There have been a recent influx of Chinese T-53's lately. This is one that tells a very quite history all itself. It is one I picked up before all of the recent imports. It is an all matching rifle. The rifle was built at the Chinese 296 arsenal in 1955.1, the .1 being the month. Hence January 1955. The Chinese did not start over with serial numbers every year or every 10,000 produced like the Russians. Therefor there is no prefix like the M44's of other countries.
Like I mention this is an all matching T53. There is no import mark on this rifle. There is also quite a bit of "blood pitting". I have tried to take pictures showing this as much as possible. It is on the rear sight, the bold handle,the magazine and trigger guard, even on the bayonet. The lack of import stamp and the blood pitting would leave me to believe that this was a Vietnam bring back. Although it did not come with that documentation.
Discussion Section