Letter Series Stocks

[running-man]

Ran across this letter series stock and thought I'd post it because it's different:



The И suffix is typically never shown on a '56-'58 Tula like this.  Most original stocks and even 99% of the refurb/replacements will have only the prefix and the number.  The suffix is typically only ever seen on the receiver, not on the piece parts.  Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a '56-'58 suffix on anything but a receiver or a stock.  ('54 Izhevsks have them on all S/N'd parts.)

Anyhow, just wanted to post this one as a placeholder so I can put others here if/when I find them.

[Dannyboy53]

Any ideas why?

[running-man]

I suspect it was that different refurb shops had different refurb procedures Danny.  Most of the shops understood that the suffix on a '56-'58 was a year designator and not intended to be an official part of the S/N used on the piece parts.  There was obviously one refurb shop, or perhaps a group of individuals on a specific line at one of the shops (or heck, maybe it was just one crazy Ivan on a line at a shop) that decided to take the receiver S/N in full and apply it to the stock.  Maybe it was noticed by a supervisor and corrected quickly and that's why we don't see too many of them.  Or maybe the refurb shop that did these simply didn't refurb all that many SKSs and that's why the number is so low.  Hard to really say with any certainty, I suspect we'll never know. 

[Dannyboy53]

Thanks running-man. It would be awesome to run into a Russian immigrant that worked in the industry and had at least some knowledge of the workings of these arsenals.

I think I am suffering delusions caused by sleep deprivation or maybe I'm over medicated!

[Loose}{Cannon]

Where is that thread RM posted about the abandoned refurb location with helmets all over, a full wood shop, and pics of it all?

[Phosphorus32]

Where is that thread RM posted about the abandoned refurb location with helmets all over, a full wood shop, and pics of it all?

http://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=1934.msg22508#msg22508

Found it with the fully functional search engine 

[Loose}{Cannon]

I didn't even know what search term to use....  IM USELESS!!! 

Brain was fried... Had a long day yesterday jumping through hoops trying to get a new job thats very hard to obtain.

Yeah, there you go danny...  All kinds of cool pics of an old place like the one in question. 

[Dannyboy53]

I'd like to spend about a week rambling around that place.

[Boris Badinov]

This rifle popped up on the Canadian gunnutz site. Some canadian collectors are identifying it as an all-original rifle and stock. Despite the laminate stock and the irregular year indicator on the stock.

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1833239-SKS-need-help-please/page2

The close-up pics of the stock serial also show what look to be a faded Polish 'WP" property mark. 

[running-man]

I've always maintained that any individual who says "This SKS45 is un-refurbished." is simply delusional.  How could anybody not involved in the original production of these know this?!?  Do they have records of the entire gun's history from fabrication, through issuance, decommission, export, and import?  If not, they simply have no leg to stand on.

Heck forget Russian guns fabricated at the beginning of the cold war, there are precious few *American* guns (certain early S/N M1 Garands gifted to individuals that now reside in museums come to mind) that historians *know* this level of information about.

I also made this post long before the Westrifle 'modified' guns were widely known about. It could be that this is one of them, the stamping and finish look similar to me. 

I do know this, those imports with the Westrifle odd stocks are so indefensible as being 'original' (or un-refurbished or whatever they want to call them) that I have tossed every single one of them out from the ranks of database gold standard guns that others can be conpared to.  Just corrupt data that should not be used which is a real shame because Canadian imports could and should have been a gold mine of good data.

[running-man]

And one final thing.  I don't really know how useful it is to argue these points on CGN.  A very good majority there are set in their opinions and have been that way for years. Howie Bearse was basically run out of there on a rail for suggesting that just because a receiver cover says 19xx, the gun is not necessarily a 19xx built gun.  We don't agree with everything Howie says here at SKS-Files, but heck this is just plain common sense.  They just don't want to hear it. 

Also, they will not tolerate any negative accusations against any of their sugar daddy advertisers. Say something bad about any of them and you can bet your bottom dollar the hammer will drop.