Thoughts on a magazine

[Greatguns]

I would like y'alls thoughts on the country of origin on this SKS mag. Finish makes me think Yugo, but 4 digit number on the bottom. I am not familiar with M59s to know how their SN was stamped out on the mags. Any Romanian I've seen had a more polished finish. Maybe an early Chinese??? I vaguely recall seeing a mag with a 4 digit number before, but not spread out like that.
Another thing that's a little odd, the part on the back of the inner body that locks in under the tangs of the trigger housing is about 1mm taller than any of the Chinese mags I have on hand. Enough taller that I can't lock it into any of the Chinese SKSs I have.

[running-man]

Open it up and take some photos of the follower arm twist, the rear, and placed where the spot welds are.  Looks late Chinese to me at first blush, but if it measures different it may not be. 

Yugo numbers are typically etched or engraved on the side of the magazines with a SL-4-00.000 part number somewhere on them as well (side or bottom).  They also often have hand engraved build #'s matching the bottom barrel lug on the inner magazine body too.  I've seen a very few marked with S/N's on the bottom, but not many (I can't even find a photo of one!).  Bottom S/N stamping was definitely the exception rather than the rule, probably because the SL part number already occupied the area where the S/N would go.

[Greatguns]

Was  the stamping the same on the M59’s as it was for the M59/66’s?

I’ll get some pics up later after I get home from work

[Greatguns]

Here are more pics.

[running-man]

I believe M59 and M59/66 magazines are identical.

Here's the magazine off my Clayco M8. One of the latest manufactured mags I've got:





Compare to a follower arm from a 2 mil Sino-Banian with no twist:


I think your magazine is a later model Chinese. Very close to the M8 mag.  They are very similar, not identical as the aft button for lockup wih the trigger group is totally different, but the twist in the follower arm and the spot welds are pretty close indeed.

[Greatguns]

Thanks RM, just wanted to lock it down before I posted it up. The height difference in the aft area threw me off, but we all know how exacting in tolerances the Chinese SKSs are.

[Greatguns]

So, I had a late model modified pinned barrel SKS in the safe I had kind of forgotten about. I pulled it out and the mag dropped right in. Conclusion...besides the fact I'm turning into an airhead...It's for a late model pinned barrel Chinese SKS.

Sometimes I just underwhelm myself.

I blame it all on COVID lingering symptoms syndrome.

[running-man]

Laugh GG!  Nice to see you found one that magazine locks up nice and tight in.  I've heard of Chinese magazines that don't fit in 100% of Chinese type 56's but this is the first concrete example I've seen documented before it got turned into a ratty looking monstrosity via bubba with a Dremel.

I'll be the first to admit I've lost track of a crate of ammo here or there, but I've never lost track of an SKS in the back of the safe!! 

You may want to talk to GM or P32 about your problems.  They may be on a different level altogether where GM forgets about that 15 gun safe he stashed under the stairs holding all those extra Mosin Nagants that wouldn't fit anywhere else and P32 forgets about the 4th bedroom he converted into a temporary gun storage room when he ran out of places to stash 10 different M1 Carbines...