Well, I got another today, arsenal 26 in the 11 million serial numbers, with "everything" matching! $300.00. Pics not real good, I'll take more in daylight. This rifle has "No" import marks! Never seen that before. Hello my names Dave and I have a sickness.......... whistle12
(https://i.ibb.co/KyzzXHL/DSCN3824.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3hYY7HM)
(https://i.ibb.co/C880f1f/DSCN3825.jpg) (https://ibb.co/fFF0s1s)
Quote from: Weldrdave on December 19, 2019, 07:37:51 PM
Hello my names Dave and I have a sickness.......... whistle12
Addiction is sickness....
thumb1 thumb1 admitting you have a problem is the first step in fixing the problem rofl2
The enablers are proud young fledgling.. :) thumb1 rofl2
SHhhhh.. I have one coming in the mail too.. ;)
Dave said he had a sickness.
He did not say he had a problem with it........ :P
Quote from: Larry D. on December 20, 2019, 04:53:16 AM
Dave said he had a sickness.
He did not say he had a problem with it........ :P
Yup, something like that! chuckles1
I think that pretty much describes all of us.
rofl clap1 rofl
nice one, good buy Dave. thumb1 where you get it from?
Some day light pics... The tip of the barrel had some rust at one time, butt plate as well, lots of pits in that. Not complaining for $300.00 nea1
(https://i.ibb.co/s9Z41FZ/DSCN3836.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hFSNdKS)
(https://i.ibb.co/1J43KY0/DSCN3838.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S7Z20D6)
(https://i.ibb.co/qWnW321/DSCN3837.jpg) (https://ibb.co/CMtM3S0)
(https://i.ibb.co/cvs0nJM/DSCN3840.jpg) (https://ibb.co/W3RZJnq)
(https://i.ibb.co/8btHbL0/DSCN3832.jpg) (https://ibb.co/bFDkFMP)
(https://i.ibb.co/YhJ0YcL/DSCN3835.jpg) (https://ibb.co/NKfTQ9y)
(https://i.ibb.co/R99g59q/DSCN3833.jpg) (https://ibb.co/t44Hd49)
(https://i.ibb.co/qj6b3s2/DSCN3834.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SySq4nZ)
Quote from: carls sks on December 20, 2019, 09:44:53 AM
nice one, good buy Dave. thumb1 where you get it from?
The gun shop I purchased the other 3. They are WWI, II, Korea and Vietnam collectors and FFL holders. They buy collections of all sorts of stuff military related. I can tell you this, They keep the most "Pristine" stuff for their own collections. Lucky for me they don't get many SKS's because I bought the ones they had, if they did I'd be "broke"!!! And, most likely divorced also! This one was in a collection of a Vietnam Vet who was Ill/hospice so the story goes. cry1. I'm a retired Disabled Veteran so I feel for him. It has a bit of meaning behind it, I had
two Brothers that served in Vietnam, I was to young. It'll be a keepsake but I'll shoot it. Gonna shoot it today as a matter of fact, going out to run a patch through the barrel and give it a once over! thumb1
The old adage is always "Buy the gun not the story." In this case, the gun is an as-issued type 56 in good to fair condition. Back in 2016 which was the last year I tracked the monthly GunBroker listings, a gun like that brought anywhere from $365 to $400 on avg. Prices have only increased since then, so the bottom line is you got an excellent deal there.
Moving on to the story, it is quite plausible to the point that I personally think the gun probably deserves a premium:
- 11 mil /26\ guns are very common VN bringbacks with many specimens having authenticated paperwork.
- Import stamps are purported 'missing' from a plethora of guns by ignorant members on the 'other' boards. We did an informal survey and *zero* non-/26\ guns w/o import stamps turned up.
- We did find, however, that *all* non-import marked guns were factory /26\ (or ghost = pre /26\ mark) guns and all were in the 1956 to ~1969 timeframe.
- Looking at enough VN bringbacks, certain patterns and characteristics seem to pop up again and again. Some guns just have the 'look'. This of course is subjective depending on the collector looking at the gun and I'm sure some here may not agree that this gun has the 'look'. One thing I'll say about this gun is that despite the fact that much of it is in remarkably good shape, the pitting at the buttplate and front sight block are pretty indicative of poor storage or negligence in cleaning while the gun was in a pretty humid humid environment.
- The wood is quite nice. Some bringbacks had grimy terrible looking wood while others look like they just came off the factory line. This is due to the fact that all sorts of weapons of all ages in various stages of use were captured in Vietnam. It ran the gamut of old weapons from the 50's that had already been ridden hard and put away wet before they were again pressed into service to new weapon aid still in crates from the factory, never degreased, that never made it to the intended destination.
You have a keeper there. You might see if the shop will give you any contact information of the vet they bought it from. If you could talk to him or his family and learn a bit more about how he came about the gun, it would go a long way to ID'ing whether it is his bringback or not. Heck, I've heard stories of extremely lucky collectors who have done this and the original DD603 papers (which the vet had initially misplaced or thought were not important at all) were reunited with the rifles easily tripling the value of their firearm. thumb1
Quote from: running-man on December 20, 2019, 10:39:34 AM
The old adage is always "Buy the gun not the story." In this case, the gun is an as-issued type 56 in good to fair condition. Back in 2016 which was the last year I tracked the monthly GunBroker listings, a gun like that brought anywhere from $365 to $400 on avg. Prices have only increased since then, so the bottom line is you got an excellent deal there.
Moving on to the story, it is quite plausible to the point that I personally think the gun probably deserves a premium:
- 11 mil /26\ guns are very common VN bringbacks with many specimens having authenticated paperwork.
- Import stamps are purported 'missing' from a plethora of guns by ignorant members on the 'other' boards. We did an informal survey and *zero* non-/26\ guns w/o import stamps turned up.
- We did find, however, that *all* non-import marked guns were factory /26\ (or ghost = pre /26\ mark) guns and all were in the 1956 to ~1969 timeframe.
- Looking at enough VN bringbacks, certain patterns and characteristics seem to pop up again and again. Some guns just have the 'look'. This of course is subjective depending on the collector looking at the gun and I'm sure some here may not agree that this gun has the 'look'. One thing I'll say about this gun is that despite the fact that much of it is in remarkably good shape, the pitting at the buttplate and front sight block are pretty indicative of poor storage or negligence in cleaning while the gun was in a pretty humid humid environment.
- The wood is quite nice. Some bringbacks had grimy terrible looking wood while others look like they just came off the factory line. This is due to the fact that all sorts of weapons of all ages in various stages of use were captured in Vietnam. It ran the gamut of old weapons from the 50's that had already been ridden hard and put away wet before they were again pressed into service to new weapon aid still in crates from the factory, never degreased, that never made it to the intended destination.
You have a keeper there. You might see if the shop will give you any contact information of the vet they bought it from. If you could talk to him or his family and learn a bit more about how he came about the gun, it would go a long way to ID'ing whether it is his bringback or not. Heck, I've heard stories of extremely lucky collectors who have done this and the original DD603 papers (which the vet had initially misplaced or thought were not important at all) were reunited with the rifles easily tripling the value of their firearm. thumb1
Thank you for that awesome information Sir! What I did/do know of this rifle is they purchased "all" the estate items from him and his son. I believe they went through all the old papers he had and he was a bit of a "hermit" recluse. The son was handling the sale/estate and gave them everything except his DD-214, medals/awards and uniform. I don't believe "I" could speak with him directly because of him being "very ill" and in hospice care. They didn't get into great detail but what I did ask was, if they find "any" paperwork related to the rifle, could I please have it or buy it!
I'm under the impression he had an M1 carbine, a Garand, M-16 some knives, a few WWII items, the SKS and some memorablia from the era. I caught that on a written inventory pad they had out while pricing things. I did not see the other items except the M1 Garand. There was a $1200.00 price tag on it! They did say if anything shows up, they would call me.
Great find, Dave bat1(This weeks nominee...again!). Yeah, I hear ya about the divorce part. Good thing about SKS's is that they won't know when ya get a new one 'cause they all look the same chuckles1. If it becomes discovered, you can say it's for the "just in case" collection. Cheers, Bruce.