Chinese type 56 imports at Classic

[Bob_The_Student]

I F'ing hate FedEx like I hate Fauci!  Sorry, but I feel better now! 

[Larry D.]

By the way guys....if you are looking for a cleaning kit for your Classics that are in about the same condition as your gun....hit me up.

PM on the way.

[ffjoey]

I had Fed Ex deliver an AK74 to a dry cleaner one day instead of the FFL. It was missing for about 6 hours. After 3 hours of getting nowhere with FedEx on the phone I contacted the ATF. Finally found the rifle myself just going door to door. Sorry, I know that was a bit off topic.

Off topic or not, what the heck did the dry cleaner say? 
Did you ever confront FedEx about it?  I wanted to, but since the ATF knows better....I am kinda glad I haven't.

The dry cleaner basically said fedex dropped it off and they had no idea what it was. They were going to take it over to the ffl when they had a chance but it was only one lady on duty and she didn’t want to close the store to take it to it’s proper location. FedEx didn’t give a crap until I told them I contacted the ATF, then they “opened an investigation “. Like I said, I went and found the rifle, FedEx didn’t. They ended up blaming it on the driver being a new employee. It was a potentially bad bad situation.

[ffjoey]

Went to pick up my newest purchase just now and background in FL the s running 24 hours plus so I was unable to leave with it. I was able to look it over though. I did not pay for best of 10 this time but I did last time. I did pay for matching both times. The other one I got was about 90% bluing intact and the stock was fairly rough, with a couple large gouges. This new one is the exact opposite from what I could tell through the cosmo. The stock is matching the metal parts and is in excellent condition. The metal parts are more on the rough side. Bluing appeared to be about 50-60% with some surface rust on the top cover and carrier. I didn’t see any pitting though. The rust should easily knock off with some oil and maybe a little steel wool. Overall, it’s a pretty decent looking rifle.  I will take some pics once I have it in my possession and get it cleaned up. Again, with all the cosmo it’s a little tough to make a really good assessment but it appears to be a decent rifle. The bluing on my previous one was much better than I expected, this one is about on par with what I would expect.

[Justin Hell]

I went ahead and bit this morning...might as well before they dry up or I get tempted by something else.  The only thing I paid extra for was the insurance....our combined FedEx experiences almost seem to warrant it....despite my four bucks not counting for much last time. 

I got to wondering though, when you don't pay for hand select, do they just grab one without looking at all, or do they look for the ugliest one for the cheapskates? I guess I will find out in a week or so huh? I am rolling the dice on the numbers, since they don't bother looking at the BIGGEST serial number on the gun, if I paid the extra....I may get a replacement stock anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.  I kinda had buyers remorse almost instantly last time due to that...but, the matching numbers are pretty much the best part of that one now.

I am kind of hoping perhaps if they don't look it over too much I may get a nicer one by chance alone.
But, if all else fails...I've got parts....and about a dozen stocks.

The credit took the sting out of the last one at least, this time it will be $320.28....if my FFL charges me.  Often they don't.

[ffjoey]

I went ahead and bit this morning...might as well before they dry up or I get tempted by something else.  The only thing I paid extra for was the insurance....our combined FedEx experiences almost seem to warrant it....despite my four bucks not counting for much last time. 

I got to wondering though, when you don't pay for hand select, do they just grab one without looking at all, or do they look for the ugliest one for the cheapskates? I guess I will find out in a week or so huh? I am rolling the dice on the numbers, since they don't bother looking at the BIGGEST serial number on the gun, if I paid the extra....I may get a replacement stock anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.  I kinda had buyers remorse almost instantly last time due to that...but, the matching numbers are pretty much the best part of that one now.

I am kind of hoping perhaps if they don't look it over too much I may get a nicer one by chance alone.
But, if all else fails...I've got parts....and about a dozen stocks.

The credit took the sting out of the last one at least, this time it will be $320.28....if my FFL charges me.  Often they don't.

Well, with Classic it’s probably a bit of a crap shoot but overall I am pretty pleased. This one is definitely a decent example. My brother ordered another the same time I did. He paid for nothing extra and he inspected his today as well. His appears to be all matching and is actually slightly nicer bluing wise than mine. I think it may bode well for you. Pics of both of ours will be up sometime tomorrow.

[ffjoey]

Update, I got the rifle and it seems to have been dunked in a vat of cosmo that hadn’t heated up enough or something. The exposed parts had large clumps of cosmo but none inside the receiver or in the areas covered by the stock. As a consequence, there are several areas of rust pitting.

[ffjoey]

One bonus, it actually had a cleaning kit in the stock

[ffjoey]

After cleaning. Long story short, the areas if pitting are kind of a bummer but overall it’s pretty nice and looks like what it is, a rifle that has a life in the Balkans. This one has definitely been shot some. The bore had quite a bit of carbon fouling, something the last two did not have.

[running-man]

Did you really mean to type 'if putty' or was that autocorrect changing "of rust" to something else?  I honestly don't think the pitting is all that bad compared to many I've seen.   It cleaned up darn nicely in my opinion, looks like a very desirable Sino-Banian to me. 

[Justin Hell]

Yours and my current one are very similar in bluing...how the heck did they clean these?  I have that same weird spiraling my gas tube....it's like they took them to a carwash and used muddy water! My receiver cover is similar.  Mine appeared to have been shot..a lot, but my bore seemed fine. I do wonder about the cosmoline application, as mine was aplenty with it, yet the bottom of the buttstock looks as if it had been outdoors, dry and flaky.

I would say if mine had a decent stock, they would be twins, aside from the bent bayonet.

Are you seeing any sign of shellac on it or does it seem like an oil finish?  I am fairly certain mine was oil originally...I don't see any sign of the usual dripping on the inside of the stock edges.  The underside of the gas tube wood makes me think so too.  It's hard to tell for sure though. The only shiny thing on the whole stock is directly under the rear of the receiver about the size of a fingernail...which I am pretty convinced is just hammered smooth from recoil. The wood is so thin on the sides though it likely was sanded, and/or given the dirty carwash buffing treatment.

It sucks about the pitting, but I have a letter gun receiver in much worse, yet serviceable condition. Try Frontier Big45 metal cleaner, it's a cheap scouring pad that will remove the rust, but not any bluing...that and a regular oiling should keep it from getting worse.  It works as fast as doing dishes.  I have been using the same pad, occasionally cutting some off to run through the bore for a nice deep scrub, for years. It's in my top three favorite gun products.

[ffjoey]

Did you really mean to type 'if putty' or was that autocorrect changing "of rust" to something else?  I honestly don't think the pitting is all that bad compared to many I've seen.   It cleaned up darn nicely in my opinion, looks like a very desirable Sino-Banian to me. 

Yes, autocorrect got me, I meant pitting and it changed to putty. I agree the areas of pitting are pretty small and minor. Only reason it’s a bit of a bummer is it’s really the only defect. The stock is in really nice shape and the bluing is thin but intact on most of the rifle. Thinnest areas are the common ones, top cover, butt plate, and magazine. I’m certainly not complaining, overall it’s a decent rifle.

[ffjoey]

Yours and my current one are very similar in bluing...how the heck did they clean these?  I have that same weird spiraling my gas tube....it's like they took them to a carwash and used muddy water! My receiver cover is similar.  Mine appeared to have been shot..a lot, but my bore seemed fine. I do wonder about the cosmoline application, as mine was aplenty with it, yet the bottom of the buttstock looks as if it had been outdoors, dry and flaky.

I would say if mine had a decent stock, they would be twins, aside from the bent bayonet.

Are you seeing any sign of shellac on it or does it seem like an oil finish?  I am fairly certain mine was oil originally...I don't see any sign of the usual dripping on the inside of the stock edges.  The underside of the gas tube wood makes me think so too.  It's hard to tell for sure though. The only shiny thing on the whole stock is directly under the rear of the receiver about the size of a fingernail...which I am pretty convinced is just hammered smooth from recoil. The wood is so thin on the sides though it likely was sanded, and/or given the dirty carwash buffing treatment.

It sucks about the pitting, but I have a letter gun receiver in much worse, yet serviceable condition. Try Frontier Big45 metal cleaner, it's a cheap scouring pad that will remove the rust, but not any bluing...that and a regular oiling should keep it from getting worse.  It works as fast as doing dishes.  I have been using the same pad, occasionally cutting some off to run through the bore for a nice deep scrub, for years. It's in my top three favorite gun products.

Stocks appear oiled to me, I don’t see any evidence of shellac either. The pitting really isn’t too bad. I think I was spoiled by the condition of my first one but this one is just fine too. I’m pretty meticulous with keeping all my rifles pretty well oiled. At least three times a year everything comes out of the safe and gets oiled down. I have roughly 40 long guns and 20 pistols so it takes a while but haven’t had any issues with rust on anything I own.

[ffjoey]

Did you really mean to type 'if putty' or was that autocorrect changing "of rust" to something else?  I honestly don't think the pitting is all that bad compared to many I've seen.   It cleaned up darn nicely in my opinion, looks like a very desirable Sino-Banian to me. 

BTW, I just tried to enter this rifles info into your sks database and it says the “form is over quota” and leads to a dead end

[Justin Hell]

I think you did pretty great actually....the cleaning kit is a shocker, I don't recall anyone else having one.
Have you had a chance to check the internals for numbers? I assume the stock matches?

[ffjoey]

Yes, I couldn’t believe the cleaning kit was in there. All numbers match, I’m certainly not displeased with the rifle. I was trying to give a honest review in case someone else is thinking of ordering one. My first one I paid for matching and best of 10 and got near perfect metal and a so so stock. This one I only paid for matching and got so so metal and a pretty nice stock. I’m overall happy with both I got.

[Bob_The_Student]

ffjoey, like Justin said get yourself the Frontier45 metal pad/ scrubber. It works great. It may be my favorite thing to use to clean guns. And only thing I use if I'm dealing with rust. It's cheap like $6 per. 

[ffjoey]

ffjoey, like Justin said get yourself the Frontier45 metal pad/ scrubber. It works great. It may be my favorite thing to use to clean guns. And only thing I use if I'm dealing with rust. It's cheap like $6 per. 

Will do. Thank you to you both

[running-man]

BTW, I just tried to enter this rifles info into your sks database and it says the “form is over quota” and leads to a dead end

Yeah. The site i use sucks with their free plan. Paid plans start at $15 a month though and i’m not ready to fork that $ over for something that only occupies a small portion of my time anymore.   I’ll get it reset. Thanks!

[ffjoey]

No worries, just thought you may want to know.