Need help with Tula

[Papahound]

Picked up this Tula a while back and everything seems to match but the recoil spring cover seems suspicious . All the pics I’ve ever seen have a star with a fletched arrow but all I see on this one is what appears to be a small rebuild stamp ?

All the s/n’s seem to match even the one on the back of the recoil spring cover butt that could have been added later :

I have added some pics - hopefully someone out there can help me identify this , it is a nice looking rifle .

Any help would be appreciated - thanks in advance :

Papahound

[Phosphorus32]

The K suffix letter is the year code for 1958. A blank-top  receiver cover is correct for these later “letter guns”. Yours appears to be an original matching receiver cover since the fonts of the receiver and the receiver cover are the same.

[Greatguns]

Congrats on a nice find

[running-man]

Looks like a nice one papa.  P32 has covered most of it.

Almost looks like it's painted on the receiver cover and receiver.  Might just be an artifact of the refurbishment process if they stripped off the old bluing and reapplied it as typical "BBQ" heavy refurbs have everything painted black including the bolt carrier.

The refurb mark on the top of the receiver cover is from the 1st GRAU Arsenal out of Balakleya in the former Ukraine SSR.  This is by far the most common refurbishment stamp applied to the SKS.

Here's a '58 with the same prefix as yours (produced just over 5200 units prior) that is fine shape with an original laminated stock finished with red shellac.  I typically call guns in this condition 'as issued':

[Papahound]

Thanks for the great info guys , that really put my mind at ease !
It does appear to be a nice rifle : )

I joined this forum seeking knowledge and so far its not let me down !
Great info and a great team - thanks again

Papahound

[Greatguns]

And remember...wax on, wax off!

[Shoot The Refurbs]

Another nice rifle you've got there 
I think everyone has beat me to the consensus on your 1958 'K' Tula refurb. I do however disagree on the fonts matching and this being the likely original matching receiver cover. The fonts are close but they were definitely not done by the same stamp. This by the way, doesn't matter to a refurbished rifle most of the time, with possible exceptions being a rare year cover (ie; 49' tula, 53' izzy) which could hurt the value if the cover is not original, but again, does not matter to a refurb stamped blank cover like the one pictured.



I've highlighted the 3 most distinguishable examples that I found that leads me to believe this;
- The cyrillic 'U' is the most apparent, with no gap present at either the fork or the tail in the letter as opposed to the very wide gaps at all intersections of the letter on the bottom example.
- The number '6', on the top example the 'hat' of the number extends past the body of the rest of the numeral whereas the bottom example stops far short.
- The '0' is struck deeply on the right/ top right side of the number on top, where the bottom example is almost the opposite. The bottom stamp is also, much much thicker of a line and to really see the difference look at the size difference of the center circles.

[Papahound]

Nice - thanks for pointing that out :

Just another part of the history of these rifles , always nice to learn something new , very pleased with this catch - don’t see many for sale in these parts .

I’ve been fishing in a good pond lately , always good to snatch things up while you can , I can always trade up if I find one better .

Thanks again

Papahound

[running-man]

Another nice rifle you've got there 
I think everyone has beat me to the consensus on your 1958 'K' Tula refurb. I do however disagree on the fonts matching and this being the likely original matching receiver cover. The fonts are close but they were definitely not done by the same stamp. This by the way, doesn't matter to a refurbished rifle most of the time, with possible exceptions being a rare year cover (ie; 49' tula, 53' izzy) which could hurt the value if the cover is not original, but again, does not matter to a refurb stamped blank cover like the one pictured.



I've highlighted the 3 most distinguishable examples that I found that leads me to believe this;
- The cyrillic 'U' is the most apparent, with no gap present at either the fork or the tail in the letter as opposed to the very wide gaps at all intersections of the letter on the bottom example.
- The number '6', on the top example the 'hat' of the number extends past the body of the rest of the numeral whereas the bottom example stops far short.
- The '0' is struck deeply on the right/ top right side of the number on top, where the bottom example is almost the opposite. The bottom stamp is also, much much thicker of a line and to really see the difference look at the size difference of the center circles.

Good observations STR!!  I'd argue that that perhaps the 0 was simply inverted as the right side upper portion of the top stamp looks an awful lot like the left side lower portion of the bottom one.  The 6's & У's do look quite a bit different when you highlight them though and the serif on the 1 is a bit longer too. 

All that kind of matches with the orange peel like finish on the metal, it's most definitely been stripped and reblued (if not painted).  Certainly a nice rifle and paphound has the right mindset with snatching the few decent ones you see locally up as long as the price is decent and having the possibility of trading up in the future.  I have had that mindset in the past, unfortunately I never seem to be able to let go of any of them!!

[pcke2000]

and '2' on receiver and receiver cover are different.