M59/66 D Block

[Phosphorus32]

My order from Centerfire Systems came in and I got my D block. Good condition with a small crack behind the tang. I may put in a screw if I decide to shoot it. The trigger group does not match and the stock is arsenal force-matched. Otherwise it's original with very faded SNs, I had to get the angle of the light just right to pick them up on camera. Impossible to see many of them under outdoor lighting. Ported grenade launcher and no night sights as expected. The front sight hood has seen better days but it's functional. It's one of the Samco imports, so it has a discreet import mark underneath the barrel at the front, which is rather nice.



I hadn't noticed the different front sight on the long barrels before laying them adjacent to one another for the group photo 






















M59/66 not M59/66A1

[Loose}{Cannon]

Nice...  Even a blood smear on the mag.   

[Justin Hell]

Very nice! It's my D's little sister.

I like the character of the stock, mine is cut differently, and isn't as striking....does yours have a stamped serial in the safety notch?

Does your rear sight leaf look as if it wore that way or if it is a worn example of the later silver topped Yugo leaves?  Mine is blued, but only serialed with an electro penciled part number on the slide....there might be something in the groove, but I can't find decent reading glasses to check.  I don't think I have seen the silver topped ones without night sights before...I imagine most of these leaves had to be original to stay with the 59/66 configuration without being overhauled.

That sure is an awful lot of wear if it is...wear.  Perhaps that stock is cracked from lots of grenade launching?  Mine is cracked too, but I didn't attribute it to anything but disassembly...I think a little snag from the locking lug was the culprit.  Yours certainly looks to have had a little more field use than mine.  I thought perhaps mine was kept by someone for a long time that didn't have much to do.

The FSBs on these are unique to the 59/66 only...they added quite a bit more metal for the night sights for whatever reason....the bullet wound (?) yours has just makes it look mean. I dig it! 
It would be a tall order to find one of these to replace it....if you would even want to.

I really like the look of the ported launchers vs. the late ones...and also wonder why they did it.  Whether it was cost saving for virtually no effect, or because it had a detrimental effect when launching? The engineering behind these interests me greatly, since nobody else modified the SKS to such an extreme....even the Albanians.

[running-man]

Heck of a gun Jon. Glad I could enabl....err I mean help point you towards one of these.   

How's the bore look?

[Phosphorus32]

Nice...  Even a blood smear on the mag.   

Thanks!  Could be, or Slobodan Milosevic was sweating it 

[Phosphorus32]

Very nice! It's my D's little sister.

I like the character of the stock, mine is cut differently, and isn't as striking....does yours have a stamped serial in the safety notch?

Thanks!  No serial number in the notch but the stock isn't original to the carbine.

Does your rear sight leaf look as if it wore that way or if it is a worn example of the later silver topped Yugo leaves?  Mine is blued, but only serialed with an electro penciled part number on the slide....there might be something in the groove, but I can't find decent reading glasses to check.  I don't think I have seen the silver topped ones without night sights before...I imagine most of these leaves had to be original to stay with the 59/66 configuration without being overhauled.

The pattern I've seen most is the blued sight leaf that is burnished to leave the blued numbers and graduations, most often with the bluing left on the sight leaf below the "I" mark but sometimes it is removed down to the sight notch piece. This example looks burnished with patina, dull grey. My J block M59/66A1 (left) that likely saw less use since refurb, has fresher looking burnishing.

[Phosphorus32]

Heck of a gun Jon. Glad I could enabl....err I mean help point you towards one of these.   

How's the bore look?

Thanks Joe!  Your sales pitch was a good one...not that it takes anything more than "buy this SKS" to get me on the hunt    

The bore looks very good, dark but sharp rifling; far from pristine but plenty of life left

[MxwllBkr]

Nice Rifle!  I haven't had a chance to take pictures of mine yet, same thing from centerfire/ Samco import. The stamp in the safety cutout I am assuming is supposed to match the rest of the assembly numbers......

[Loose}{Cannon]

I would like this rifle a whole lot better if... 

It were mine?

[Phosphorus32]

I would like this rifle a whole lot better if... 

It were mine?

[Phosphorus32]

Comparison of the fsb on the M59/66A1 (top) vs. M59/66 (bottom). The A1 just has an additional scallop in order to accommodate the "U" bracket that holds the night sight and has to slip under the GL sight.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Making a D looks to be easier then I had thought.