saw this on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SKS/comments/1gpzqzq/1953_sks/
Serials look real or fake?
I don't see anything that truly gives me the heebie jeebies other than the conditionof the wood relative to the condition of the metal. S/N on the bolt carrier looks like it was struck a bit differently, but they all have a mostly consistent space between the prefix and the #, even down to the stock. Odd to see an Izhevsk see moderate use like that and not have a replacement stock. Wonder if it was a Sinobanian?
Stock acceptance stamps are consistent with other ИM prefixed 1953 Izhevsks:
(https://i.ibb.co/gtkkxS1/M1040-stock.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/8xXpnyJ/M2041-stock.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/DkHp9tp/M2462-stock.jpg)
wow.....Nice Carbine. Thanks RM for the comprehensible comparison!