So recently Pcke2000 posted the following:
Tula star on rear sight is one of early production characters (up to 1952), but not so rare. And it indicates the rear sight on your carbine is a replacement.
Russian SKS45s are really not my strongpoint. I'd say I know an order of magnitude more about type 56's than I do about Russians, but that doesn't mean I can't learn! I thought it would be interesting to see what we can tease from the data SKS-Files has on hand of the guns located in our Russian SKS survey (the list is located in the Russian Serial Data board under the
Breaking the Russian Cyrillic Prefix code) and see if we can help corroborate Pcke's observations. I personally think Pcke is probably on to something, but of course, it's always best to just present the data and see what conclusions we can draw from them. (click on any image to enlarge)
1949 Tula guns. These guns are all refurbished to some degree or not, as such they are really only 'probable' '49s though a good many have correct spike bayos which is the one feature not seen on a transitional '50. These RSLs have a distinct numeral 4, I'm going to categorize them as "RSL #1" going forward to be able to keep track of them. We see several instances of the star on the RSL (click on a photo to enlarge):
1950 Tula guns. I have a surprisingly small number of '50 as-issued guns in my list. Unfortunately, of this small number of guns, I find exactly one carbine that shows the RSL. Interestingly enough, the 'transitional' 50's that I have in the database appear to have "RSL #1" types, but most everything else seems to have a different RSL type that has a noticeable different numeral 4. I'm going to characterize these as "RSL #2" going forward. I don't know that the following photo is good enough to conclusively determine that the star is not there, but I sure don't see one after blowing it up:
The '50 refurbs continue the pattern seen in the '49s with many RSL stars. These RSLs run the spectrum, they are blued, stripped of bluing and reblued (almost parkerized look), and painted.
I also found a good deal of them either w/o RSL stars or that were simply unclear.
This one could easily be a scrubbed star, but the photo isn't of good enough resolution to say for certain:
1951 Tula guns. Quite a few more as-issued '51's and we see the star on most of them. Again these are "RSL #2" types as the 4s are dead giveaways:
I also found a couple ones I'd chalk up to 'uncertain' as the detail is poor, but they could have stars, or they might not:
The refurbs follow the exact same pattern as the '50s did, lots of stars, lots of non stars, lots of uncertains. No need to post these as they are identical to the 50's.
1952 Tula guns. There are a similar number of as-issued '52s as there are '51s. Again the majority seem to have the RSL star and they are all "RSL #2" types.
There was also an uncertain one in there, could easily be remnants of a star below and to the right of the battle sight П
The refurbs follow the exact same pattern as the '50s & 51's did, lots of stars, lots of non stars, lots of uncertains.
1953 Tula guns. We see a major change with the 53 guns. RSL stars are gone. Additionally, all the RSLs have a totally different front on the 4s indicating another version of RSL, the "RSL #3":
I can find star marked RSLs in the refurb category, but all are on "RSL #1s" or "RSL #2s".
1953 Izkevsk guns. Very few of these exist and even fewer that are as-issued. I only found this unknown RSL type and I dont see a star stamp on it:
1954 Tula guns. As with the 53 Tulas, the 54 guns dont seem to have any star stamped RSLs on any as-issued guns. Additionally, the RSL seems to be an "RSL #3" type:
There could be a different RSL on some of these 54 guns (hard to really tell from this photo, but I definitely have observed an "RSL #4" out there):
1954 Izhevsk guns. Again, very few as-issued examples are in the database, though many more than 53 Izhevsks. This one is a bit interesting in that it appears there
could be a difference in the dual Cyrillic prefixed 54s and the single prefix/number/single suffix guns. Of course with only a single data point of comparison, thats a pretty weak claim:
Dual prefix, no star, possibly "RSL #4":
Single prefix/number/single suffix, no star, "RSL #3":
1955 Tula guns. 1955 as-issued guns are like hens teeth. I do have a few refurbs (which are also quite uncommon) that are pretty inconclusive and really cant tell us much about what may or may not have originally been on the gun. I see mainly "RSL #3" in these:
1956 Tula guns. It was somewhat hard to find a true as-issued gun, but they are out there with "RSL #3":
And of course, quite a few refurbs with various differing flavors of RSLs. These ones had the identical 4s as the above, so I think they are original to this series:
1957 Tula guns. Basically the same as 56s. Again "RSL #3s" on these. The as-issued guns:
And again quite a few refurbs, with varying RSLs:
Of course, earlier version RSLs can still be seen on heavy refurbs:
1958 Tula guns. Looks like more RSL #3s in this series. This would make sense if the letter run was a assembly line restart for the purpose of using up old stock already in inventory and to provide a training platform for the Chinese, Romanians, Yugos and the like for the build of their SKSs. As-issued:
Refurbs:
Heck, there are even "RSL #1s" with stars on them:
So what does this all tell us? I think the star stamp is correlated to the early-font RSL. The RSL #3s through #5s don't seem to have it, they tend to have a /T&K\, [T&K), or [T&K] (where the T&K are combined together in a single letter). What any of those stamps mean....I'm open to suggestions.
Edit: The early mid late convention I was using was really bugging me. I decided to change the nomenclature of the RSLs. This is what we appear to have:
RSL #1, 1949 and 1950 Transitionals:
RSL #2, 1950 - 1952:
RSL #3, 1953 - 1958:
RSL #4, Found on an early two prefix '54 Izhevsk.
It might be an RSL #3, but I think it's different (no, it's defintiely different, look at the 3's):
and Finally RSL #5. This came off a late '54 Izhevsk Sino-Banian that was well worn and the pedigree is totally unknown. Could be a worn #4 or a Chinese part for all we know, but it is significantly different than anything seen before:
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