Letter gun?

[Ikecornell]

Posted awhile ago, was wandering if anything new popped up since. It is I.O.Inc. Happy days all.

[carls sks]

maybe. 

[running-man]

Hi Ike!

Not much has transpired on the letter guns since your last posts.  Likely a letter G gun though there is a minute possibility that it is a letter L.  I suspect G for all the reasons LC outlined in your previous posts plus one more important piece of data: the IO and TGI guns have a pretty nice looking std. bell curve shaped distribution that begins at very few letter Cs, touches a few more Ds and then goes through a much larger number of Es, tons of Fs, slightly less Hs, smaller number of Is, Js & Ks  The backwards "J" guns are quite numerous and really seem to fit in the G slot more than they would the L.  One of these days I'll chart it so everyone can see it in visual terms.  I think it's pretty convincing we're looking at G's and not Ls, but I guess anything is possible.

As-issued G's have small font and short safety cutouts on the stocks, this points to 1959 in my book whereas the large font/long safety cuts of other letter guns would point to either concurrently made in '59 or possibly pushed out into '60.

[Loose}{Cannon]

What he said.

[Ikecornell]

If someone was to ask me - wow what kind of gun is that?. - what would I say, just so I don't sound ignorant, 

[Loose}{Cannon]

A chinese letter series type 56 carbine from circa 1959/60

[Ikecornell]

Nice, now if someone were to ask how much it's worth, I know u haven't seen it , it's in good shape, good barrel, '$500 or am I really ignorant. Thanks for the answers....

[Boris Badinov]

If you've still got the original stock, bayonet and magazine-- fair market value is about $350-400 depending on overall condition.

With only the aftermarket setup, they're often a lot more difficult to move-- so it's hard to tell...but probably about $300-$350.

[Ikecornell]

Thanks, I'll keep it for the war.

[Ikecornell]

Thanks Running-Man you said,

One of these days I'll chart it so everyone can see it in visual terms.

Once that happens maybe it will become more clear. It at least seems to be something that is somewhat unusual/rare, that makes it special.

Thanks again, semper fi

[Ikecornell]

more markings on my M56, bolt number matched the rest, anyone know what these mean?

[Ikecornell]

Test pic

[Loose}{Cannon]

You mean the #s 31?

[running-man]

The 31's are barrel/receiver match numbers.

I don't know that that is the original barrel.  I've never seen (or noticed is maybe the better word) match numbers with such clearly different fonts like that.  I'll have to check my files and see what I can turn up.  Pretty cool!

[Boris Badinov]

The 31's are barrel/receiver match numbers.

I don't know that that is the original barrel.  I've never seen (or noticed is maybe the better word) match numbers with such clearly different fonts like that.  I'll have to check my files and see what I can turn up.  Pretty cool!

hmmm...

I think most if not all of mine have different fonts. Or, I know for a fact that several of mine have distinctly different barrel/receiver fonts and have just assumed this was standard on all of them.

[running-man]

Kool BB!  . Definitely sonething I've never noticed before.  Hey I get to learn too, right?!

[Boris Badinov]

Most of what I pass on to newer collectors on other forums (and some longtimers with an open mind) comes from this website or chinesesks.weebly.

So...thanks, i'll take whatever credit there is left... which ain't much.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Ill bite.

Why/how would fonts be different?  Wouldn't this be applied at the same time?

[Ikecornell]

So the 31s indicate my barrel is original, then what about the small markings just under and above the 31 on the barrel?

[running-man]

Ill bite.

Why/how would fonts be different?  Wouldn't this be applied at the same time?

Your guess is as good as mine.  I would say if the barrel and receiver have different fonts (as they clearly do as shown below), then we have a couple scenarios I can think of off the top of my head:

1) They were not stamped at the same time by the technician who headspaced the gun.  Perhaps the receivers and barrels were numbered separately and matched at assembly from their respective crates of 36 units?

2) They were stamped together but the guns with different fonts have all been rebarreled.  (How likely is this?)


Look at some of these examples:
Low ghost (major differences in the 3's):


Mid ghost (differences in the 2, though could be explained by the round curvature of the barrel lug):


Mid ghost: (inconclusive, appears similar)


High ghost: (inconclusive, appears similar)


Letter series (vastly different 4's):


'50 refurbished Russian (inconclusive though those 6's look pretty similar to me):


'54 as issued Russian (I believe these are the same stamp):