Chromed SKS for your review

[Oops]

Because of the Covid-19 and my nephew visiting from out of state thee was not much to do since everything was/is shut down. We ended up cleaning the SKS I have. It originally belonged to a serviceman who died some 20-30 years ago and hung on his wife's wall ever since. I told her I would take as best care as I could to revitalize it.

Seems these chromed SKS are much more rare. I am pretty sure you all could elaborate. I thought it was Chinese but she said it was Russian. Super easy gun in theory to disassemble and clean. Not sure if it was the years on the wall but it didn't want to come apart as easily as seen on Youtube. Managed scrubbing everything except the firing pin. I couldn't bang out the pin. My punch was a little small so I left it. Otherwise everything was intact. The stock was cracked just behind the spring cover. You can see in the photo two circled impressions from my guess a c-clamp the soldier used. I myself a novice woodworker properly glued it back together. The stock itself is frail. I could probably carve it with a butter knife. I applied multiple coats of linseed oil in hopes of toughening it up some. The series number is 654179. It was the same on all three locations although some of the number on the stock were hard to see or too lightly stamped.

I welcome any comments or questions about it. And will gladly post photos of parts anyone might want to see.

[running-man]

Looks to be a NVA gun.  That S/N is in the proper range.  Can you get some additional photos of this gun, especially the receiver?  You have are very ncie piece of history there.  I don't have any records of a chromed NVA thought I have many bringback Chinese type 56s that were likely chromed in Hanoi bumper shops.   

[Oops]

Thank you running-man,

I need to let the battery charge more but here are some for now.

[Phosphorus32]

Yup, a North Vietnamese SKS, nice score! 

80% likely that it was a Saigon chrome job, 20% it was done in the US, ~0% chance it was done in Hanoi  It definitely was not a factory original chrome.

[Larry D.]

Yup, a North Vietnamese SKS, nice score! 

80% likely that it was a Saigon chrome job, 20% it was done in the US, ~0% chance it was done in Hanoi  It definitely was not a factory original chrome.

Agreed.
Likely a presentation rifle as a going home gift.
Could be he got that bronze star and/or purple heart during the process of causing the rifle to be captured.

A very interesting piece of military history. It would be better if the family can find the capture papers.

Thank you for sharing this.

[Oops]

I will ask her what she remembers, if she has any of the military records, and or old photos. I did see a few of him in a military ceremony. She's a snappy 89 ex Hitler youth who married a GI and eventually became a US citizen. Unfortunately her health isn't doing to good these days. I always viewed the SKS with the bars and medals (not pictured) hanging in her living room as a bit of history to be preserved. I think she'd like to share.

Thank you all for your expertise.

[running-man]

Yup, a North Vietnamese SKS, nice score! 

80% likely that it was a Saigon chrome job, 20% it was done in the US, ~0% chance it was done in Hanoi  It definitely was not a factory original chrome.

Heh, I have ‘Hanoi Hilton’ on the brain!  Saigon is most certainly more plausible!!

Really nice specimen oops. Thanks for sharing!!  Do you have any side on views of the left side of the receiver with the star 1 and S/N for our tracking threads?  This gun would be #62 on our list.

[Oops]

If you have an example of the picture angle please send it to me. There is no S/N that I can see on the left. They have it on the top as shown in the above picture. The trigger guard is stamped, the back of the dust cover, the stock, the firing pin assembly, but when assembled I see no #s anywhere else. That is one for you to ponder. It is good to know its history has some value to you and the site. I can try to get better pictures. That chrome has a way of flaring photos.

[running-man]

If it is indeed a NVA SKS, it should have a full S/N and a 1 surrounded by the star on the receiver in this location like this gun does:



Might be hard to see with the chrome or perhaps it was etched off during the chroming process.

Originally this gun would have had 7 sets of stamped numbers: on the left side of the receiver, back of the receiver cover, bottom of the trigger group, bottom of the magazine, top of the bolt carrier, left side of the bolt, and on the stock just behind the sling swivel.  Additionally, the S/N is often electropenciled on the gas tube and gas piston.  Occasionally the buttplate and underneath the rear sight leaf will have EP'd numbers as well.   

[Bacarnal]

Looks like the gentleman did MORE than his fair amount of tours there!!  That's in addition to the aforementioned Purple Hearts and Bronze Star.  My respects to the Man, though he is no longer with us.
Is it possible the serial was scrubbed?

[Oops]

Using a new razor blade and flashlight I saw no indentations on the whole left side. With a magnifying glass and light I saw absolutely nothing to indicate there was ever a SN# there. Using a micrometer thee is a .002 thing from the back to the front but I'd image that was  within the machining tolerances. There looked to be a 1 in a circle stamped on the barrel.

He was wounded in Vietnam and his men had the rifle chromed according to his wife. I'll try and get more details from her over the weekend.

[Bob_The_Student]

Spitballing here, but could it be that the gun had a shallow struck serial number and the chroming process is hiding it?

[running-man]

Quite the mystery there.  Either the original S/N was never struck, it was ground off at some point, or the original receiver was replaced.   

Is there a barrel/receiver match number on the left side of the barrel and corresponding # on the receiver under the woodline?  Something like these 35s:


When the S/Ns are ground, they can sometimes still be faintly seen in the right light at the right angle.  (note the barrel match #22 is absent on the receiver and the obvious diagonal grind marks):


Here is the same gun with the new # stamped farther back in different light that completely hides the original #:


Perhaps Bob, you're right and the etch and subsequent laying down of the chrome made an already faint # unreadable.  It's just very surprising that there is simply nothing there to see.  You'd expect to see *something* but it's completely smooth.   

Definitely a neat gun OP!   

[Oops]

I see a 34 on the barrel and what appears to be a partial stamp of a 3 and partial line from a possible 4 on the receiver. Probably was smoothed out and chromed.

[Bob_The_Student]

I could go for that being a "3" but I can't tell on the "4" to say possibly. Can you take more photos from all angles with different light?

[Larry D.]

There's issues with the ribbon rack.
The ribbons are out of order and some of the devices are off center and/or oriented incorrectly

[simpleman]

There's issues with the ribbon rack.
The ribbons are out of order and some of the devices are off center and/or oriented incorrectly

I also like to see old ribbon racks and figure out what they tell.  Order and orientation can be difficult without the manual in hand.  Luckily the inter-web to the rescue.  At first I was puzzled by one that I think was actually upside down.  When I found it I had thought it was wrong but I reread previous posts and realized I had to broaden the service time-span, then I discovered an appropriate device on the wrong ribbon.  So I think this is more correct representation of the rack.



Bronze Star w/ V device, Purple Heart w/Silver Oak Leaf device, Army Commendation w/2 Silver Oak Leaf device, Army Good Conduct w/5 Knot device, WWII Occupation w/Berlin Airlift device, Medal for Humane Action, National Defense Service, Vietnam Service w/4 Bronze Star device, Republic of Vietnam Campaign.

The Army Commendation only shows one device in the original photo and it might just be off center but it looks like the ribbon is damaged possibly where a second device was mounted.  The WWII Occupation ribbon was upside down and the Berlin Airlift device was on the Humane Action ribbon which had no devices associated with it.  All in all, these are the service awards of one career hard charger and I would guess it is just a representation for the presentation with the rifle and not a complete set.

[Larry D.]

I think you're pretty close to dead on there.
It could be that someone slid them off for some reason and put them back incorrectly.

It just stuck me as odd. No vet would have let that slide, so I figure some well meaning person, maybe cleaning for the widow, mixed them up.
Coulda been kids, too.

[Oops]

Sorry for the delay. I was able to get some more information on Sgt. Clarence A. Rowe. There is also some of his writings from Vietnam.

[Bubbazinetti]

That is so cool. Now you have all the provenance to go with that SKS.