Year of the Tet Offensive, Likely Bringback

[Phosphorus32]

Sweet score....and nice inverted take down lever....the recess for it sure looks unusual....

I don't think 12s and 13s with inverted levers had the recess. It was probably done after the fact.

I didn't know that. The relief in the stock is certainly rather asymmetrical, so very well could be post-manufacture.

[Justin Hell]

Sweet score....and nice inverted take down lever....the recess for it sure looks unusual....

I don't think 12s and 13s with inverted levers had the recess. It was probably done after the fact.

I didn't know that. The relief in the stock is certainly rather asymmetrical, so very well could be post-manufacture.

I have seen a few bringbacks with them that looked like someone just took a rasp file and hastily gouged out a recess.  It makes me wonder if the inverted take down levers were installed after being issued without them.

[Power Surge]

Sweet score....and nice inverted take down lever....the recess for it sure looks unusual....

I don't think 12s and 13s with inverted levers had the recess. It was probably done after the fact.

I didn't know that. The relief in the stock is certainly rather asymmetrical, so very well could be post-manufacture.

I have seen a few bringbacks with them that looked like someone just took a rasp file and hastily gouged out a recess.  It makes me wonder if the inverted take down levers were installed after being issued without them.

Here's MY theory....

Reports from SKS jungle/heavy brush use during Vietnam war -

Soldiers - "hey, these take down levers tend to get caught on stuff often"

Arsenal 26 - "hmm, if we turn them upside down, they will be more flush with the stock and not snag on stuff"

<levers flipped on mid 12mil through 13mil>

Soldiers - "hey, now it's hard to flip the levers because they are flush with the stock and hard to grab"

Arsenal 26 - "hmm, if we put a little notch in the stock, that will make getting the lever easier"

<stocks notched on 14mil with upside down lever>

Then at some point between 69 and 70, they decide to go back to the original lever and stock configuration for the 15 mil.

[Justin Hell]

Sweet score....and nice inverted take down lever....the recess for it sure looks unusual....

I don't think 12s and 13s with inverted levers had the recess. It was probably done after the fact.

I didn't know that. The relief in the stock is certainly rather asymmetrical, so very well could be post-manufacture.

I have seen a few bringbacks with them that looked like someone just took a rasp file and hastily gouged out a recess.  It makes me wonder if the inverted take down levers were installed after being issued without them.

Here's MY theory....

Reports from SKS jungle/heavy brush use during Vietnam war -

Soldiers - "hey, these take down levers tend to get caught on stuff often"

Arsenal 26 - "hmm, if we turn them upside down, they will be more flush with the stock and not snag on stuff"

<levers flipped on mid 12mil through 13mil>

Soldiers - "hey, now it's hard to flip the levers because they are flush with the stock and hard to grab"

Arsenal 26 - "hmm, if we put a little notch in the stock, that will make getting the lever easier"

<stocks notched on 14mil with upside down lever>

Then at some point between 69 and 70, they decide to go back to the original lever and stock configuration for the 15 mil.

That makes sense, although, it seems like it would have made sense the first time they built one.
I wonder if there was a surplus of regular stocks they had to use before adaptation could be implemented...I chalked up the ones that looked altered after the fact to being field work, or just an additional step that had to be done by hand during assembly.  I admit being clueless about the methods used to make the stocks, but I am assuming it was mostly automated. Altering the process might have been tough to implement.

I like the shape of this one...  Any way they do it, they overdo it though...IMO...there are several aftermarket stocks that make accommodations for them, but in such a way that you could use them for either style and it not seem like overkill. Perhaps I am just overly sensitive to it, I just put an ITL stock on the only gun I have without a takedown lever....and that gouge is just, there. 
Maybe I will just cut down an Allen wrench.

[rwhite135]

Nice looking rifle.  I, too, really like that brass cross bolt.

EP'd numbers on the piston and tube are hard to capture.


A trick for taking pictures where you need to capture those kind of details taught in crime scene photography classes is to use a flashlight instead of your camera's flash.  Shine the light from the side so that it causes a slight shadow to fall into the recessed detail.