I obtained this numbers matching 1956 date T53 from an individual that had owned it for about ten years. The stock is solid with no cracks, but shows lots of wear, bumps and bruises from its time in military usage. The finish is a nice dark color, with no milky or hazy surface as compared to many later imports.
It is all numbers matching, which is very uncommon for a T53. It seems as though throughout their service life, little care was taken to keep matching numbered parts together on these rifles. The font on the serial numbers of this rifle do not match exactly. On Russian/Soviet Mosins, this is a sign of 'force matched' numbers. On other variations such as New England Westinghouse M91s, factory matching examples can have a different serial number font on the various parts. It is unclear which category this rifle falls into. It may have left the State Factory 26 at Chongqing this way or was refurbished early in its history before seeing years of heavy use.
The metal shows good bluing with the exception of the butt plate and sling slot escutcheons. These are rough textured and almost appears to have been sand blasted at some point. The bolt has a dark patina, and I would rate the bore as very good. Although dark, the bore shows very strong rifling and easily passes the 'bullet test'. There is a very small almost illegible double stamped 'CAI St Alb VT' import mark just forward of the bayonet lug.
Russian/Soviet mosins are known for the large number of unknown stamps on their barrels and receivers. The Chinese rifles have this trait as well: however, the majority of their stamps appear on the stock itself. This particular T53 has numerous, well defined examples of these stamps the sides and top of the butt.
Another interesting feature of this rifle is it's improvised magazine catch spring. I was unable to open the magazine floorplate and noticed an object wedged down inside the mag latch opening. After I cleaned out all of the preservative grease in the hole I found a short very dark piece of dowel rod or plant stem and a broken magazine latch spring. The wood had been driven into the opening to keep the floorplate closed. I'm not sure when this was done, but the dry caked grease and condition of the spring lead me to believe it was done a long time ago to keep the rifle up and running. I put it back where it was found.
All in all I feel that this rifle is a good representative example of the model T53 mosin nagant carbine. It has a great combination of 'character', shootability, interesting markings and above all else, all matching numbers in its favor.
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