1957 Tula

[Phosphorus32]

Nice light refurb I picked up a few weeks ago that just arrived this week. I was attracted to the blued bayonet, and I'm not disappointed. Has the blued crown, and blued bayonet generally taken as signs of refurbishment, otherwise I'd be tempted to call it as-issued. No refurb marks that I'm familiar with on the metal or stock. Anyhow, enjoy the pics!

[running-man]

Jon that's a real beauty!  Heck of a nice '57 you got yourself there.  Does the stock show any rounded edges indicative of sanding or do you think it just got a reshellac?  Either way, very nice. 

[Phosphorus32]

Jon that's a real beauty!  Heck of a nice '57 you got yourself there.  Does the stock show any rounded edges indicative of sanding or do you think it just got a reshellac?  Either way, very nice. 

Thanks Joe!  I'm pleased to have it

I don't know for sure. I've never been impressed with the sharpness of the edges of grasping grooves in the Russian birch (a "soft" hardwood) stocks, on SKSs or Mosins. They're never as sharp as the routed grasping grooves on walnut or beech Mauser stocks. I'd lean toward simple edge wear, considering the wear and chips in the rest of the shellac, but perhaps it was a very light sanding before a recoat. Here are a few more pics of those edges and a closeup of the SN on the stock I neglected to add to the original post.

[jstin2]

Your S/N looked familiar. Checked my 57 and it has the same lettering but 3308.  Mine is refurbished, painted and a laminate stock . Other than magazine it has matching S/Ns.

https://ibb.co/album/nvbofa

[Justin Hell]

Beautiful....I won't even give you a hard time about the doily the bolt was photographed upon.

Oops...I guess I just did a little. 

[Phosphorus32]

Beautiful....I won't even give you a hard time about the doily the bolt was photographed upon.

Oops...I guess I just did a little. 

thanks! That's just the tablecloth on our kitchen table (yup, wife was not present).

[carls sks]

beauty, thanks for sharing. 

[Greasemonkey]

Ok.. I like it...... you enabler  It almost, just about makes me wanna buy another Russian...The urdge was strong... almost... but not quite..

Now the hot lace bolt doily.... I might strongly consider

[Loose}{Cannon]

So....   how do we know blued bayos were not taken off of perhaps 1950s and isnt 'exactly' done at refurb, but merely used up at the time of refurb?   

NICE GET!   

[Justin Hell]

So....   how do we know blued bayos were not taken off of perhaps 1950s and isnt 'exactly' done at refurb, but merely used up at the time of refurb?   

NICE GET!   

The original bayonet was likely replaced by the blued one...the stake marks are off.  I wouldn't be surprised if all the blued bayonets were from a run and got randomly placed on guns at refurb. Yet another thing the Russians likely did that will prevent figuring out what happened and at what point did it happen.  I really would like to see a blued bayonet on a staked gun, just to see where the blued bayonets fell into the scheme of those first couple years of growing pains.  I love my blued one...it came from a 51 according to the PO. Looks downright proper on my good ol' 49/50 whicheveritis.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Thats basically what I'm sayin.   

[Phosphorus32]

Your S/N looked familiar. Checked my 57 and it has the same lettering but 3308. I sent Running-Man pictures of my carbines for his registry last month, so he has pictures of it. Mine is refurbished, painted and a laminate stock . Other than magazine it has matching S/Ns.

Cool, and you probably paid considerably less than $498 

[Phosphorus32]

Ok.. I like it...... you enabler  It almost, just about makes me wanna buy another Russian...The urdge was strong... almost... but not quite..

Now the hot lace bolt doily.... I might strongly consider

Hey, you NEED a lace bolt doily...I mean another Russian SKS   

[Phosphorus32]

So....   how do we know blued bayos were not taken off of perhaps 1950s and isnt 'exactly' done at refurb, but merely used up at the time of refurb?   

NICE GET!   

Thanks LC! 

The blued bayonets were made in a limited run at the temporarily revived Sestroryetsk Arsenal in May 1957 and added to SKSs distributed to Spetsnaz, so they wouldn't have to blacken the blade over a diesel fire before heading out on night ops. Very rare!  Adds a $500 premium to any SKS-45 

[Loose}{Cannon]

Makes perfect sense....   your such a legend!   

[Loose}{Cannon]

What month did they start applying white paint into the serials to highlight them?

[Phosphorus32]

Makes perfect sense....   your such a legend!   

[Greasemonkey]

Ok.. I like it...... you enabler  It almost, just about makes me wanna buy another Russian...The urdge was strong... almost... but not quite..

Now the hot lace bolt doily.... I might strongly consider

Hey, you NEED a lace bolt doily...I mean another Russian SKS   

3 is a nice round number, that's all I need of them things.... But... I wouldn't complain about scoring one of them thar uber elite super secret  Spetsnaz bayonet equipped Russian things from May of '57, that would be kinda cool... Like almost as cool as snatching an uber legends hot bolt lacey doily thingy off his wifeys dining room table..

Man....don't lick it, that white paint might be cyanide laced in case of capture, they can lick it and die with honor before the tourture and waterboarding start.