1948 Russian SKS

[Bunker]

Seen this one for sale on the Russian boards. I assume a training and/or MMG weapon. There is a little discussion in the for sale thread about it. I'm no SKS expert but the first thing that caught my eye is the plywood and the bayonet. Hopefully some of the experts here can pick this SKS apart as to originality throughout and any oddities. I do vaquely recall reading that some or most of the school/training SKSs had similar slits as this one depicted. This SKS has slits in the top cover and barrel. http://forum.guns.ru/forummessage/115/1887787.html

[fenceline]

Same markings I saw on the 1948 receiver cover I was too uninformed to buy when I saw it 4 years ago here in Canada.  It was a heavy refurb with blade bayo. But the markings were the same. No slit.

This is only the second one I've seen. Did see a stock with 1948 marks though in another collection.

1948 guns do exist.

[Bunker]

It's the first 1948 pre-production SKS that I've seen. Nice to hear some exist in Canada. I have noticed recently that a few pre-production/prototype AKs were for sale and sold in Russian and Ukraine. 

[pcke2000]

Thank you very much for posting the pictures. It's the first time I've ever seen a 1948 SKS. Very rare!

Regarding the laminated stock, a few years ago, someone from Canada posted a picture on gunboards.com forum of a refurb 1949 SKS with a laminated stock modified for spike bayonet, very interesting too.

[Phosphorus32]

Fascinating!  Look at that bolt face 

[pcke2000]

OK, I now see the stock was modified for spike bayonet.

BTW, what are differences between 1948 and 1949 SKS?  Thank you!

[Dannyboy53]

Awesome!

[running-man]

Nice find Bunker!  (Though it's like salt in the wound for fenceline I bet, he had one with at least the same CKC cover in his hands and didn't pull the trigger.  Things like that haunt a guy for a while.)

Nice to see the clear "8" in the date though even if the cover (and indeed the whole rifle) has been decommissioned for sale in the Russian civilian market with the cuts.  That stock is a replacement.  The second crossbolt wasn't even known to be needed as a reinforcement point in original stocks until '56.

I find it interesting that the bayo collar appears to not be knurled, would make for a slippery grip in gloves in the snow I'd think.  Gas tube takedown lever is a totally different style as well - no tab. 
Boltface looks odd too, the fixed portion that grabs the case looks off, though that might just be the decomissioning cuts making it unusable and not swappable.  I need to pull one off my '50 and compare it to the photo to see what the ifferences really are. 

[Loose}{Cannon]

Yes sir!  The markings look exactly like the example Fenceline found years ago..  I think this goes without saying that 1949 was not the first year. It's also very important to reiterate that with reworked guns from Russia the receiver cover is often not original to the gun,  it's all too common that a collector buys in 1949 marked gun and the rifle is not a 1949 produced rifle at all.  This is precisely why the Canada serial/year survey is completely useless.

[Loose}{Cannon]

I think the lever tab is just hard to see at that angle, and the extractor was removed for demill. 

[fenceline]

It's the first 1948 pre-production SKS that I've seen. Nice to hear some exist in Canada. I have noticed recently that a few pre-production/prototype AKs were for sale and sold in Russian and Ukraine.

To be fair, a 1948 cartouched stock, and a 1948 receiver cover exist in Canada.  One each that I know of. 

[Phosphorus32]

I think the lever tab is just hard to see at that angle, and the extractor was removed for demill.

I get it. They removed the extractor, milled off the "tabs" of the bolt and reinstalled the extractor.  Ouch, they don't mess around when they demil a firearm in the realm of Potentate Putin 

[running-man]

I think the lever tab is just hard to see at that angle, and the extractor was removed for demill.

No, I think it's a distinct variant.  Check these '49s out.  Notice the dark shadow from the tab on this one that's in the same orientation as Bunker's '48.


Even w/o the tab, notice the non-symmetrical ear for the detent dimple:



But then when you see the detent dimple, you see that it actually has a groove that it can ride in on the rear sight block.  This means that the rear sight block is different on this '48 as well, that one slipped right by me at first:


Another thing I noticed is that the receiver cutout for spent shells to freely eject on the right side of the '48 is milled with a vertical profile at the back of the cut. 


49's and above all have angled profiles at the back and the stocks all follow this contour pretty well.


I wonder if the original '48 stock has a vertical cut in it instead of the slight angle we see in all other stocks?  This gun is definitely an odd duck.  Neat stuff!

[Loose}{Cannon]

Oh,  I see the dif in the lever...  Im just not convinced it dont have a finger tab. 

[running-man]

Seen this one for sale on the Russian boards. I assume a training and/or MMG weapon. There is a little discussion in the for sale thread about it. I'm no SKS expert but the first thing that caught my eye is the plywood and the bayonet. Hopefully some of the experts here can pick this SKS apart as to originality throughout and any oddities. I do vaquely recall reading that some or most of the school/training SKSs had similar slits as this one depicted. This SKS has slits in the top cover and barrel. http://forum.guns.ru/forummessage/115/1887787.html

I think you're right on the training thought Bunker.  Notice the "УЧ" in a box on both the trigger group and magazine:


That as well as "УЧЫ" is the typical abbreviation for "УЧЕБНЫЙ" which is "Training" according to The Google.

Datig has a page on training TT-33s


We've found a few Russian SKSs pop up with УЧ stampings (top one from user El Viejo, second from Rocky11731, third from Bill in Indiana):

[Loose}{Cannon]

Yeah...  I dunno.   Maybe that boltface was made that way.   

[Power Surge]

Yeah...  I dunno.   Maybe that boltface was made that way.

Pretty sure that's part of the de-mill process. Looks like a carboned up bolt face that was taken to a belt sander.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Could be....  hard to imagine it purposefully being done on a design standpoint. 

[Power Surge]

Could be....  hard to imagine it purposefully being done on a design standpoint.

I can't how it could work as is.

[Loose}{Cannon]

The extractor is the only part having a lip on all sks....  but not having the left/bottom rims, I imagine the case going all over the place uncontrolled during extraction prior to being ejected.