Greetings and I apologize in advance if I get something wrong with posting/info since im new to the forum. I have looked over most of the published stuff on the Chinese sks guide and still couldnt figure out some information. This being my first SKS i have ever owned, I am not familiar with some smaller details with these guns. I was going to fill out the forum survey but was not sure on certain things.
I had picked up this Chinese SKS from a local family who's father passed away. From what they claimed, the sks was a bring-back from Vietnam when the original owner served (I believe made around 1967-1968, SN:12335663). I sadly could not find any paperwork or documents to support it being a war trophy, however I bought a ton of other surplus clothing and gear that all dates from Vietnam that the original owner used. The gun did come in pretty good condition, no rust, no cosmoline and supposedly was used a decent amount by the original owner to defend his property from coyotes.
As I was trying to research about this gun and find more information I came across some small problems and inconsistencies. There was a couple things that maybe threw me off in terms of its construction and markings that were off from other sks's of the same year. It would be great is some of you that are sks experts could possibly chime in on information or answers to different things involving this gun I found interesting. I've have attached Images of the gun along with a link to the images if the forum images don't work.
https://imgur.com/a/7p8Pue9 Probably one of the biggest problems I have had with identifying this gun is that the arsenal triangle stamp seems to have not been properly done. As shown in the picture, only a faint outline of the triangle is visible, I am not sure if anyone can make a guess as to what it is supposed to be? I did not see a marking on the guide for just a triangle. Perhaps this came from a lesser used factory which is why i feel like i found so many things that put me off.
The bolt carrier on these seems to be chrome on top. I couldn't find other Chinese sks's like this from around the same time with a chrome carrier. I am also not sure if this is even the original carrier. All of the other carriers I saw were more of a matte finish whether that was how it was from the factory or from wear, I do not know.
The stock on this one seemed a little off to me, primarily the color being incredibly dark, even taking pictures with my bright photo lights, some areas appeared almost black. In person the stock looks way darker. I could only find one or two that were darker but not to this degree. I did include a picture of the serial number on the stock but can not read it. I am not sure if this was stained or from cosmoline/dirt but the color seems to go all the way through the stock while I was repairing a crack on this. I am unsure if a certain factory used different wood or a type of finish. The wood also is incredibly soft/weak, getting scratches and dents even from my finger nail. I believe the finish on this was added afterwards as it looks and feels like some type of glossy wax, but it would be interesting to hear someone else's take on whether refinishing it to original spec is worth it. I have to fix/refinish the areas effected by the crack repair.
I attached pictures of the sling that came with this gun, was not sure if it was original to the gun since it did not match anything on the sks guide's accessories list. I do not believe it is original due to the DOT marks on the snap buttons.
Thanks for reading through and giving any info, ultimately I am going to finish this stock repair and clean it up somewhat while still keeping it original. I am still hunting for bringback paperwork on this one and working with the original owner's family, it would be neat to get some type of confirmation on where it was originally gotten from.