Hello everyone,
This weekend I picked up a 1957 Tula "letter series" SKS from my LGS for $800. This rifle is in impeccable condition, with no signs of refurbishment. Every single part on the gun matches, which you will see in the photos below. The bluing on the rifle is near 100%, even on the buttplate, leading me to believe it may have even been unissued (I'll leave that decision up to the experts, I'm just making observations). It is in a gorgeous red laminate stock, that has a few small dings from storage but is in good shape otherwise. I believe it is an original laminate stock, since it has all the inspection cartouches around the forward cross-bolt. Anyway, time for some pictures of this beauty.
I took her into my woods for a quick photo shoot:
Here is the serial on the side of the receiver, along with the small Tula star typical of the "letter series." This rifle has the "backwards N" suffix, indicating 1957 production. CAI stamped the English translations of the Cyrillic letters below them during import.
Matching numbers on the bolt carrier, magazine, and trigger guard:
Here is the receiver cover. The bluing is in excellent condition, with the matching serial stamped on the rear. No Tula star or date was added to the receiver cover on "letter series" guns.
The bolt, and extractor's numbers:
The gas tube, and piston:
The rear sight leaf and buttplate. The bluing on the buttplate shows only a little wear near the top:
Now onto the stock. It has the matching serial stamped on the side, with no signs of another number being crossed out or sanded off:
Inspection marks near the forward crossbolt on both sides of the rifle. It is my understanding that these cartouches identify it as an original laminate stock, as one replaced during refurb would not have these marks. From my research, these late production "letter series" guns were the only SKS's that would have been issued in a laminate stock right from the factory.
More inspection marks on the stock:
And the final 2 pictures: The muzzle showing very little wear from having the bayonet extended. And the tab on the top of the buttplate, indicating an original issue stock as well(refurb replacement laminate stocks didn't have a protruding tab on top of the buttplate according to my research)
That's the end of the pictures. What does everyone think of this SKS?
In my opinion it appears to be all original in as-issued(potentially unissued) condition. There are no signs of it going through refurb. The bore on the gun is perfect, but I don't have a good way to get a picture of it. The laminate stock seems to be a factory original, because of the reasons I pointed out above. I'd love to hear what the rest of you think of this gun!
-Kyle
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