Unusual letter series...

[Bacarnal]

 Haven't been on for a while, but, life, ya know.
 Picked this one up at a pawn shop I've dealt with for a while.  I looked through the /26\ Series and found there were a few pictures of them.  The stock seems to have the letter in front of the numbers and the magazine is not correct, but on the whole everything else matches.

[echo1]

Picts or it didn't happen,  PAX

[Phosphorus32]

The letter series with the leading 2 are an interesting sub-category. I can't make out the identity of the numbers on the stock due to the sanding washing them out. In any case, it looks like a good early Type 56.

Good to hear from you! 

[running-man]

Nice pickup!

I can't make out the S/N on the stock either, but it contains multiple 2's, so I don't believe it to be original. Actually the sling swivel already rules that out as it's a bottom when letter guns all had side swivels.

What do pawn shop guns like this run these days?

[Bacarnal]

This one ran me 530.00, but I've dealt with the gent so much getting good deals from him, I figured I'd pay the extra. 

[Greatguns]

Bruce, how the heck are ya brother. 

J letter should be late '59 I believe, which should also have a side sling swivel so, including what I can make out of the SN on the stock and it having a bottom sling swivel I'd say it's a non-matching stock. I have a similar situation on a '63 project. Still a nice looking SKS though.

[running-man]

This one ran me 530.00, but I've dealt with the gent so much getting good deals from him, I figured I'd pay the extra. 

That's still not a bad deal in today's environment.  Paying a bit more on this one will certainly help when it comes time to negotiate in the future!   

[echo1]

I'm not seeing any picture??? PAX

[Bacarnal]

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

[running-man]

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

[echo1]

Thanks rm, PAX