type 56 in numbers not chinese

[sksarego]

arsenal 0303 says 56 and then a chinese letter??

[Phosphorus32]

56式 means Type 56, the Hanzi means Type. For [0303] they used this peculiar format instead of the typical 五六式, which has the Hanzi for 5 and 6, instead of Arabic numerals.

[sksarego]

Thanks for that info..was looking at the bolt carrier seems an earlier type ,what years you think 0303 was built.bolt carrier isnt the most narrow of lines either.again thanks

[Phosphorus32]

what years you think 0303 was built.

21st to 25th years, so 1976 to 1980.

bolt carrier isnt the most narrow of lines either

I'm not sure what you're trying to say in the quoted statement above.

What makes you think the bolt carrier is an earlier type? Does it have the lightening cuts? As usual, pictures would help 

[sksarego]

Removed and looking at its underside and side view as per yoopers seems to be an earlier carrier.I guess I need to see what he means by earlier..https://i.ibb.co/hg8mZm6/20210417-231356.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/2FstQpZ/20210417-231405.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/nMWg0Vd/20210417-231420.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/bBw1F1W/20210417-231957.jpg

[running-man]

Looks like a late bolt carrier to me.  You may be thinking of the portion in Yooper’s site where he makes a passing reference to early Russian bolt carriers with cuts on the underside to allow the spring loaded firing pins and mushroom style heads off said pins to clear I think. 

Chinese had early and late styles, but never had a spring loaded pin so the undersides were pretty consistent. Easiest way to tell early vs late on a Chinese type 56 is to look at the lightening cut just behind the carrier handle. Early has the cut and then they eliminated it around year 10.

[Greatguns]

Hey sksarego, as an FYI. When you upload pics from imgBB website, if you would select 'BBcode full linked' or 'BBcode thumbnail linked' instead of 'viewer links' the pics would actually be displayed in your threads instead of everyone having to click on them individually to see the pics.

Not tryin' to be a PITA, but just sayin'

[sksarego]

Seems identical to russian bolt  carrier maybe lighting cut may have been cut in later..maybe it just never had cut made

[running-man]

Seems identical to russian bolt  carrier maybe lighting cut may have been cut in later..maybe it just never had cut made

Never seen a non-lightened Russian carrier before and also never seen or even heard of lightening cuts being applied at times other than initial build of the carrier.  Would love to see the evidence this thought is based off of. 

[Phosphorus32]

Adding my voice to the chorus, it's definitely Chinese. It has that characteristic late production gray finish (polished phosphate treatment?) and lack of lightening cuts. There's nothing Russian about it.

[sksarego]

except its the same design ,chevy  in the day all had the 305 350 327 blocks the where almost the same ,some differences. the design is as a russian bolt carrier..im looking at it online..doesnt have to be from a russian lathe

[running-man]

I’m not following. You’re saying that all bolt carriers from various nationalities (Albanian notwithstanding) are the same and all could be found on a Russian SKS45 and vice-versa?

[sksarego]

just same design

[running-man]

I guess I'm still not following, would you expect it to be a different design?  The Russians exported the gun to these countries in the 1956+ time frame to help expand and strengthen the iron curtain.  Why would these countries not make them the way the Russians designed them during their first few years of native builds? 

We see that many countries decided to go their own way sometime later with Albanian, post 1965 Chinese, Yugo M59/66 all adopting modifications to the carrier to suit their needs.  Indeed, it is because of these changes that we can better date them...

[sksarego]

well yes,,i was just trying to figure this out is all.0303 is kind of odd anyway with the type 56 stamping so the carrier caught my attention too.1968 china and 1980 china is different ,i guess im getting thrown off here..so i suppose its a military rifle as well?? another question is what was the lighting cut for? 

[Phosphorus32]

If it has a Type 56 marking, it was made for the military, so yes, yours is military not commercial.

1965 or earlier Chinese, the bolt carrier had the lightening cut.
1966 or later, that milling operation was deleted.

The reason for the lightening cut is uncertain. A few alternative hypotheses:

1. It was milled out to adjust the weight of the bolt carrier exactly for ideal cycling. Counterpoint: you'd think they would just design that overall bolt carrier weight into the bolt carrier initially without having an extra cut.

2. It's extra metal that they could afford to cut away to decrease the overall weight of the rifle by a few grams. Counterpoint: it seems like too small of a weight savings to justify another milling operation. Counter-counterpoint: they used to mill out a lightening cut in the bayonet lug, and I can't see any functional benefit to that cut, so why not the bolt carrier too.

3. It was designed as a self-clearing feature, or tolerance forgiveness feature, for wet or dirty conditions between that side of the bolt carrier and the corresponding race in the right receiver rail, i.e., having the recess would allow tight tolerances in normal conditions but some leeway if it got dirty, muddy or you were in a downpour and wanted to avoid the bolt carrier locking up. Counterpoint: I've never tested this hypothesis with mud or water, and I'm not likely to test it with one of my SKSs 

I'm sure there are other hypotheses people can present. I'm not convinced of any of the possibilities I presented.

[sksarego]

i see,,thanks..and will try to post pics better too.possibly getting another rifle soon.are yuo all aware of the sks following on reddit over 11k

[Greatguns]

i see,,thanks..and will try to post pics better too.possibly getting another rifle soon.are yuo all aware of the sks following on reddit over 11k

I knew there is a big one on Facebook(how it is keeping from getting banned I have no idea), but dropped FB before the election and have never had anything to do with Reddit. Just barely maintain my Linkedin account for work. Key word Barely.

[sksarego]

says its 11.5k strong but i like this site better.more personable