Stamped Rifle

[padams8888]

Found a stamped version today. Pictures are dismal....(Photobucket is currently down, so I'll put them on later)have no idea about numbers. Is there any thought on how many of these were actually made? I know the importers marked were usually ink stamped or etched vs. stamped to avoid damage, but did any of these ever see combat? I'll get pics on here when it arrives.

[running-man]

Highest S/N'd stamped gun I've ever seen is 7106977. 

~5.4k in '70 and ~7k in '71 puts you at almost 13k known.  Not "rare" by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly uncommon and a neat/unusual variant that's quite collectable.

All the import stamps I've seen are all early import stamps. Early "St. A" CAI receiver cover stamps and very early hand engraved B-West "L.A. CA" stamps.  I think this was just the way they stamped all type 56s in that early era of lax ATF oversight instead of them specifically babying a stamped gun.  Maybe there are some later imported stamped guns there, but I can't say that I've seen them. 

I don't see a physical reason they couldn't have been stamped like a std. type 56, nothing particularly special about the sheet they made the exterior of the gun from.  Of course, I learned to never say never a long time ago!   You could easily be right about them not wanting to risk damage, but the fact that other type 56s imported during the same era are import marked the same way throws a bit of cold water on this I'd think.

[padams8888]

Early rifles had the quasi ink stamp import Mark on the receiver cover?

[running-man]

Early rifles had the quasi ink stamp import Mark on the receiver cover?

ATF ruled that import marks must be on 'non' removable parts, they must be a certain depth, a certain minimum size, and must contain a certain minimum amount of information.  I forget when they ruled this, but it was pre '88. When you find an import mark that doesn't meet one of these requirements, it's usually an early import from what I've been able to find in my research.

[firstchoice]

  Some of the old B-West stamps were tiny compared to the later stamps. Talk about "discreet" import stamps! Always needed my glasses on to read them.

  Looking forward to seeing pics of you new acquisition, padams8888!

firstchoice

[Justin Hell]

  Some of the old B-West stamps were tiny compared to the later stamps. Talk about "discreet" import stamps! Always needed my glasses on to read them.

  Looking forward to seeing pics of you new acquisition, padams8888!

firstchoice

My first B-West was so tiny I tried scubbing it off for fifteen minutes before I realized what it was....I thought it was stock line grime.

[padams8888]

  Some of the old B-West stamps were tiny compared to the later stamps. Talk about "discreet" import stamps! Always needed my glasses on to read them.

  Looking forward to seeing pics of you new acquisition, padams8888!

firstchoice

That's some funny stuff right there.......how do you even make a stamp that small???

My first B-West was so tiny I tried scubbing it off for fifteen minutes before I realized what it was....I thought it was stock line grime.

[running-man]

I just uploaded a group of B-West import stamps to the Chinese importers thread.

Here are the stamps I've found:

















It's a wonder that some of those stamps even came out legible. Tiny font, maybe 1/32" (0.03125) tall.