Norinco SKS question

Rocket Surgery

Rocket Surgery

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Quick question about the Norinco SKS rifles, I'm looking to get one like I had a few years back. It was a 26 triangle rifle, chrome lined, spike bayonet with no oriental writing on the receiver. I have seen some out there that had these funky looking stocks, they were shaped like they were youth rifles and just felt cheapish overall. There are some being advertised right now as bigger military stocks but they have that foreign writing on the side. Can anyone identify which version I used to have and what the cost would be to pick another one up?

Does anyone know if my old rifle is the same as the one from Marstar? They have that "SKS for $75.00" deal, which pretty much just means free shipping to BC haha and I'm pretty sold on the Norinco SKS rifles, it's just a matter of finding the right one. I also have one of the Norinco JW-25a and M305 rifles and I must say I'm impressed.

It's funny how the rifles you took for granted and sold over the years were the real keepers. I do really like the Norinco line of SKS rifles over the Russian one I had, simply because the bore was chrome lined and the bolt wasn't blued. Oddly the chrome lined barrel shot better groups than the Russian. I was getting 3-6 inches at 100 yards with surplus ammo, with the average around 3.5 inches. The Russian was averaging about 4.5 but I only used 3 types of ammo.
 
1. lastest chinese SKS imports by marstar isnt norinco nor factory 26 (as far as i know).

2. not sure what you had a few years ago was factory 26 bcos the ones with spike has chinese characters near the serial numbers .


Rocket Surgery said:
Quick question about the Norinco SKS rifles, I'm looking to get one like I had a few years back. It was a 26 triangle rifle, chrome lined, spike bayonet with no oriental writing on the receiver. I have seen some out there that had these funky looking stocks, they were shaped like they were youth rifles and just felt cheapish overall. There are some being advertised right now as bigger military stocks but they have that foreign writing on the side. Can anyone identify which version I used to have and what the cost would be to pick another one up?

Does anyone know if my old rifle is the same as the one from Marstar? They have that "SKS for $75.00" deal, which pretty much just means free shipping to BC haha and I'm pretty sold on the Norinco SKS rifles, it's just a matter of finding the right one. I also have one of the Norinco JW-25a and M305 rifles and I must say I'm impressed.

It's funny how the rifles you took for granted and sold over the years were the real keepers. I do really like the Norinco line of SKS rifles over the Russian one I had, simply because the bore was chrome lined and the bolt wasn't blued. Oddly the chrome lined barrel shot better groups than the Russian. I was getting 3-6 inches at 100 yards with surplus ammo, with the average around 3.5 inches. The Russian was averaging about 4.5 but I only used 3 types of ammo.
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^ Exactly, I read through the sticky and the closest I could find was the 1950's production stuff that fit the bill and thought that was a little odd. It was certainly a circle 26 spike bayonet with numbers only on the receiver. I'd really like to get another one like that but am having a hard time.
 
factory 26 has "26" in triangle , not in a circle .

Rocket Surgery said:
^ Exactly, I read through the sticky and the closest I could find was the 1950's production stuff that fit the bill and thought that was a little odd. It was certainly a circle 26 spike bayonet with numbers only on the receiver. I'd really like to get another one like that but am having a hard time.
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Rocket Surgery said:
^ Exactly, I read through the sticky and the closest I could find was the 1950's production stuff that fit the bill and thought that was a little odd. It was certainly a circle 26 spike bayonet with numbers only on the receiver. I'd really like to get another one like that but am having a hard time.
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I just got one from Marstar a week ago and it has no factory identification (26 or whatever) and has a spike bayonette.

The serial number is something like 0104910 on the receiver, and all other parts are marked with just 04910.

Looking at the SKS identification FAQ it doesn't seem to fit in with any of the types that are identified.

The best I could tell is that it's an ealier production model. It has a milled trigger group, side-mounted rear swivel, stamped main-spring locking cap, early type of rear sight base, no lightening cut in the bolt-carrier, but the bayonette lug does have the lightening cut.

I think mine is probably from around 1966, but I'm not really sure.

It has no Chinese characters on it at all. In fact, the only markings are the serial number that I mentioned.
 
mdmaroon said:
I just got one from Marstar a week ago and it has no factory identification (26 or whatever) and has a spike bayonette.

The serial number is something like 0104910 on the receiver, and all other parts are marked with just 04910.

Looking at the SKS identification FAQ it doesn't seem to fit in with any of the types that are identified.

The best I could tell is that it's an ealier production model. It has a milled trigger group, side-mounted rear swivel, stamped main-spring locking cap, early type of rear sight base, no lightening cut in the bolt-carrier, but the bayonette lug does have the lightening cut.

I think mine is probably from around 1966, but I'm not really sure.

It has no Chinese characters on it at all. In fact, the only markings are the serial number that I mentioned.
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I have two of those, from CanadaAmmo. I know nothing about them, so I posted a thread on SKSBoards to ask the gurus there. They've yet to get back to me with anything definitive, but I only posted it yesterday and that site does seem a bit slower paced.
 
The Norincos from "a few years back" were/are made for consumer rifles. They were manufactured cheaper and have less tolerance in thier fittings, and the finish was like crap. The "today" market chinese rifles such as the Marstar rifle was built for military use and was designed some 20 years earlier than the consumer models. Both have chrome lined barrels. The factory stamp does not signify where it was made, but rather where it was assembled. Norinco is a group of hundreds of companies where single parts were made by single factories. The only significance to Factory 26 is that there has been records archived for the release dates corresponding to serial numbers. Whether this was a pilot project at one factory or documentation at all factories, we won't know because China does not wish to release this information.

In my opinion, the Military version was a better rifle than the consumer rifle. I have several of each sitting beside me as I write this. Having that said, the russian sks is a much better looking rifle. On average, I don't find any one type to shoot any better than another.
 
mdmaroon, Andurp ,

could you guys post a close up pic of the serial numbers with the barrel lug?
 
All my factory 26 rifles have a blade bayo.

I have a Norco commercial, a Chinese military and some Russians. The Russian is best finished but the Norc commercial shoots the best. It has crappy wood. Praboably a random thing.
 
Curtton said:
mdmaroon, Andurp ,

could you guys post a close up pic of the serial numbers with the barrel lug?
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Sure can. Here's two of the Barrel lug:

7.jpg


IMG_2330.jpg


Here's some serial numbers. They all match, but the ones on the gas tube and under the sight ladder are too faint for my ####ty camera to get picked up.

2.jpg


1.jpg


4.jpg



There you go. If you need anything else, lemme know. I have two of these that are both the same.
 
Andurp said:
Sure can. Here's two of the Barrel lug:
4.jpg

There you go. If you need anything else, lemme know. I have two of these that are both the same.
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I have 3 Chinese military SKS (from Marstar) and all rear sight have a '3' on the ladder (commercial or police) and yours has the cyrillic letter 'n' ??? So I don't understand why!!!

Here's a very interesting link to SKS variations http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-7.htm
 
I would post pictures, but they'd be virtually the same as Andurp's, except my serial number is 0104910.

Other than the serial number, it looks the same, including the Cyrillic letter on the rear sight ladder.
 
Interesting, I just checked and my ChiCom military SKS that I bought from Marstar has a "D" stamped for the "battle setting". It has no Chinese characters on the receiver or anywhere else and what appears to be a 25 inside a triangle. All parts match and this was sold to me as new unissued and unfired. From the amount of cosmoline that was on/in it I believe him (John)
 
I echo your guys confusion, I have no idea what's going on with the rifle. If you check Yooper John's site, my SKS has has several parts from different known "eras" of Chinese SKS's, for example, the rear sight letter is an "early" manufacture variant due to the Cyrillic n, but the barrel lug is a "middle" manufacture. They bayonet lug, is a late manufacture.

Here's the bayonet lug:

8.jpg


It's perplexing, even more so considering the lack of characters and factory marks.
 
many of the early production sks carbines had very different serial numbers. Some are short numbers with letters before number Others are just a number with nothing else. The Factory codes were hand stamped and some were not stamped and some were stamped below the wood line as they were stamped before assembly. The only commercial made parts for any chinese sks carbine were the late production importer inspired guns like the M and D with added 30rd clips. This is also true of Military guns that were cut down and called paratrooper, farmers friends hunter and god knows how many other goofy names. All of this done to keep sales moving on a flooded market. Also late in the game they started to assemble guns from the tons of new parts they had.

Let me say this and get it out there All Chinese sks carbines were built for the MIlitary except the late guns asked for by importers as described above. What is also true is all parts were Military production. Another thing you may not be aware of is the guns were most likely all rebuilt before they were packed up and shipped. You also cannot always figure out their ages by the parts as parts were changed during rebuilding as needed. You can find scrubbed parts but unlike the lazy Russians they did not do line outs they scrubbed the parts and re stamped them or used new parts.

Parts are manufactured all over China and shipped to assembly shops where they are assembled and marked with many factory codes coming from the same shop. This makes production harder to stop in war time and easier to manage the supply. Factory 26 did manufacture all of the sks parts needed to build a complete carbine. Early features are Russian in design with the Chinese using the Russian supplied parts till they were used up. Parts were specified and made at various factories using milled, stamped, or cast methods depending on what plant built them. These parts were shipped out and assembled to make complete guns. Factory codes are believed to number over 150. This like the Chinese ammunition with over 35 know codes makes China look like they have quite a Military supply system. The Chinese also did more with the sks carbine than anyone else in development and manufacture they are really good at what they do in the arms business. Receivers can be found milled, stamped and cast.
 
I just picked up one of the Chinese Military SKS rifles from Marstar. Had a good chat with Frank, top notch dude!

Now, wrt my new SKS, there are NO identifying features on it, other than a serial number. And the rear sling swivel is in the usual place, NOT on the side of the stock as I was expecting from seeing pics of other guys rifles...

Anyone know why? My guess is that they just used the parts they had on hand when assembling & there may have been a little variance year to year...

Cheers
Jay
P.S. And it sure was PACKED with cosmo! Had to break out the bucket of varsol & degrease all the metal parts! The bolt soaked for over two hours & I still had to shake rattle & rinse it so the firing pin moved freely. NO way this rifle would have ever rusted in war storage, ha ha ha!
 
plinker 777 said:
Interesting, I just checked and my ChiCom military SKS that I bought from Marstar has a "D" stamped for the "battle setting". It has no Chinese characters on the receiver or anywhere else and what appears to be a 25 inside a triangle. All parts match and this was sold to me as new unissued and unfired. From the amount of cosmoline that was on/in it I believe him (John)
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Mine's exactly as you describe and might I also note the chamber is not chromed. I read the sticky months ago when I first got the rifle and things just dont seem to be adding up :confused:
 
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