, other KSI (K-Sports) variants, a Bricklee Hunter, or other flavor Navy Arms guns beyond what PS has aready posted) I'd love to see & add those import stamps. 

[firstchoice]

  Excellent research, GM!

firstchoice
 

Thats twice..... You've about hurt my feeling, and Jimmys feeling.   Break my brain...and get called RM... wow. 

  I can't believe I did it again!    Really s-o-r-r-y about that, to both parties! (don't know which is more insulting?)       Okay, No Jimmy PLEASE! 

 

   Any info on this Luan H Nguyen name associated with the company in 1988?

  I should have thought about the numbers there, before I asked. But I was on a roll of non-thinking by then. 

I'd love to see a photo of your DIG marked type 56 FC!  Is it a late 88-94 S/N'd gun?  I was thinking some of those guns, while they can't tell us a bunch about the actual gun itself (due to scrubbing, being built from parts, mix masters, etc.) can tell us when certain importers were active!

  This is a '91 import. The DIG is a bit of a light strike, but readable. Also, notice, apart from the apparent improvement in stamp quality, they also include the "C" in "BCH". It's dark and I just took the best indoor pics that I could at this time of night.    Pic quality could definitely be better.




  This is a VG-EXC condition carbine with the shipping grease still on/in it. (Did they use cosmoline on these later "built" carbines? This one is definitely a scrubbed gun. The Receiver Cover, Trigger Guard, Magazine, and Sight Leaf, are all un-numbered. All serial-numbered parts match, EXCEPT for the Gas Tube and Gas Piston. It's a curious mismatch because the SN on the receiver is 91-07114 and the SN's electro-penciled into the GT and GP are 07074 or 07014, can't tell for sure. I don't know if the guy doing the EP'ing had gone cross-eyed with exhaustion at that tedious work, or just got similar parts mixed up? All in all, it's a well done build. I'm happy to have it. It just doesn't have the originality of my 8M 1963 Carbine that's a sweetheart.

  I will post a complete pic thread on the Chinese Type 56 DIG import tomorrow.

  I know this is a list of "Unaltered Chinese/Commercial" importers and this carbine is a "Unaltered Chinese/Military", (very loose definition), so do what you will with the info.

  Thanks to both RM and GM for the effort here! This is great stuff, guys! 
 
 firstchoice
 

[running-man]

Someone from here (xxxsks, GM, firstchoice)? has this gun:



Think you can get me a nice side on shot of the import stamp?  My google fu is weak, I can't find a nice photo of the full stamp on a /416\ SKS M.

[firstchoice]

  That may be xxxsks M?  I have a /416\ M, but the above pic is not mine. My lower line of the stamp is covered a little by the stock. I can pop mine out of the stock and get a pic like that? Including the /416\ stamp, it's a long stamp to get a good close-up of. (for me) I know you're wanting a better pic, but this is my M.



  If xxxsks or Power Surge doesn't post a pic up this evening, I'll take some daylight pics tomorrow. I'm using my firewood pile up, so I can't take any of those nice "firewood pile" pics like LC takes!    If I remember correctly, Sal has a really nice example of the /416\ M?

firstchoice

[running-man]

The pic I posted is from xxx's Chinese SKSGuide, so it may very well be his.

If you mange to snap some tonight or tomorrow for me FC, out of the stock is fine if you don't mind breaking her down.  I'm just looking for something that shows all the text as clearly as possible.  I'll take whatever I can get though! 

She looks like a real winner btw! 

[XXXSKS]

Never had a 416. Found that pic on thr interweb



 ............Joe

[CARBINE]

I'm not sure if this is a commercial sks or not I'm guessing it is but looks like the importer is Maco I didn't see it on either import list....maybe I'm blind.