Factory 0221 Cast rifle (PIC HEAVY)

[padams8888]

Hi all....received this one yesterday. It is a rectangle 0221 cast receiver rifle. Overall in outstanding condition. Looks un-fired to me, but you know how that goes. It has some interesting features to say the least. The trigger assembly is a first for me, and not milled or stamped, but cast. The safety lever appears cast, as does the trigger, frame, etc. It is crudely finished, but fits and functions as any other sks trigger I've seen.
The magazine has striations that make it appeared filed down, but they are uniform and cover all of the surfaces of the magazine closure. The RSB appears milled, but on the l/h side, it has some bubbles that usually appear on the cast parts.
Even the gas piston has a weird look to the lathed gas rings. The receiver has the as cast look to the bottom of it, but is lacking the parting line I have seen more prominently on other cast rifles.  Overall a weird duck, but a cool weird duck.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Awesome...  Thanks for all the pics. 

I hate to say it, but these things are crude.  Effective and operational, but crude.

Is this one also missing the bolt locking lug in the receiver?  Those ones are scary!

[fenceline]

Is the 70 beside the Chinese characters the date of production?

I haven't seen many cast receivers personally.  By not many, I mean none.   

[Dannyboy53]

That is very unusual but a fascinating carbine, I have never seen another like it! It's a beautiful piece, where ever it's been it has been well kept. I would say you're a lucky rascal for snagging this one, I'm envious!

[Phosphorus32]

That is a cool variant!  Thanks for all the pics.

It wouldn't be my go-to SKS either but there are plenty of others for that 

[running-man]

Is the 70 beside the Chinese characters the date of production?

I haven't seen many cast receivers personally.  By not many, I mean none.   

There is no consensus.  By the the 'other' boards mentatlity, you simply can't date anthing not /26\. 

I personally believe that yes, the giant 70, 71, and 72's were meant to originally be year codes. Most of these guns have '30' prefixed S/Ns and are from the rectangle arsenals.  By 1973, it appears that many of the arsenals went back to the nth year prefixes, and some went to simply using the two digit year as the S/N prefix (i.e 750000).