Year of Manufacture? 0dd /666\ serial numbers

[Boris Badinov]

Are these 17th year guns, or 1991 commercially repurposed pieces? (Note: these are barreled actions only, AFAIK)

Anyone have a factory 666 carbine with the same three digit prefix?

[Greasemonkey]

I can't see the post at the site you posted..... but do I have /666    I'd guess not a 1991..

https://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=4697.msg52626#msg52626

[Boris Badinov]

Oops. Forgot the photos.

Editing op now.

Thanks!

[Boris Badinov]

It's definitely an odd serial formula for 666.

I was thinking it might be a month/year prefix formula similar to  9 - 17 (i.e. September, 1972)

[Greatguns]

To my, not so good eyes, it appears the font on the Chinese characters is different on GM' receiver than on Sabinerat's. Most noticeable in the last character.

[Boris Badinov]

666 was also a low output facility-- fewer t h an 10,000 rifles per year.

The serail data page is very limited for /666\. However, if 917 is the date prefix, 21k -24k rifles is around five times the known annual production for /666\.

Could "91 72" be a four digit dating prefix?. If so the implied production totals wouls be right in line with what we know of /666\ capacity.

[Greasemonkey]

My gut says... It's a 17year, the 9 was added after the fact, like suffixes and prefixs China was known to use.  Be interesting to see what RM comes up with. I say the 9 was added, simply because that factory had such low output. I doubt it was producing in 1991. Another thing is, if it is a 1991, where was it stored, a swamp, bottom of a barn, or It's looking alot more like 50, than it is 30 years old.

And if there is that high of production, why are there still... so few.. they are few and far between..

Like I said... Be interesting to see what mythical photos RM digs up out of his bits and bytes of info..

[running-man]

I'd tend to agree with GM.  1724382 & 1721704 on both of those with the 9 added sometime before import is what my vote would be.

There is unfortunately very little information on this arsenal and few examples are documented.  We don't even have any year 17 examples for them, so we have to go off what we do know.

There is a year 15 gun from this arsenal that is 151666X serial number:

While I can't really make out the last number, it's clear that this gun is after #16,660 in this series.  Year 17, two years down the road could easily have had an additional 8k guns made, so the 24k guns isn't out of the realm of possibility even though many other years appear to have been very low production.

One of the reasons I think the 9 was added later is the spacing between the 五六式 and the S/N.  Look at these examples and then look at the OP photos:








There is a good even spacing there even though the year 20+ guns that spacing decreases a bit.  The OP photos look squished together badly, remove the 9 and they would look the same as those above.

[Boris Badinov]

Thanks for the photo lineup, rm.

I dug around a bit, and found a 25th year 666, too. It had a '0' stamped between the characters and serial.

[running-man]

Oh yeah? Would love to see it.  I really hadn't paid attention to how few examples we actually have of this arsenal even though the year codes span 12+ years!

[Boris Badinov]

Oh yeah? Would love to see it.  I really hadn't paid attention to how few examples we actually have of this arsenal even though the year codes span 12+ years!

here ya go!

Scroll down on the page for the photos:


https://www.gunauction.com/buy/14503430

[running-man]

Thanks!

That was a beautiful gun.  $350 in '17 was probably on the high end, but man is that a steal today.

That gun has a leading digit (0) in the S/N too, just like the leading 9's in your OP.  There's certainly a pattern there. 

[Greasemonkey]

One thing I have noticed.. the one I have seems to have a bunch of use and wear consistent with field use after looking at most of the other /666 rifles. It does display a few of the characteristics of the IC variant.. I guess it's plausible.. 

That gun has a leading digit (0) in the S/N too, just like the leading 9's in your OP.  There's certainly a pattern there. 

So, on top of using letter prefix and suffix on the serials... they used numbers as well..  there never was a definitive reason brought to the table for the letter prefix/suffix... there were so many variables, no one thing or trend truly stood out.

[running-man]

Didn't the /666\ Worm had (is that the one you wound up with?) have a super early CAI ST A VT import stamp?  I remember that Mitch was certain that gun was an IC based on his research but it was so different in arsenal and S/N from the typical year 8 and 12 /26\ guns with laminate stocks and dual bayo slots commonly considered IC guns that the idea never gained much traction in the community and he never pushed it all that hard.   

[Greasemonkey]

It is the one Mitch had..

[sabinerat]

At

[sabinerat]

The guy I bought these from said he bought these around 1991

[Greatguns]

The guy I bought these from said he bought these around 1991

Hey Sabinerat, welcome aboard. Good to see you here, and yes I'm the same Greatguns as over on the AK-Files.
FYI, that last barreled receiver you just posted up is also a 1957(mid year)

[sabinerat]

yea thought I was putting up a pic of a 666 from my phone here is the 666

[sabinerat]

would this be a ghost sks GB 920416293