New to me SKS

[Lowkeyed]

Picked this up. It was parts in a box. The stock has a broken piece and is un-numbered. The parts appear to be all there and nuMbered parts do match. Trying to figure out what the first letter/digit of the s/n is. I am going to try and reattach the broken piece of wood and then finish the stock work that was started before me.

[Phosphorus32]

Welcome!

That’s a 1959-60 “letter gun”. The letter prefix is either the G or L block with a unique font. It’s a relatively early Type 56 so it should have a blade bayonet and it’s from the era where the rear sling swivel was on the side of the buttstock.

You can read more about them roughly halfway down this page:
https://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=42.0

[Lowkeyed]

Thank you Phosphorus32!

[Phosphorus32]

Thank you Phosphorus32!

You’re welcome.

If it has an unnumbered stock, it’s most likely an Albanian replacement stock.

[Dedeagach]

Seems like Albania and Romania and similar would repair rather than replace stocks.

[Phosphorus32]

Seems like Albania and Romania and similar would repair rather than replace stocks.

Albania repaired when possible. They also replaced them frequently. All of the unnumbered beech wood stocks are replacement stocks made in Albania.

[Boris Badinov]

Does the rifle have an import mark on the receiver or on the barrel?

[Dedeagach]

Seems like Albania and Romania and similar would repair rather than replace stocks.

Albania repaired when possible. They also replaced them frequently. All of the unnumbered beech wood stocks are replacement stocks made in Albania.

Was the local Albanian SKS with beech as well?

[Phosphorus32]

Seems like Albania and Romania and similar would repair rather than replace stocks.

Albania repaired when possible. They also replaced them frequently. All of the unnumbered beech wood stocks are replacement stocks made in Albania.

Was the local Albanian SKS with beech as well?

Yes, the unique Albanian manufactured SKS used beech stocks.

[Lowkeyed]

Does the rifle have an import mark on the receiver or on the barrel?

Yes there is a CAI stamp on the underside of the barrel above the bayonet when stowed

[Phosphorus32]

Does the rifle have an import mark on the receiver or on the barrel?

Yes there is a CAI stamp on the underside of the barrel above the bayonet when stowed

That clears up the recent provenance. It was imported from Albania by Century Arms International, circa 2012-13.

[Lowkeyed]

So I got the broken stock piece repaired. A little gorilla glue and 3 little 1/8” dowels helped. Filled area that was missing wood with wood epoxy. The stock was sanded pretty heavily so I think I am going to try something different when I refinish this one. I have always wanted to try a deep dark red. I do have another stock that I put the gun in to go shoot this past weekend. It looks nice enough, just looks like someone made it out of plywood, and if my refinish doesn’t turn out I’ll just strip and redo more traditional brown like most of the other alphabet guns I have seen on the web

[Lowkeyed]

Here are a couple pics of my plywood stock

[running-man]

Looks like a very solid repair!  I suspect it will turn out quite nice.  The original finish on many of the early letters was actually a red shellac that was similar if not identical to what we see on as-issued Russian SKS45s, so you're on the right path vs the common ugly brown! 

[Dedeagach]

The plywood should be a regular laminate stock, Russia made laminate stocks but I dunno who else.

Reddish shellac on the repaired one would look nice and "period correct."

[High Noon]

Nice repair work sir!   

Would look good in a nice red.

[Lowkeyed]

Here is my stock so far… I still need to buff with steel wool and shellac it.

[running-man]

Yeah, that's going to be a looker for certain!


Make sure to give us a final assembled photo when she's all done!

[Dedeagach]

That looks good. I hope your stain was a good brand, I have tried a few and some are horrible to work with.