Chinese T53 available in canada?
- Thread starter Jesuscarpenter
- Start date
SFRC has Russian M44 Carbines right now for sale. http://www.theammosource.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_23&products_id=3384
- Location
- Southern ontario
if they do become available they better be half the price of an m44 and in decent shape
- Location
- East of Home, West of the Rest
It won't matter. They'll sell, like damn near everything else that posts on here haha.
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
Irunguns is supposed to be bringing in some soon (hopefully) heres a link to that thread
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/998259-Chinese-Type-53
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/998259-Chinese-Type-53
![-[Crosshair]-](/forum/data/avatars/m/31/31565.jpg?1718745216){kind=avatar}
Considering I bought two unissued M44s for $120 a couple of years ago, these can go to hell.
Jesuscarpenter
New member
my thoughts exactly, i'd rather get an m44 i was onyl asking because i thought the t53's would be a cheaper alternative
And they are. M44s pretty much never sell bellow $400.
The Chinese T53 rifles are usually beat to hell. The thing is, they usually also have very decent bores. Back in the mid sixties, when different Mosins started to show up at Lever Arms and International Firearms, very little of what showed up was better than GOOD only. They were priced appropriately. There were some very nice, maybe even unissued Atv38s and Svt40s but they weren't cheap. If you take the value of money at the time and compare it to now, $800 would be in the right price range. Just take into account, these rifles were not refurbs. There were some real dogs as well. Many of those had their barrels set back and were rechambered to 303Brit. No, I'm not referring to the Globe conversions. Ammo for these rifles was almost non existent. They brought them in by the boat load but couldn't get the ammo. Not sure what really happened there.
Many of the rifles that came in from the Soviet Union, were badly worn, no finish was common, stocks that looked like they had been used as hammers or DP rifles were common. The bores were usually awful at best. Many looked like battlefield pick ups that had been used with corrosive ammo and not cleaned until it was way to late.
When they came in, they certainly didn't come in the nice green crates they come in now. They came in the same way the Lee Enfields and Garands came in. They were stacked on wooden pallets, 15 to a tier x20 tiers high. Then, without any padding, they were strapped with metal banding about an inch wide and stacked several pallets deep in shipment. Two pallets high, would just fit into a tractor trailer x two across.
The rifles were fugly at best. They weren't dirty or packed with preservative grease. They were the dregs of the warehouses.
I can remember a batch of Chinese T53s that came in. At first I didn't take much notice, until one in the pallet I was tearing down to take upstairs appeared to be a pearl in a clam. The finish was at least very good, the wood was very similar to the Chu wood found on the Chinese M305s but looked to be finished in Linseed Oil. The bore was sharp and gleamed like the morning sunlight reflecting from a calm lake.
I set that rifle aside for myself. It was the only rifle out of 1500 in that condition over all. The rest, seemed to all have decent bores but little if any finish on metal or stock. Dings would be a polite term.
I asked Alan Lever where the rifles came from and he thought they might have come in from a disposal sale in South Korea. He would have known.
There never were a lot of the T53 rifles that came into Canada that I was aware of. Because of the lack of ammunition for them, they weren't good sellers and many of them ended up being shipped across the border into the US. The laws were much different back then. It wasn't at all uncommon for businesses just across the border in Bellingham to pick up stuff from Lever. Money is money. I seem to remember, we only broke down the one pallet for sale in his store. Even then, many of them were picked up by other shops in the area for sale in their stores.
The only other place I can recall having the T53s for sale, was SIR mail order.
The T53 I had, was a very good example and in all honesty was the most accurate M44 I had used up to that time. The ammo I was using was Norma made hunting ammo with soft points. I don't remember the bullet weight. What I do remember, is like most Norma ammo it was loaded to the nuts and muzzle blast/recoil was very stout. To the point I found it very uncomfortable to shoot. I took it home and shot cast bullets out of it until I sold or traded it off. It is one of my regrets. I have been looking for a decent one since and have never come across one I was satisfied with. The fellow I sold the one I had to, still has it over 35 years later. He's never shot it.
Many of the rifles that came in from the Soviet Union, were badly worn, no finish was common, stocks that looked like they had been used as hammers or DP rifles were common. The bores were usually awful at best. Many looked like battlefield pick ups that had been used with corrosive ammo and not cleaned until it was way to late.
When they came in, they certainly didn't come in the nice green crates they come in now. They came in the same way the Lee Enfields and Garands came in. They were stacked on wooden pallets, 15 to a tier x20 tiers high. Then, without any padding, they were strapped with metal banding about an inch wide and stacked several pallets deep in shipment. Two pallets high, would just fit into a tractor trailer x two across.
The rifles were fugly at best. They weren't dirty or packed with preservative grease. They were the dregs of the warehouses.
I can remember a batch of Chinese T53s that came in. At first I didn't take much notice, until one in the pallet I was tearing down to take upstairs appeared to be a pearl in a clam. The finish was at least very good, the wood was very similar to the Chu wood found on the Chinese M305s but looked to be finished in Linseed Oil. The bore was sharp and gleamed like the morning sunlight reflecting from a calm lake.
I set that rifle aside for myself. It was the only rifle out of 1500 in that condition over all. The rest, seemed to all have decent bores but little if any finish on metal or stock. Dings would be a polite term.
I asked Alan Lever where the rifles came from and he thought they might have come in from a disposal sale in South Korea. He would have known.
There never were a lot of the T53 rifles that came into Canada that I was aware of. Because of the lack of ammunition for them, they weren't good sellers and many of them ended up being shipped across the border into the US. The laws were much different back then. It wasn't at all uncommon for businesses just across the border in Bellingham to pick up stuff from Lever. Money is money. I seem to remember, we only broke down the one pallet for sale in his store. Even then, many of them were picked up by other shops in the area for sale in their stores.
The only other place I can recall having the T53s for sale, was SIR mail order.
The T53 I had, was a very good example and in all honesty was the most accurate M44 I had used up to that time. The ammo I was using was Norma made hunting ammo with soft points. I don't remember the bullet weight. What I do remember, is like most Norma ammo it was loaded to the nuts and muzzle blast/recoil was very stout. To the point I found it very uncomfortable to shoot. I took it home and shot cast bullets out of it until I sold or traded it off. It is one of my regrets. I have been looking for a decent one since and have never come across one I was satisfied with. The fellow I sold the one I had to, still has it over 35 years later. He's never shot it.
A 53 in good condition is a whole lot more rare than an M44 refurb in good condition hence the "wild" prices,but that goes for anything that may be considered collectable.
Just a heads up, I had another meeting with Century Arms and the Chinese Mosins can't be exported out of the US. This was part of the agreement when they were imported to the US. Should anyone try to export them out of the US that dealer, along with the person who supplied them to that dealer, will have their account at Century closed. Since I get along well with Century and do a fare amount of business with them I'm like to see my account remain open 
They did tell me that they are pretty rough and they are getting down to the end of them. On the plus side we are working on other projects with them.
Ryan
They did tell me that they are pretty rough and they are getting down to the end of them. On the plus side we are working on other projects with them.
Ryan
