Paratrooper

[CARBINE]

I picked this one up tonight for $325. 10 million factory 26, Imported by Trident Arms, anyone ever heard of them? I haven't I thought that was kind of odd...but what do I know! Should be a nice shooter, I have a soft spot for the paratroopers.

[running-man]

Funny you should post this one Tony, we were talking about Xinshidai guns here not too long ago: XinshiWha??

Looks like a nice shorty there! For $325 it was a steal, these have been routinely selling for $50 more on gunbroker, & many lack the shortened bayonet. 

[CARBINE]

Now that you say it, I read that post! In one ear out the other I guess.

[Justin Hell]

That is a great score....I so covet a paratrooper. 

[Dannyboy53]

Beautiful carbine! How much length is taken off the barrels? And I have never been really clear on this but are the barrels shortened in China for the importer?

[Lmbass14]

Gotta love it.  How's the re-crown?

[running-man]

Beautiful carbine! How much length is taken off the barrels? And I have never been really clear on this but are the barrels shortened in China for the importer?

Hey Danny.  Most Paratroopers were indeed shortened in China.  They took the barrels from 20 1/2" down to 16 1/2", so they cut off approximately 4".

[Dannyboy53]

Beautiful carbine! How much length is taken off the barrels? And I have never been really clear on this but are the barrels shortened in China for the importer?

Hey Danny.  Most Paratroopers were indeed shortened in China.  They took the barrels from 20 1/2" down to 16 1/2", so they cut off approximately 4".

Thank you r-m, I wasn't sure if it was done this way or if someone in the states were doing this. So can we assume from this the Chinese have had a pretty fair sized inventory of /26\ guns stocked in China since they have created this fairly new category (Para's) for the commercial market? If that were so it would be nice to be able to spend a week with a camera and notebook going through all those racks of guns!

Are these Paratroopers being treated as /26\ guns in the Survey or is it too much of a risk in "contaminating" the /26\ gun info? I suppose I'm also assuming (I hate that word) there might have been other changes in the Paratroopers that would dilute the characteristics of the 26's.

[running-man]

The survey simply takes all the characteristics down.  When I sort, I can sort by anything. 
You want to see all the guns with /26\ marks, no problem. 
You want to see every 16 1/2" gun, check!
You want every gun with a III on the sight ladder, a pinned barrel, and a late two sided firing pin, yes sir! 

It's the patterns that are going to make the connections between the various arsenals.

As far as categorizing them, since we don't have a known refurb mark on Chinese guns like the Russians do, we have to take things in the survey with a grain of salt.  A single instance of a certain feature on a certain series of rifles needs to be repeatable, otherwise it could be a refurb replacement part, an error in someone entering info in the survey, or even someone dicking around and trying to throw the survey off.  We simply need more data, and that takes time to come in.   

[XXXSKS]

I picked this one up tonight for $325. 10 million factory 26, Imported by Trident Arms, anyone ever heard of them? I haven't I thought that was kind of odd...but what do I know! Should be a nice shooter, I have a soft spot for the paratroopers.

Nice rifle and a very fair price.

Beautiful carbine! How much length is taken off the barrels? And I have never been really clear on this but are the barrels shortened in China for the importer?

Danny
   The Paratrooper concept originated here in the states. Prototypes were done here and the importers realized it was not cost effective to do the conversion here. So the idea was passed to the Chinese and with their miniscule labor rates the rest is history.  All barrel shorting, AK conversions and RIVETED scope rails were done in China.

.........................Joe

[Dannyboy53]

Thanks Joe & running-man for the info!

[Carl in CT]

Really sweet para there and a very good price, congrats! I love the paras.