Saw a letter 1955 Friday... and took some pics today!

[Stoned_Oli]

Now with pics!
I was in a favorite honey-hole Friday, and they had an almost nice 1955 Tula with the Д suffix. It looked like a non-refurb, but sadly someone apparently made off with the original stock and then replaced it with one that seems to have the correct shellac, but no numbers or stamps. The bayonet is missing, and the price tag is high...
I didn't know letter guns crossed over into stamped receiver cover territory!

[Loose}{Cannon]

I dont think they do...  I'll be willing to bet it IS a refurb and could be sporting a cover from any time period, or it was replaced by the previous owner. 

[Stoned_Oli]

I dont think they do...  I'll be willing to bet it IS a refurb and could be sporting a cover from any time period, or it was replaced by the previous owner.

I'll have to see if I can grab a couple pics... I know they are pic friendly there.

[running-man]

I've got two trains of thought for the letter guns with '55 receiver covers.

1) '55 covers were stamped at manufacture and some of these leftover covers were serialized and installed onto these guns as the supply was used up.  There are certain no date, but Tula star stamped covers that have also been found.  It could be that the date and arsenal stamp were done in totally different operations, or maybe the date was simply forgotten on a particular batch?    Either way, it seems that the Russians had gotten lax about the fancy dating components by the end of '55 and it's clear that the Д suffix guns marked a shift in how the Russians marked the dating of their SKSs.

2) Letter guns going through a refurb could have received replacement covers that were scrubbed and renumbered.  This has been well documented with numerous guns such as a '49 cover appearing on a Д suffix gun with a 'matching' serial number.   

The truth is, we simply don't know what a refurbishment consisted of and we most certainly can never say XYZ rifle was 'unissued'.  I personally think it's a stretch to say that XYZ rifle is 'non / unrefurbished' too.  The rifle may be in gorgeous shape, with all matching serial numbers, very sharp & visible stock stamps and excellent metal that demands a high premium over lesser examples, but making a call like that on something we know so little about is going a bit too far.  (I know I'm in the vast minority with this opinion, but hey I've been wrong before! )

[Stoned_Oli]

Do all letter guns have a star on the receiver?

[running-man]

As far as I know they all are.  I've certainly never seen a Tula Д, И, K letter suffix w/o the Tula star on the receiver, but I'm certainly not as well versed in Russians as most people are.  I do know that there are Izhevsk guns with odd letter suffixes like E & X, but those are typically single Cyrillic prefixes with three digit numerals. 

[Stoned_Oli]

Got to stop in a snap a couple of shots today... no star on the receiver...











There is a serial number on the stock, buried under the thickest shellac I have seen on a Russian SKS, but I am pretty sure it is not the same as the rest of the serialized parts. I wouldn't be able to guess if the stock was added as part of a refurb process or as a replacement after Bubba. There are no obvious refurb markings, and no import marks on the receiver; there is likely one on the barrel considering the "Anglification" of the serial number. The stock appears slimmer than normal too, probably sanded within an inch of it's life at some point.

[Loose}{Cannon]

Canadian border hopping Israeli Capture

[CARBINE]

Cool, that's an odd duck, lots of changes happening that year anything is possible.
Did you buy it?

[Stoned_Oli]

Cool, that's an odd duck, lots of changes happening that year anything is possible.
Did you buy it?

No, that little tag says $549...

[Loose}{Cannon]

#1.  Russian refurbs are not real heavily sanded

#2.  Russian refurbs receive new serials on the stock

#3.  Russian refurbs dont receive that heavy and sloppy of a re-shellac

#4.  Russian refurbs dont have shellac completly filling/covering the crossbolt.

Whether it hopped the border, is not import marked, and from Canadas old batch of Israeli captures, or it was in the early Century batch of Israeli captures.

[running-man]

Got to stop in a snap a couple of shots today... no star on the receiver...

Well I'll be, now I get to learn!  That's a heck of a neat one you found oli!  I bet if we tracked the S/Ns and the Tula star appearance we could find out how many '55 receivers were left over and used to make the starless '56 letter D guns.

CAI were the ones that tried the individual Cyrillic letter translations on Russians I believe.  ATF really didn't like it...

[Stoned_Oli]

OK, I guess I have to go back now and check for the import mark...
At $400 or so I would be all over it, but the price is just to high... usually the choice is layaway or negotiate in those situations... and I did promise the guy I would let him know what he had, too...

[running-man]

No, that little tag says $549...

Talk em down $100?  That's not too bad a deal at that price I think, ESP if it does turn out to be an Israeli capture!  I'm leaning that way too the more I look at that stock.  .  Where's worm?!

[Loose}{Cannon]

I already identified the darn thing.   

[Stoned_Oli]

I already identified the darn thing.   

Indeed!
And confirmed my thoughts on Russian stocks in the process... 
Anybody going to Kirksville Missouri in the near future?

[Loose}{Cannon]

[running-man]

I already identified the darn thing.   

Bah, I don't trust a word that comes outta your mouth!! 

[Loose}{Cannon]

I would go back and look for a



But what the hell do I know.     

[Worm]

Israeli. Can tell by the stock. It's dead spot on imo. I'd get it. They were commonly sanded down to nothing & then reshellaced with a very thick dark red.

No import marks gives it away. Canada received quite a few Russians from Israel, this is a border jumper. LC called it