Cleaning Kit Conundrums.

[newchi]

Dont forget to figure out who issues brass brushed vs nylon and for which years etc

[Loose}{Cannon]

Here you have it...  From the most pristine cosmo loaded NK I know of.  Thanks to Bob Hanes

[Greasemonkey]

Looks kinda like every other kit, but I'd guess it is closer than some of the examples shown in the OP. Shame they don't have a makers mark, factory stamp, serial or something on them.


But it even still entertains the question...what happened or was done between it's final acceptance stamp born on date, shipping, being issued/used, inspected and greased up for storage and the date it was captured, or even after capture? There is always that unknown variable, was the kit missing by chance before storage, found on an inspection and a random one added buy someone before the storage grease up? Without catching one as it rolls off the assembly line or straight from a factory sealed crate, it really is hard to tell.

It is human built, a human could have forgotten to shove one in at assembly, a human solider/owner/capturer could have lost it, a human could have even swapped/mixed it up somewhere, a human could have even packed a random kit up in it after capture out of or even in country.

[spongemonkey]

Look here what I dug out of my butt!   

Well actually the butt of my K Sports SKS.   

[Justin Hell]

Got Conundrums?
Yep.



I found this one to be of particular interest...anyone know what this extra tool is for?

[spongemonkey]

Gas port cleaner?   

[Justin Hell]

 
At first I thought that, but since it also has a gas port reamer, I thought maybe some kind of sight adjustment tool?

Was there anything else besides SKS and AKs using this type of cleaning kit? Two of the 25 have these, only one has both tools....and a huge variety of brushes.

Two have knurled caps, none have the tampon applicator folding at the end...but some have...well, dimples on the end of the tube....also a huge variety of differences there too, all of them are a little different on the bottom of the tube than what I am familiar with.  The tubes in general, all have the same holes....

I am curious that when in service, whenever the opportunity arose if either new kits, or more likely brushes were made available?

[Greasemonkey]

I have seen an Ak gas port tool/reamer/cleaner that was square, there are some that look more like a broke bolt extractor, usually they are bent like this one, with a square end.

https://www.apexgunparts.com/ak-gas-port-reamer-new.html

Looking at the size difference between those 2 port cleaners, bet one will fit an SKS gas port easy, the other won't or will fit really tight if it does, usually an Ak has a slightly bigger gas port. A Para SKS also typically has a larger port than a normal SKS due to the shorter barrel, this is why one sees people chopping the barrel, then opening the gas port.

[Loose}{Cannon]

The bigger one actually looks like a reamer.   I was also under the impression the pointed tool was a common tool for going through the cleaning rod hole to lock the rod to the kit casing as a handle, flipping take town levers, punching out FP retaining pins etc.

[Justin Hell]

So might the couple that have these possibly been AK kits, but without the screwdriver pokey thing?
I haven't checked yet, but that does seem a little large for an SKS gas port...and as well used these kits are, I doubt they came from any commercial paras...many of which didn't even have a cleaning kit anyway...the variety of brushes  makes me think various parts of kits were available as replacements as needed...perhaps some AK reamers got mixed in? 

I also wonder if these may have been the missing kits many of the recent imports were lacking perhaps?  They seem to look the part of those well broken in guns.  I think those might be their only selling point...who wants a brand new kit in an old war horse? 

My consensus leads me to believe these were SKS kits, but I don't know anything about what the old AK kits may have been like.  I just usually see that screwdriver thingy and/or a spare pin and chalk it up to being an AK kit.

[Loose}{Cannon]

These are all SKS kits and look to be Chinese.  The AK kits do not have the 'prong tabs' attached to the cap. 

You notice the hole through the rear shank of the reamer to put the poker tool in for leverage?

[Donp236]

Here is mine it was in the butt of the IO SKS along with a piece of brown gauze nested below the cleaning kit. Will never know haw it got there.