J Block M59/66 SKS

[Phosphorus32]

I went on an overnight trip to Spokane to see the Gregg Allman Band on Monday night with my wife, who bought me tickets for Father's Day.  What goes better with southern blues rock than guns   My wife patiently followed me around to the pawn and gun shops in the Spokane area on Tuesday (yeah, she's that good to me) and I found this matching Yugoslavian SKS still in Cosmoline at a price I couldn't pass up.  One of the few flaws, the stock appears to be either double-struck, or overstruck (I think the latter), with the current SN...also it has a few dings.  The bore is great and the bluing is excellent.  This SKS is plastered with SNs and part/drawing numbers.  You'd think it had been made at Mauser Oberndorf rather than Zastava  I thought the conventional wisdom was that Yugoslavian SKSs didn't have chrome-lined bores but this bore is sharp and dazzlingly bright, suggestive of chrome.  The gas piston is chromed except for the tip at the operating rod end.

Many of the pictures have a blue cast since I took most of them in the last hour before sunset.  Been in the 100's here lately with scorching blue sunny skies, so that was the best I could do for lower intensity natural light in the absence of a cloudy day.

[Greatguns]

Now that there is some nice looking wood.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Holy Yugo picporn overload Phos!    Is this your first yugo? 

Great rifle man..  Love the stock!

[Phosphorus32]

Thanks GG and LC!

Holy Yugo picporn overload Phos!    Is this your first yugo? 

It's my second but my other one has seen a couple thousand more rounds of corrosive ammo than this one.  Not many part numbers that haven't been rubbed off on that R block example.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Receiver serial looks like a 'hand done by 8th grader' on this one eh?

[Phosphorus32]

Receiver serial looks like a 'hand done by 8th grader' on this one eh?

Yeah, that engraver had too much to drink...or not enough 

[Dannyboy53]

What a beauty    that is really nice Phosphorus! 

[running-man]

Nice score Jon!  . You've got a good wife there, hang on to her!!

I'd bet that the stock is reused off a previous gun, I read 178,?17.

M59s were built non-chromed as far as I've ever read. Later 59/66s are hit or miss as I've seen chromed examples myself. Whether it's a refurb only thing, I don't know, but it's certainly plausible that the changeover happened later in production. What do the AK guys say with respect to their chromed barrels?

[Phosphorus32]

Thanks Joe and Danny!

I'm with you on the re-stamped stock number. I don't have pictures of the barrel and receiver markings with me (on the OR coast escaping the heat). I'll have to break it down again for a closer look later for any indications that it was re-barreled. The bolt face shows that it was certainly fired quite a few times before it was cleaned and immersed in Cosmoline. Of course my Chinese T56s often have some bolt face wear but still have beautiful bores. That chrome is good hard stuff