Russian sks - what does mismatched series number mean?

[Blizzards]

Got myself a refurbished 1952 sks. lol Just courious that what does mismatched part s/n mean?

The magazine s/n doesn't match. The original mag number was scratched out, but the electro penciled s/n still doesn't match. Also, is there a s/n on the barrel? Mine has a number near the action end and it doesn't match either.

Thanks!

 

[EL34/6L6]

Just means parts were replaced during the refurbishment process and sometimes are force matched to coincide with the receiver serial.

 

[points]

Matching #s on an sks only matter from a collectors point of view. A collector would like to see all original parts. As far as function goes, it doesn't matter.When military rifles are rebuilt they are generally just stripped and all the pieces get mixed up.

 

[Blizzards]

Thanks guys! It's intetesting that the original s/n on mag were scratched out, but the electro penciled number still doesn't match other parts.

 

[fiddler]

The rifle will operate properly regardless of the numbers. An "issued" rifle should have matched or forced matched numbers to indicate parts belonging to a soldier's rifle during field stripping, cleaning , loss, or service. On some rifles (other than SKS rifles) where bolts need to be headspaced, "matched" serial numbers can be of significant more importance .

 

[Blizzards]

The rifle will operate properly regardless of the numbers. An "issued" rifle should have matched or forced matched numbers to indicate parts belonging to a soldier's rifle during field stripping, cleaning , loss, or service. On some rifles (other than SKS rifles) where bolts need to be headspaced, "matched" serial numbers can be of significant more importance .

Thanks for the info. I just finished cleaning it. Can't wait to take it to range this weekend. lol

 

[Bushbum40]

The rifle will operate properly regardless of the numbers. An "issued" rifle should have matched or forced matched numbers to indicate parts belonging to a soldier's rifle during field stripping, cleaning , loss, or service. On some rifles (other than SKS rifles) where bolts need to be headspaced, "matched" serial numbers can be of significant more importance .

How come sks's don't need to be headspaced?

 

[ljones]

Thanks guys! It's intetesting that the original s/n on mag were scratched out, but the electro penciled number still doesn't match other parts.

The electro penciled number probably did match when it was refurbished. It isn't uncommon for the mags to be mixed when pinned to 5 for import. That is likely why it isn't matching.

 

[ljones]

How come sks's don't need to be headspaced?

Because pretty much all the ones that have come into Canada were original issue or refurbished and thus would have been headspaced at initial production or on refurbishment.

 

[Blizzards]

The electro penciled number probably did match when it was refurbished. It isn't uncommon for the mags to be mixed when pinned to 5 for import. That is likely why it isn't matching.

Thanks for the response. That's probably what happened. I looked at few other sks's in the shop, and all mags don't match. However, the pin job on mags are well done - only a small pin was added to the mag follower.

 

[fdr]

The primary function of the numbers was to prevent soldiers from mixing them up during field stripping, cleaning, etc. (as fiddler noted above).
It says so in the Soviet rifles field manuals: "When reassembling the rifle, ensure the numbers on the parts match, to prevent mixing up parts coming from different rifles."

But this meant that a rifle could not be issued with numbers not-matching.
The Repair manuals say that non-matching numbers are considered to be a defect and have to be rectified (i.e. with non-matching numbers, a rifle considered to be defective and not allowed to be issued to a soldier).

See for example "Manual on Medium Repair of SKS carbines, 4th edition, 1972", page 10, section 2. It says that the number have to match on: bolt, bolt carrier, extractor, gas piston, gas cylinder/handguard, receiver cover, magazine cover, trigger guard, and stock.
"Non-matching numbers on bolt, bolt carrier, receiver cover, magazine cover and trigger guard, are to be carefully stamped out, or struck out with a chisel.
Non-matching number on the stock is to be removed by sandpaper.
New numbers are applied by stamps next to the old number.
Non-matching numbers on extractor, gas piston, and gas cylinder are to be ground off by sandpaper, new number applied in the same place by sharp scribe, but electro-pencil is allowed too."

Now, these rules were followed by repair shops in the army. I don't know, if they followed the same rules when putting them away to the arsenals (I think they must have). Obviously they don't follow them anymore when removing them form arsenals for sale.

 

[st1264]

Thanks guys! It's intetesting that the original s/n on mag were scratched out, but the electro penciled number still doesn't match other parts.

They just took one of each from a huge bin of refurbished parts and reassembled. 99% of SKS's you'll see for sale will be non-matching refurbs.