First Izzy, 53'

[Shoot The Refurbs]

Went strong with the 53', she's a little rough but she's all mine.
Lammy stock was my only initial indication of refurbishment but it was numbers matching so i went for it.
gas tube is ep'd twice with the same matching SN, weird.
Probably paid too much but I'm happy so 

























just noticed i didn't get a picture of the receiver cover sn, only the top, it matches but I'll get a picture of it tomorrow.

-STR

[Larry D.]

Nice.

[Hotrod]

Me likey 

[carls sks]

numbers matching and nice bluing too. beauty. 

[Bubbazinetti]

She looks to be in real nice shape.You did well.Are you going to lick it or shoot it?

[Greatguns]

Nice Russian. I quit buying the Russians as I was always afraid I would bow to the temptation to Modify it like I have done so many time with Chinese parts rifles I've had.

[running-man]

Nice looker!  Difficult year to find in any condition let alone at a low price.  When the dust settles, you'll think back and know you did well. 

This one probably came off the same line a few hours before after yours.  I think it's a refurb too, but a pretty light one:

[Bacarnal]

Good find, STR!! Matching is good

[Justin Hell]

I think she is gorgeous, and she probably doesn't think you spent too much on her....any time there isn't paint involved it's worth it.

[Bob_The_Student]

F' tha money... you got a '53 Izhevsk!!! Congratulations

[Shoot The Refurbs]

Thanks for the kind regards gents, I'm pretty happy with it.
The wife, however, is not...
I'm with Bob, ef it, I got a 53 Izhevsk finally 

She looks to be in real nice shape.You did well.Are you going to lick it or shoot it?

I honestly probably won't. Shooting a matching 53' izzy is becoming more and more sacrilegious by the day, plus i've got a few tinker toys just for that.
I know she's not exactly a beauty queen and she's a refurb but having a 53' izzy is, as the youth would say; #lifegoals.

Nice looker!  Difficult year to find in any condition let alone at a low price.  When the dust settles, you'll think back and know you did well. 

This one probably came off the same line a few hours before after yours.  I think it's a refurb too, but a pretty light one:

WOW! 
So dang cool to see stuff like this, just 44 numbers off, but the life of the rifle could vary so much. Who's the importer on yours? this ones a KBI.

Will snap a couple photos of the SN's i missed momentarily.

[Shoot The Refurbs]

[Bubbazinetti]

I think it looks much nicer than you give it credit for.

[running-man]

WOW! 
So dang cool to see stuff like this, just 44 numbers off, but the life of the rifle could vary so much. Who's the importer on yours? this ones a KBI.

Will snap a couple photos of the SN's i missed momentarily.

My files shows that the BЛ797 is a CAI import.  (And I see the "VL" translation on the receiver photo so that entry looks to be correct  )

[Shoot The Refurbs]

WOW! 
So dang cool to see stuff like this, just 44 numbers off, but the life of the rifle could vary so much. Who's the importer on yours? this ones a KBI.

Will snap a couple photos of the SN's i missed momentarily.

My files shows that the BЛ797 is a CAI import.  (And I see the "VL" translation on the receiver photo so that entry looks to be correct  )

I noticed it had the translated characters, but haven't studied them enough to recognize which one did the translations, or cccp stamps, dot matrix's, etc.
Love to see it when two rifles off the same line that find their way to the same final country albeit through different importers, and then are both bought by members of the same online community.
Super neat the way things go sometimes, and a pretty girl you've got there RM 

I think it looks much nicer than you give it credit for.

Don't get me wrong, she's absolutely beautiful to me, but we've got to be truthfully honest with the wear spots this one shows.
Even just comparing the wear on receiver covers between mine and RM's it's apparent, but maybe I'm being a bit hard on the old girl 

[Phosphorus32]

Very nice score! Congratulations 

I like yours a lot!    Mine has a bland monotone brown replacement stock but I may have to post it someday anyhow.

[running-man]

The twin to yours I posted isn't mine.  I actually only own a single Russian SKS, a BBQ refurbed '50.  I would suspect that 95% of the membership here actually has a far larger collection that I do    I have compulsive issues, and it takes quite a bit of my willpower to keep things in check.  Hence the "The only way to avoid Mosin..." moniker under my avatar.   

CAI was the only Russian Importer to transliterate Cyrillic letters on Russian SKS45s.  They got in hot water with the ATF because the serial numbers on poorly translated guns were impossible to read and were being entered incorrectly into FFL's bound books making tracing next to impossible.  The ATF went so far as to issue guidance that Cyrillic and greek alphabets were absolutely not to be used on imported guns and a new unique S/N must be stamped into the gun according to the CFR. (min height, min depth, located on a non-removable part of the firearm, visible w/o removing any component, etc.)
KBI re-serialized their guns with two batches of new numbers, the larger RH batch and the smaller RL batch.
CDI are the ones famous for the "CCCP" billboard sized font re-serial on the rear right of the receiver.
NHM is the last one of the big four and they are kind of all over the map.  Early on they utilized a straight number with five digits XXXXX right next to the original Cyrillic S/N.  Next they utilized a seven digit number beginning with 99 near the original Cyrillic S/N: 99XXXXX.  Eventually this 99XXXX number format moved to the rear of the left side of the receiver and was pin punched in dot matrix font.  After that they utilized the same 99XXXX number in a billboard sized font on the rear right of the receiver.  Finally they went back to the left side rear of the receiver with dot matrix pin punched font, but utilized a NXXXX serial number.  No consistency there at all.   

[Phosphorus32]

The twin to yours I posted isn't mine.  I actually only own a single Russian SKS, a BBQ refurbed '50.  I would suspect that 95% of the membership here actually has a far larger collection that I do    I have compulsive issues, and it takes quite a bit of my willpower to keep things in check.  Hence the "The only way to avoid Mosin..." moniker under my avatar.   

CAI was the only Russian Importer to transliterate Cyrillic letters on Russian SKS45s.  They got in hot water with the ATF because the serial numbers on poorly translated guns were impossible to read and were being entered incorrectly into FFL's bound books making tracing next to impossible.  The ATF went so far as to issue guidance that Cyrillic and greek alphabets were absolutely not to be used on imported guns and a new unique S/N must be stamped into the gun according to the CFR. (min height, min depth, located on a non-removable part of the firearm, visible w/o removing any component, etc.)
KBI re-serialized their guns with two batches of new numbers, the larger RH batch and the smaller RL batch.
CDI are the ones famous for the "CCCP" billboard sized font re-serial on the rear right of the receiver.
NHM is the last one of the big four and they are kind of all over the map.  Early on they utilized a straight number with five digits XXXXX right next to the original Cyrillic S/N.  Next they utilized a seven digit number beginning with 99 near the original Cyrillic S/N: 99XXXXX.  Eventually this 99XXXX number format moved to the rear of the left side of the receiver and was pin punched in dot matrix font.  After that they utilized the same 99XXXX number in a billboard sized font on the rear right of the receiver.  Finally they went back to the left side rear of the receiver with dot matrix pin punched font, but utilized a NXXXX serial number.  No consistency there at all.   

Holy cow Joe, your accumulated knowledge from observations, categorizations and analysis is always astounding 

[Larry D.]

Even just comparing the wear on receiver covers between mine and RM's it's apparent, but maybe I'm being a bit hard on the old girl 

*snicker*
You said hard on......

*snicker snicker*

[Shoot The Refurbs]

My mistake RM, I misread and looking back it seems obvious you were referencing the database. doh!
Funny you should say a bbq 50' refurb, that was the first sks and even rifle i bought upon turning 18. You sir, have good taste 

Holy cow Joe, your accumulated knowledge from observations, categorizations and analysis is always astounding 

Indeed, I knew some had switched around here and there but not even close to the depth that you know it.
Kind of neat with all the changes to the import marks over time, it seems like we can easily identify which importation batches a rifle came from, and possibly help understand the rifles story a little better, maybe which country the cache came from or at the very least the time period when it made its way to the US.
I hope you consider listing these out on a separate post and sticky'ing that if it isn't already. Very neat stuff RM.

*snicker*
You said hard on......
*snicker snicker*

I did 

And P32, post her up, I'm sure the Izzy girls wouldn't mind a little get together!