The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Moved to SKS Forum -- by Dolk

Am I right in saying there is no way to really find the manufacture date of a Chinese Type 56 Norinco SKS?

The SKS guys are really old and go to bed at 6pm But i am almost sure they can ballpark it at least for you. It is past their bed time now though

desdem12 wrote:The SKS guys are really old and go to bed at 6pm But i am almost sure they can ballpark it at least for you. It is past their bed time now though

the best one all week ..

You are correct, but you can get pretty close based on features, heavy barrel lug were early mfg, short barrel lug were mid production and pressed barrels were late production. No one really knows the dates when production types changed, here is a page that shows the lugs and other features. http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-3.htm

The only known Type 56 Chinese that can be dated by serial is the arsenal /26\.

desdem12 wrote:The SKS guys are really old and go to bed at 6pm But i am almost sure they can ballpark it at least for you. It is past their bed time now though

I ain't old, I'm just not ageing well

Greasemonkey wrote:You are correct, but you can get pretty close based on features, heavy barrel lug were early mfg, short barrel lug were mid production and pressed barrels were late production. No one really knows the dates when production types changed, here is a page that shows the lugs and other features. http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-3.htm

The only known Type 56 Chinese that can be dated by serial is the arsenal /26\.

desdem12 wrote:The SKS guys are really old and go to bed at 6pm But i am almost sure they can ballpark it at least for you. It is past their bed time now though

I ain't old, I'm just not ageing well

You cannot tell the date by the features on the gun either. The Chinese make the sks in all sorts of facilities they use factories all over the country to produce parts to specification. IT makes no difference to them whether the parts are stamped or milled pinned or threaded in. The parts are shipped to assembly factories that finish them crate them and send them where they are needed. Factory triangle 26 happened to make the complete gun there in one factory Many others are not done in one place. They are not like Garands or Carbines that have parts that were drawing numbers that you could date to when they were changed Not all countries build there Military weapons as we do.

Would it be safe to say that since we saw no papered bringbacks with pinned barrels, that production and/or military issuance did not begin until the early to mid 1970's?

I must be old, these old eyes cannot tell from the pic what arsenal mark it is. Maybe chalk it or a little White out so we can see that mark clearly.
If it is an /26\ mark, date can be estimated pretty close.

Came out of 016 arsenal

In that case, I doubt it can be dated. The Chinese just still today refuse to release this type of information. One of the reasons we cannot import anything from them.

Good lord Guy's it a 1974! Remember below 1 Million is 1956. 1 Million started at 1957. 5 Million 1961, 10 Milllion 1966. 15 Million 1971. This only works with Factory-26 Guns. But! you have yourself a 1974! from Factory-26 not 16. One of the SKS Expert's woke up to check his Email's. You are lucky I did. none of these Folks were close at all.

Now get it out of that lousy Black Stock, and put it back in the regular Stock with Bayonet and Cleaning Rod.

Man, someone pissed in your St.Paddys day wheaties! Why do you say its from factory 26 when its clearly marred with an 016 in the triangle? Unless everybody else on the internet is wrong that is the factory 016 mark. Also, I just took this on $200 trade and it had the Tapco stock on it so unless your going to send me a wood stock with all the original hardware I'll tell you which ”arsenal” you can stick it up

Easy Boys. It's a nice day in the neighborhood.

Sorry I though you bubbaed it. my mistake however looking at the Arsenal Mark on the Side up close. it is a 26 in Triangle. the 2 and 6 are both drawn in a funny way. I have a Drawing of what it look's like I will have to get it. Paul

here is what I mean a Triangle with a line in the Center with a wierd shaped 2 and 6, for Factory-26.

all I saw was orig post of a triangle 016 But then I am used to reading them The Chinese like to use the triangles and make the numbers follow the shape. Got to watch out for some like 216 often is mistaken for 26

Today I down loaded the pic the OP put up. Then I magnified. Now I can clearly see it. It is a definite /016\.
It is not an /26\. It is shown in the "Sticky" near the top of this Forum page. Download pic, magnify it, and look at our Sticky.
I hope this is now resolved and tempers cool down.

Well you have a better enlarger than I did, I could barely see it, but it sure looked like a 26. my mistake.

Dont feel bad !!!!! the Chinese factory codes can be a real hard thing to read . I have been collecting them for years and some are hard to read and sometimes how they are stamped makes a big difference. Check out the posted pics and see what I mean about reading them

Just for some added trivia, there are no known examples of Factory /26\ guns to be found in the 15-22 million serial range (1970 to 1978). The last production came in 1979 and 1980 as 23 and 24 million serial numbered carbines. These late ones also sported a ribbed plastic handguard, which is affectionately dubbed, the "French Tickler".