Odd Chinese SKS

Claven2

Claven2

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Well my Ridgearms Chicom SKS showed up today. I had ordered it expecting it to be a typical Factory 306 like all the others people have been getting from this latest batch (they all originate from Tradex at present).

Oddly though, unlike EVERY one I have seen this year and even unlike all the others I have herd of from Ridgearms, mine is NOT a Factory 306.

It showed up as a Factory 625, no chinese character "type 56" rollstamp either, just the Factory 625 marking and the serial number. Appears to definitely be a military one though.

Will post pics in a bit. It's an odd one and shipped with some unusual accessories as well...
 
Yep, that's right. Sheet steel oil bottles are unusual for Chinese SKs's - most seem to ship to Canada with green plastic bottles. It also came with a charger clip, which is odd - none of the other chinese SKS's I've gotten had one included.
 
Satain said:
:popCorn:
:needPics:
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Yeah, yeah... Here are the pics pre-de-greased. Right now the actual rifle is in parts in the basement and I'll take better pics when it's cleaned up.

I can;t remember the last time I saw this much cosmolene inside a rifle??? Not even from other Chinese SKS's I've bought new.

The Yugo M24/47 I got from Marstar came close... ;)

Coming out of the box, packed the same way as the Factory 26 SKS's I bought from Lever 10 years ago:
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Label on the box:
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Receiver markings:
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Serial numbers:
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Looks to be a military stock. The finish is dark and matte, inspection marks on it and it's serialized. Many of the Factory 26 SKS's we saw in the late '90's had blonder stocks, no serial numbers, shinier finish and no inpection stamps. I suspect those guns had been restocked and/or reblued for sale here.
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And here's the metal oil can and stripper clip. Unusual to my eyes in that the last bunch or Chicoms I bought came with the typical green plastic oil bottles and no stripper clip, though if I remember right they used to come with chest rigs?
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It's a mix of stamped and milled. So far, these arre the stamped parts I've noticed:

-trigger guard assembly
-gas tube
-bolt hold open
-follower arm

Another odd thing is that this rifle clearly has a LOT of investment cast and machined parts. I think the Russian and factory 26 guns had virtually no cast parts, most bits being either machined from billet or forged.

On this one, the front sight assembly, action cover, and rear sight block are definitely cast and machined.

The barrel is short-stem threaded and the bolt carrier does not have the lightening cut.
 
TSE has a pile of those right now, I just bought one at the sale this weekend for $159. However, you had to pick a treaded barrel one out as there where also pinned barrel models mixed in with them about 50/50. The one I got is identical to the above one other than the serial number.
 
HeadDamage said:
TSE has a pile of those right now, I just bought one at the sale this weekend for $159. However, you had to pick a treaded barrel one out as there where also pinned barrel models mixed in with them about 50/50. The one I got is identical to the above one other than the serial number.
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Really, so yours was not a factory 306?
 
HeadDamage said:
The markings are identical to yours. Does the serial number make a difference?
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The serial numbers are seqeuntial and is we had a baseline for Factory 625 (we don't), we'd be able to tell what year they were made.

AFAIK, this gun is/was the first reported Factory 625 on CGN from this batch of Chinese ones. If you have another and more are at TSE, then that marks a shift from what we have seen recently, which were virtually all Tradex guns from Factory 306.

The 306 guns seem to be of similar vintage though in that they are stamped trigger guard models with a mix of pinned and short-sten threaded barrels. My 625 is threaded, but it's a sample size of 1. If the TSE 625's have pinned mixed in, then that mirrors what we saw with the 306's.

I'd love to see closeup pics of the 306 guns. I'm going to post pics of all the cast and stamped parts later tonight so people can spot the differences to the early Factory 26 guns and Russian milled guns. The Chinese found some really interesting places to sae cost while minimizing impact to function and durability.
 
Tinfoil hat time:

Now that 625's are showing up along with 306's - does this point to multiple importers, or merely that Tradex has gotten shipments from more than one factory or armory?

It would be uber-coincidental if the Marstar guns turn out to be 625's as well ;)
 
Claven2 said:
Tinfoil hat time:

Now that 625's are showing up along with 306's - does this point to multiple importers, or merely that Tradex has gotten shipments from more than one factory or armory?

It would be uber-coincidental if the Marstar guns turn out to be 625's as well ;)
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I have been writing many times that I am 99% that dealers are seling Marstar Chinese SKS,
 
Claven2 said:
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I should ask the army navy store(halifax) where my sling and box is. Cause all they gave me is the rifle and green oiler and told me I HAD to buy a rifle case from them for me to be able to transport my rifle home.
I know they were wrong, but I didn't feel like arguing cause he seemed to think he knew it all & I wanted to get a case anyways.

Claven2 said:
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Is that in the grip area?
 
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