I've had a couple Sinobanians, one a 7 digit ($269 LGS), one "F" 5 digit ($200 PPT) and an "A" 4 digit ($169 LGS cracked stock special), all with ratty wood but great matching metal parts and barrels. When those came ashore there around 2012, there were some Russians in there stamped "Made in China", "Sneaks" until the ATF got wind of it. Those rifles were a hard score. As the years past they turned into great trade fodder. PAX

Thanks rm, PAX

PAX, there are 8 Photos attached to this thread.  Not sure why you're not seeing them.  Maybe try the raw link to the pics I show below?  Only thing I can really see that's a bit odd in them is the .avif format.  That's not as common as a .jpeg or .bmp. 

https://i.ibb.co/jvmb8vL4/20260214-160641.avif

https://i.ibb.co/B2CxTFBX/20260214-160617.avif

https://i.ibb.co/Ld1QLGM9/20260214-161017.avif

https://i.ibb.co/Nd2hrcpQ/20260214-160925.avif

https://i.ibb.co/Mx13qjVp/20260214-160841.avif

https://i.ibb.co/LXsMBrp8/20260214-160820.avif

https://i.ibb.co/TM6dP0y4/20260214-160733.avif

https://i.ibb.co/vvfwZR6g/20260214-160724.avif

That's a neat story Bruce!  Looks like a nice one indeed! 

Albanian imports can mean two things:

Model 561 SKS imports from Albania that arrived around 2003ish.  These were a relatively small import batch of Albanian SKSs with all the Albania features we know and love.

Type 56 SKS imported from Albania in the 2013 to current timeframe.  These are Chinese SKSs stored in caches in Albania, found, deemed to be C&R firearms based on the 50 year rule and imported by a variety of importers.

If your carbine has a blade, chances are that it's from the second, but I can't account for the 18 years ago.  At most 13 years ago, but to my knowledge *no* Chinese type 56 carbines were imported from 1994 until 2013.

Photos would help out quite a bit on this one.  A clear photo of the S/N (you can blank out the last two digits if you wish) and the importer will 99% allow us to date when it was imported as we know which importers imported which guns in which years. 

Post up a few pics if you can. I remember these batches that came from Albania but most of them were Chinese SkS's that were imported from Albania. I have a couple also and YES they are beat to Shi* lol but I love it. Battle Ridden for sure.

Nice batch of iron. I only have a '65 Alpine, '71 Volvo 143S & a '71 bug. PAX

ABOUT 18 years ago  i was able to buy a few albanian sks imports. most were pretty rough. were they albanian or chinese that were in storage in albania for a long time then brought to usa. they had blades.  back then sorces with info on these was hard to find, thanks

In addition to my post yesterday of the Unusual Letter SKS, I had another successful day.  There was a Remington Rand M1911A1 at one of my LGS that had sat there for more than four months, marked at $1600.00.  A while ago I received three of the CMP M1 Garand barreled recovered receivers (two .30-06 and one .308) and built them.  My cost into them with parts was a little over a grand. I traded one and $150.00 for the M1911A1. 
This pistol seems to have been only had about two boxes fired through it after it came out of the box.  It hasn't been arsenal re-worked and the finish is great.  The only drawback is that having fired it, whoever had it didn't clean it after firing, so there is very minor pitting of the first inch of the bore.  The chamber and the rest of the barrel is bright.
Weapon dates to 1944.  The barrel is, I think, a High Standard.  All markings are crisp and clear and the slide is tight.  The finish is, again, great. 
Remington Rand's were the most produced M1911A1's, but that's OK by me.  When I fam-fired in Boot in 1980, it was with a Remington Rand.  It rattled so much I thought it might fly off.  When I went to Desert Storm, I was in an Air Wing unit.  Since we were deemed not a "front line" unit, they took our M9's and issued us M1911A1's.  Mine was a Remington Rand.  We didn't even have ammo issued.  Being a Reloader even then, I made sure our Detachment had .45 ACP, which we brought in country in our documents safe.  Good thing, since our Det was one of the first to enter the town of Khafji after an Iraqi Battalion had been repulsed by the SANG (Saudi Arabian National Guard) and U.S. Air Power (F18's and AH1J/T/&W's).  Long story shortened  , we went in afterwards to clean up the ordnance to clear the highways.
Anyway, done with reminiscing and why the Rand is special to me, and glad I got a good one!

echo1, the only thing I could suggest would be to log out then back in, or do a restart on your device.