1968 Albanian

[Greasemonkey]

Well, I came out of the hills today, lured out and down to the states flatter section by an Albanian, a 1968..for a very nice price, with 4 boxes of ammo, 4 strippers, the sling and cleaning kit. If Correct Directions Albanian is the "Nun", this is.....the ugly girlfriend, but hey, I love'em this way. I would guess it possibly saw a refurb or had some work done somewhere along the lines, it is spotless inside, so no cosmo rush for me, it has real nice blueing under the wood, a few spots of inactive rust on the magazine. Also, the bore is boringly shiny, nice, and chrome. It's a Tenn. Guns import, the seller, great guy, said he bought it about 15 years or so ago when they first hit the market.

The stock is not numbered, so I'd guess it's a replacement, and I don't see any "divot", just some, ok, quite a bit of finish loss and a few scratches and dings here and there. Now whats odd and why I decided to purchase it, other than being Albanian, the bolt and carrier are oddly numbered, it's not a normal Albanian serial. Other than those 3 pieces, every other piece is stamped matching or in the case of the gas tube and piston, electropenciled.









Now here is where it gets funky, what fun is a rifle without a little mystery.. electro pencil non Albanian serial numbers on an Albanian carrier and bolt, RM thinks they were possibly matched to a Chinese at one time, and then both strangely found their way back to an Albanian rifle still matching each other. The stamped number 18, I have no clue, the barrel/receiver mating mark is 32.




Few more odd shots..   The piston extension doesn't have a scratch or mark on it, and the piston head is spotless

[running-man]

That 18 on the carrier is just bizarre!  Not even in the right place to be an old stamped S/N or anything.  I know I've seen something like that before though...now you're gonna make me pore over 10k photos to see if I can find it aren't you?! 

Nice Alby by the way.  (There are some collectors out there that would give their firstborn for that unnumbered stock...)

[Greasemonkey]

Thanks
You cant have 10k photos of Albys, their aint even that many in existence..    I didn't think it was a serial remnant, it's too far back.

All 3 of my Albanians and one stock blank are un-numbered... I don't want any firstborns.. baby days is over... well except I'm gonna be a grandad, and she ain't getting my stock 

[Phosphorus32]

I'll take it!    That'd look good next to my even rougher Albanian and the Sino-banian neighbors too 

I guess the bolt and bolt carrier EPd to match an F block M59/66 would be the other possibility, followed by it's return to your Albanian 

[Greasemonkey]

I'll take it!    That'd look good next to my even rougher Albanian and the Sino-banian neighbors too 

I guess the bolt and bolt carrier EPd to match an F block M59/66 would be the other possibility, followed by it's return to your Albanian 

Uhmm.. yeah, ok, I'll get it going that way..    Maybe after your package you sent me shows up..

  I guess a Yugo could fit in to that serial range as well....mysteries, gotta love'em

[Loose}{Cannon]

Nice...   Yeah, that 18 is strange.  Ill be looking forward to what RM digs up.   

[Phosphorus32]

Nice...   Yeah, that 18 is strange.  Ill be looking forward to what RM digs up.   

Yeah, get moving on scanning through those 10,000 photos in your rapid access database RM   

[echo1]

Much sweetness. PAX

[running-man]

Crap, I knew I had seen other numerals in that area of the carrier.  I didn't realize it was on my Alby though. 

This one is my second favorite ranch gun.  Not much to look at unfortunately, it was a $79 + free shipping AIM special back in Q3 2003.  I wish I had better photos but these crummy ones are all I've got and it's blowing dust around @50 MPH this week as it is wont to do in NM in March:




Total mixmaster with the blank mag and Russian TG:



But the carrier, the carrier is darn cool...100% chromed.  I always thought it was just really shiny, but I'm convinced it's chromed.  That numeral 7 always threw me too, seemed like it was part of the S/N stamping as the characters are identical in size and aspect ratio.  I'm wondering if this is an example of Albanian refurbishment? 


Stock has proper S/N stamped but maybe a divot as well?   Damn those divots... 

[running-man]

I'll take it!    That'd look good next to my even rougher Albanian and the Sino-banian neighbors too 

I guess the bolt and bolt carrier EPd to match an F block M59/66 would be the other possibility, followed by it's return to your Albanian 

Good point with it possibly being a Yugo M59/66 number Jon.  I had thought that and then realized I've never seen Alby and Yugo hardware mismatched together in the same way the Alby and Chinese Sino-Banian hardware is.  I figured the latter was more probable, but it certainly could be a number off a Yugo F block. 

[Greasemonkey]

I dont think mine is or has been chromed.. I will look a little closer

Ok... Somebody explain the whole fricken divot thing, I've seen several mentions of them... I have 3 un numbered stocks and a stock blank....no divot. Im feeling slighted, is this a recent super secret new thing or maybe I just missed the whole big divot memo that musta went around at some point.

Guess mine never played Albainan golf or what ever.

[Phosphorus32]

Ok... Somebody explain the whole fricken divot thing, I've seen several mentions of them... I have 3 un numbered stocks and a stock blank....no divot. Im feeling slighted, is this a recent super secret new thing or maybe I just missed the whole big divot memo that musta went around at some point.

Guess mine never played Albainan golf or what ever.

  I too have only heard of the divot in the last few days (weeks?) on the threads.  I'm curious, is the placement of the divot on the left side of the butt consistent?  Is the depth and diameter of the divot consistent?  Is it a consistent shape, or a random mark on the stock?  What's the evidence for ascribing the divot to Albanian refurbishment? 

I would summarize the Albanian refurbishment program as being predicated on the following careful decision tree system:
1. If the stock is so badly cracked that you can no longer hold the stock together with two hands, then replace it; if not return to service. 
2. If the SKS (country of origin not important) is broken or missing a part, try to fix it with any parts you can cobble together from the "too broken to fix pile" in the corner of the bunker; if not, add it to the @$%& broken SKS pile.
3. There is no step 3.   

[Justin Hell]

Based on seeing obvious carrier dings in the opposite sides of stocks when a bunch of SKSs were racked a little too close for comfort....is there any chance with the pointy Alby carriers sticking out as they do, that they were racked/crated inverse to once another and the side slings swivels, or the slings themselves may have been in proximity to cause these divots?

Just throwing that out there. 

Has anyone ever seen an Albanian SKS crate, or is it just a cardboard box wrapped in scarves?

[Greasemonkey]

I like Justins idea    Pointy carrier ends, sling buttons, rifles bumping and grinding in a crate.. its plausible.  This I can buy..very logical.  Were refurbs treated/stored differently than non-refurbs?

All 3 of mine have no numbered stocks.. Unless the importer whipped up complete rifles from parts pieces and bits, then Albania did the stock install/repair. If an importer had built said rifles, why for the most part do they match, even better... where did the matching rifles come from? They, the importers certanly didnt pay some guy or group of guys to dig through bins, find all the matching pieces and build a matching or even a semi matching rifle.
I rechecked all 3 of mine, which I suspect are Albanian refurbs, and saw no markings, i.e. divots, dings or dents like those that have been presented.  The '78 has mis-matched all Albanian pieces, the '71 has a mis-matched suspected electro-penciled Russian cover and this has a Yugo/Chinese electro penciled serialed Albanian bolt and carrier. Given all these rifles were all in found in and around Albania during the time, Albanian refurb/field repair is the reasoning for the un-matchyness.

What's the evidence for ascribing the divot to Albanian refurbishment? 

Please and Thank you

[running-man]

I'll get a photoessay ginned up showing what I've seen regarding the divot.  The ones I've seen are definitely milled into the wood, like a large centering bit took an 1/8" bite into the stock.  They are not all identical, there is variation in location by a little bit, but general location is always on the buttstock, aft of the sling swivel.

[Direct Connection]

I'll take it!    That'd look good next to my even rougher Albanian and the Sino-banian neighbors too 

I guess the bolt and bolt carrier EPd to match an F block M59/66 would be the other possibility, followed by it's return to your Albanian 

Next in line if Phos backs out..   1968 Albanian is a great find GM. Probably even before you were born But what a nice solid Albanian. I like that warrior look to it. And to be honest, Ive never noticed all the gas port holes in the Alby until I saw them in your pic.. Are there 6 ? Couldnt tell in your pic where the gas piston blocks the underside in the pic. Congrats on being an up and coming Grandpa. My only grandson just had his 1st birthday today