My early 80's scrubbed milsurp SKS... I think.

[DegoLocc]

Hi guys. Here is my all matching numbers SKS. Says Norinco "Sporter", but I think that was just a work around for importing. It looks milspec. It's in pretty good condition. Thanks for checking it out.

[JorgeSKS]

She sure is pretty. A lot of them were imported in the 1980’s. The Gun Show Special pricing was a Chinese SKS and a 1000 rounds of ammo for $150.

[Bubbazinetti]

Welcome from NH.Very nice rifle you have there.Looks like a early B-West,Tuscon,AZ of a Type 56 produced in 1985 I think.Likely a commercial export model from Norinco.A later model with a pinned barrel and no arsenal marks.

[astronut]

Welcome to the forum!  My recomendation is to post up in the introduction thread here on this forum!

[Boris Badinov]

Glad to see you found the sks-files forum.

Welcome.

When you posted this on the other forum, I think I may have said it was a 28th year carbine. Looking closer at the receiver serial, it looks more like 29th year carbine-- 1984. Last year of designated type56 production.

[DegoLocc]

Hey, thanks for all the responses, info and compliments. Yeah I'll have to head over and make an intro thread.

Hey Boris, good to see you here as well. Last year of designated type 56 production? Whew, Looks like I just made it.... Lol.


Edit: found this, seems spot on.

[Phosphorus32]

Boris nailed it and I see you found the dating sticky. Nice looking late production SKS!  I’d be happy to have it in my collection 

[DegoLocc]

Thanks Phosphorus, I appreciate it.

[carls sks]

beauty, thanks for sharing. 

[Justin Hell]

Very cool, I haven't seen one of these.  If fact, most B-West imports I have seen are considerably older. 

[DegoLocc]

Awesome! Good to hear, thanks guys.

[running-man]

That’s a great gun!  B-West started out in LA and moved to Tucson in the mid to late 80’s. This gun is an ‘84 build like BB indicated, so depending on the city and state marked on the gun (hard to read that part) could have been relatively ‘new’ off the line when imported. 

Looks great, thanks for sharing.

[DegoLocc]

Awesome, thanks for the extra info. Always good to know as much as I can about it.  I think it said something CA, either LA or ONT before the CA.

[Boris Badinov]

It looks like an "A" at the tail end of the importer stamp-- which would make it "Los Angeles, CA."
see here:
https://sks-files.com/Pictures/Chinese/import_stamps/B-WEST_LA_CA3.jpg

no?

Given early  B-West stamp, and the fact that the renewed trade between China and the US began in 1984, it's very probable (even likely) that your 29th year carbine was brand-spanking new and unfired when it came into the US.

[Boris Badinov]

What I am curious about is the absence of the arsenal stamp.

Only two arsenals stamps are known to have produced type56 carbines in 28th and 29th years.
/416\ and /0226\. 

Would this carbine be from one of those arsenals-- with the arsenal stamp and type56 designation scrubbed to avoid possible scrutiny as a 'surplus' import in favor of the legal Sporting Rifle classification as  a Norinco SPORTER ?

[DegoLocc]

What I am curious about is the absence of the arsenal stamp.

Only two arsenals stamps are known to have produced type56 carbines in 28th and 29th years.
/416\ and /0226\. 

Would this carbine be from one of those arsenals-- with the arsenal stamp and type56 designation scrubbed to avoid possible scrutiny as a 'surplus' import in favor of the legal Sporting Rifle classification as  a Norinco SPORTER ?

That is what I wonder too. And I think I seen a BWest stamp before that said ONT CA, like Ontario Canada? Did BWest export to Canada ever?

[Phosphorus32]

What I am curious about is the absence of the arsenal stamp.

Only two arsenals stamps are known to have produced type56 carbines in 28th and 29th years.
/416\ and /0226\. 

Would this carbine be from one of those arsenals-- with the arsenal stamp and type56 designation scrubbed to avoid possible scrutiny as a 'surplus' import in favor of the legal Sporting Rifle classification as  a Norinco SPORTER ?

That is what I wonder too. And I think I seen a BWest stamp before that said ONT CA, like Ontario Canada? Did BWest export to Canada ever?

B West is a US importer only. ONT CA is Ontario, California, which is east of Los Angeles. Canada has their own import companies. The only importer I know of that ever had a parallel Canadian operation is Century International Arms.

[Boris Badinov]

Wouldn't have been Ontario, Canada as Canada does not require import stamps. But there are some importer ID's located in ONT, CA (Ontario, California):


https://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=2111.0
https://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=2113.0

[Bacarnal]

In the third picture I see what could be the faint outlines of a triangle. 

[Phosphorus32]

In the third picture I see what could be the faint outlines of a triangle.

When I look at it enlarged, they just look like scratches. Hard to say for sure since the clarity is insufficient.