I recently purchased a 23 million SKS. It came with a 5 round magazine. From what I have read this is a aftermarket magazine. I would like to know more about this. It copies the original quite closely, unlike most aftermarket magazines. Also running-man, the arsenal mark is 412. When I took off stock you could see original stamp was too low. They probably scrubbed and redid arsenal stamp, but part of old one still shows on receiver.
https://ibb.co/album/dF3rka
/412\ is not a known arsenal jstin. Maybe /0412\?
(http://sks-files.com/Pictures/Chinese/arsenal_stamps/T0412.jpg)
(http://sks-files.com/Pictures/Chinese/arsenal_stamps/T0412_P.jpg)
(http://sks-files.com/Pictures/Chinese/arsenal_stamps/T0412_P2.jpg)
I have to agree with you. 0412. I should have put that in. Looked at arsenal page earlier and saw 0412 but I wrote 412 down.
You said there was another arsenal stamp that may have been scrubbed...is it detailed enough to make out what it might have been?
It is not detailed enough to see what it was originally. I would think that it was 0412 and that it was stamped too low. Most of it would have been hidden by stock. When I saw pictures from seller, the arsenal mark had me stumped because I could see lines from original stamp also.
https://ibb.co/album/cEQtyv
Awesome photo jstin! Like you, I also wonder if it was simply a double struck stamp and not scrubbed. The low position might have indicated that the worker stamped it too low on the first pass and needed to adjust it higher when he realized his mistake. It certainly looks like it has a "0" in the lower left portion of the light stamp, not terribly many stamps that begin with zero are in the triangle arsenals: /0404\, /0405\, /0408\, /0412\. thumb1
I also think there is a double struck portion of the 五六式 stamp as well. If you move that stamp down and a bit to the left as a unit, the light lines form distinct portions of the Chinese characters, only in a different position...
The 5rd. magazine that is in your picture looks to be the Chinese 5rd fixed magazine that they supplied with the Polytech Hunter. Not sure if there were extras brought in or if they came on other commercial rifles? Power Surge would be the go-to guy on that. They are peferred for bench shooting, hunting, and the like.
firstchoice
The five round mags I believe were available as an aftermarket item after the Polytech Hunter. They are still found new occasionally...with Made in China in script stamped on the bottom. They sell for about 25% higher than a real factory mag does. Some states require five rounds or less for hunting....they get quite the premium around hunting season. I have one for my scout SKS...they make for a nice concise underbelly as FC mentioned for bench use.
It's been mentioned before, that someone really put a lot of work downsizing these from what likely were original magazines. It would have been awesome for Canada to get these instead of the plugged/bastardized factory mags....everybody would be happier...except for the gun shredders who profit from parts from otherwise perfectly healthy guns....
I emailed the seller and he said that he had bought this SKS from a buddy of his. Neither one had replaced magazine. And buddy had bought it from a retailer in Quebec. I checked for any markings on magazine and could not find anything.
PT Hunter had a very different 5 rounder. Made specifically for that model.
(https://preview.ibb.co/cEi2UJ/00010_magazine2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nkhJ3d)
Jstin's is much simpler.
Hehe....great job guys :)
Yes, the Poly Hunter mag is very different.
It's an aftermarket Chinese magazine.
Since the rifle was sold in Canada, and Canada has a 5 round mag limit, it seems this retailer decided to sell the rifle with the 5 round mag instead of riveting the original magazine to 5 rounds.
The PolyTech Hunter 5rd mag is a lot different. I hadn't noticed the difference before, albeit I haven't owned one before, either.
So, these Chinese 5rd fixed mags were made and exported to the USA and Canada for retail sales and not dedicated to any specific commercial model of SKS? Or, were these made in the States for retail sales? They seem to be nicely manufactured/re-manufactured for bubba to have done them.
firstchoice
I added some pictures to album. It shows that the arm is not solid but rather folded over.