Interesting early Labanau import

[running-man]

I was going through the early stages of categorizing the Chinese guns on GB for September and ran across this one:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=507863528

Total oddity.  No arsenal stamp, S/N is one of the few that I don't really feel comfortable assigning a date to, though I guess it *could* be a '67 gun with the feature set it sports.  There's also an odd upside down "Y" shaped mark at the front of the left side of the receiver that I first thought might have been a scrubbed factory stamp.

The stock is the kicker.  Handguard is fiberglass/phenolic, though a bit on the red side compared to the stock.  Could this be one of the few guns that were imported with this stock on it?  We may never know, but it's an interesting question to ask.  What do you all think?  seen any others in a 12 prefix with no Chinese characters and no factory stamp?

[Power Surge]

Wow... I don't even have any idea on this one. Total oddball.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Epic scrubbage.

[running-man]

You think the gun is scrubbed but the S/N is original?  If not, why scrub to such a long convoluted S/N? 

It's interesting, this scrub went the opposite way; the factory and '56 type' were kept and the old S/N mostly obliterated in favor of a simple 0002. 

[Loose}{Cannon]

No...  New serial added.  The one you show simply has #s that were light/angle struck. You can see the zeros are deep right and the number two is deep top.

[running-man]

Interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen another gun that had a full 7 digit number beginning in the 12's restamped after a scrub, but I guess anything is possible. Certainly has some sharp corners on the forward part of that receiver that might indicate a heavy scrub...

The /216\ 0002 example is a totally separate beast.  It's a NA Co. gun so who the hell knows wtf they were trying to do?  0002 is certainly not your typical /216\ S/N.

[Dannyboy53]

I don't have the extensive knowledge you guys have but the upside down Y is weird, I've never seen anything like it.

[running-man]

Definitely Danny.  We don't even know that it's a Y.  Could be a partial stamp of another letter, a non-latin letter, an image, or even remnants of a stamp that was only partially scrubbed.  It may even be inadvertent damage or a camera artifact that perhaps isn't a stamp at all. 

As a aside, you've got a set of eyes and a mind that's able to take a set of data and formulate an educated opinion.  That's what's important here!  "Extensive knowledge" isn't what makes a collector right.  The ability to articulate your position and then show hard data that agrees with it is especially important.  Even more important is the ability to accept when you're wrong and adjust your theory accordingly in the face of data that doesn't fit your narrative. 

Many people simply can't do this and we get people with large collections and even larger egos that dictate gospel w/o having a shred of evidence to support their position.  This is the worst of all worlds as these types of collectors tend to stifle any and all dissent, opinions, and comments from the regular joe collectors that have a set of eyes and a mind that can bring pieces of data to the table and help the entire collecting community acquire knowledge.  It saddens me.

[Power Surge]

You guys are rookies. That's the Klingon Empire logo.

[Dannyboy53]

You guys are rookies. That's the Klingon Empire logo.

LOL...leave it to Power Surge!

[Justin Hell]

It kind of looks like a little running man ironically. 

It appears to me to have been struck after scrubbing, otherwise the edges wouldn't still be as pronounced and leaving what appear to be tiny shadows giving it that raised appearance that the serial also has. Perhaps it actually is a factory stamp, just less snazzy...or just a refurb proof mark?  Heck, as odd as it looks, it could actually just be damage too.

[Greasemonkey]

OMG, look out world, here it comes......

Wait for it.......

Almost there......

CHINESE DDR stamp 

[Dannyboy53]

Running-man, this carbine came into the states roughly the same time frame as my Labanau 3mill /26\ gun?

[running-man]

It could have. Is your import stamp identical to the one in the OP (2 lines, etc.)?

[Dannyboy53]

It could have. Is your import stamp identical to the one in the OP (2 lines, etc.)?

It isn't identical but it is two lines:

Labanu Inc  Ronkonkoma NY  Made in China
by Norinco       SKS 7.62X39

[running-man]

I'd say roughly the same import time. You can look at some of the late import Sporters and see how the Labanau stamps changed over time...  There is also an early three line Labanau stamp that I've seen. 

[Carl in CT]

OMG, look out world, here it comes......

Wait for it.......

Almost there......

CHINESE DDR stamp 

I think you and Power surge are both correct. This was clearly a gun lent to the East Germans then captured and refurbed by the Klingons. It then must have been stolen from the Klingons by Capt. Kirk and Spock when they were pretending to be Chicago style mobsters. It eventually fell into the hands of Harry Mudd who smuggled it to earth with a shipment of tribbles which unfortunately died when he had to dump most of his cargo while rounding Jupiter due to a computer malfunction that got him momentarily caught in it's enormous gravitational pull. Anyhow this SKS was then purchased from Harry Mudd and a false import record created by Lababau in Ronkonkoma NY so they could then sell it to a retailer. Talk about a rare gun! I'd value that at 1 billion dollars if I owned it. Since I don't I'll pay $200 for it then try to sell it for 1 billion dollars.