Weird Albanian SKS (As in, weirder than most)...UPDATE! Got it home with a few more pics!

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Dalkowski110	Weird Albanian SKS (As in, weirder than most)...UPDATE! Got it home with a few more pics!	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1378 (12/02/09 01:51 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Okay, so I've got an Albanian SKS that should arrive here from gunbroker some time next week, but to be honest, I've never seen one quite like it. It's one of the less common, "undated" guns, but it seems to throw a monkey wrench into the theory that all of the undated guns came at the very end of production in 1979 and 1980. The serial number is 0187 and it has a matching dark wood stock, not the orange shellac stock I've seen on literally every other undated Albanian SKS. All parts match. The sling is like nothing I've ever seen outside of one of the slings on Yooper John's page featuring a few Albanian SKS slings. It's practically white (faded khaki?) and the forward part of the sling attaches pretty much like a Nagant revolver lanyard (although given how Enver Hoxha had driven Albania's economy into the ground, I'm not totally convinced the clasp in question didn't start life out as part of a Nagant revolver lanyard!). Basically, if I'm reading up on Albanian SKS's correctly, all signs point to it being a very early example of a 1967 (especially with the low serial number)...but it's undated. Any help here? I have the auction photos I could stick up to help if you need 'em. Last Edited By: Dalkowski110 12/07/09 11:44 PM. Edited 2 times.
usernamehasbeentaken		#1	[-]
Posts: 623 (12/03/09 01:44 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	congrats on your find pix would help, so as to compare it to another 'undated' one that sold on GB back on the 23rd Yooper John seems to think that the undated ones are more likely to come from post-1979 http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-24.htm from what I've been told there are some duplicate serial #s (undated ones and dated ones) which might rule out the undated ones coming from a particular year, or sequence but who knows? I suppose that there aren't too many collectors that own enough of both to be able to make a call FWIW mine from 1967, does have the date 'withergyld' from the sksboards had an ongoing survey of SKSs, including Albanians w/ production years and condition, etc. too bad the link is off line, he had amassed an incredible amount of infomation that had been sent to him by SKS collectors keep us posted on what you find out Bob Last Edited By: usernamehasbeentaken 12/03/09 01:57 PM. Edited 1 times.
Dalkowski110		#2	[-]
Posts: 1381 (12/03/09 02:24 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"congrats on your find" Thanks very much! But... "pix would help, so as to compare it to another 'undated' one that sold on GB back on the 23rd" Sure...here's a link to the closed auction... http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=146367927 I'll take a visit over to SKSBoards later today. But for now, can you tell anything from these pics (I plan to repair the crack with cyanoacrylate)? Edit: Fixed Your Link... -Bean Last Edited By: beanstrung 12/03/09 08:14 PM. Edited 1 times.
beanstrung		#3	[-]
Posts: 5782 (12/03/09 08:20 PM) Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's a sweet SKS. A few years ago, the Albanians were going for $275 or so. Not true anymore, there were relatively few made, and they are of a unique design in the SKS world. Congrats! -Bean --------------------------------------------------------------------------- What part of "shall not be infringed" don't you understand? Joel 3:9-10
usernamehasbeentaken		#4	[-]
Posts: 625 (12/03/09 08:54 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	here's the other one from GB, also 'undated' http://v2.gunbroker.com/A...wItem.asp?Item=147287936 looks like you got the better of the 2 I've only seen a total of five offered on the auction sites this year, they are definitely few and far in between as for that sling - when I picked up my Romy SKS several years back, there was a sling w/ a lanyard type clip with it, only it was pale green in color they might be particular to the Eastern Bloc offerings (when they utilized whatever was available at the time of issue) I've seen AKs with 'em too BTW that crack should be a snap to fix many of the Alby stocks seem to be prone to them, hence AIM offering a replacement stock for their final batch sold a few years back again, congrats Bob
Dalkowski110		#5	[-]
Posts: 1382 (12/03/09 09:06 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Interesting...I'm not sure if it's just the way he photographed it, but the stock looks relatively dark on that rifle, just like mine. This would be opposed to the usual undated Albanian SKS photos I see that feature the orange-shellacked stocks. As for the sling, I've googled and it seems there's the possibility it's not even Albanian. Enver Hoxha so destroyed his country's economy that the Albanian Army was taking anything it could get regarding items such as slings...Chinese, Russian, Albanian, other East Bloc, and even locally-repaired foreign-made slings. Like I said with regards to the crack, I'll just put some cyanoacrylate into it and then rubber-band it for 24 hours. I think something like the Black Jack recoil buffer I got free with the rifle also might help the cracking-prone stock and while it didn't really influence my decision to buy the rifle, it is certainly nice to have in a situation where I would otherwise not think about shooting the rifle with no buffer of any sort.
Dalkowski110		#6	[-]
Posts: 1383 (12/03/09 09:14 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, and as a bonus, one of my college buddies with a formerly mild interest in shooting is an Albanian-American (both his parents fled the communists and he's quite conservative). Guess which rifle he really wants to shoot now (and buy an example of, as well)? There are always bonuses to this hobby, and spreading it around is one of them.
Dalkowski110		#7	[-]
Posts: 1385 (12/07/09 11:47 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, it came home with me today! -The rifle. I also took one with the awesome pig-sticker bayonet folded out, but the photo didn't turn out well. Note the darker color of the wood as opposed to the "orange cratewood" usually found on these rifles, both dated and undated, except for 1967-1969 rifles. -The serial number. It's 0187 everywhere on the rifle. Note the lack of a date. And here's how the sling attaches. Nifty, huh?
Dalkowski110		#8	[-]
Posts: 1386 (12/07/09 11:50 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh yeah, there's also a weird cartouche on the sling. It's a hammer and sickle with the number "53" behind it with some writing that is unfortunately no longer intelligible. When I show my Albanian-American friend the rifle, I'm hoping he can make something of it. I took AT LEAST a dozen photos of that weird little cartouche, but can't get it to come out.
WVchuck		#9	[-]
Posts: 12748 (12/08/09 06:32 AM) Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Your despcription of the sling makes me thing it is Russian. Definitely a nice piece! Can you see the front sight post over the handguard when you shoulder the SKS?
Dalkowski110		#10	[-]
Posts: 1388 (12/08/09 11:09 AM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"Your despcription of the sling makes me thing it is Russian." Thanks! Would the "53" mean it was manufactured in 1953? Albania and the Soviet Union had yet to split at that time, so it would make sense. Or would it be a numbered state factory (the Russians did this too, not just the Chinese...however, it was more with food and textile factories, the latter of which could have been churning out slings for either Tula or Izhevsk)? "Can you see the front sight post over the handguard when you shoulder the SKS?" Yes, easily. I suppose my photo was a little deceptive. Let me take another a little later on with a red, horizontal line from the rear sight to the front sight post.
Dalkowski110		#11	[-]
Posts: 1393 (12/08/09 03:52 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Chuck also asked a great question in the December Acquisitions thread that I didn't really address here and I'm going to blame on my dreadful skills with a camera. Namely, "okay, you say the sling swivel is funky...how?" Well, I suppose it could be a manufacturing error, but it's cut weird. The metal clip holding the sling to the swivel is kind of cut at an angle. The top of the figure 8 shape is about half a centimeter to the right of the bottom part of the figure 8. And nope, it's not bent. As I said, it could have been a machining error, which I would guess if anything makes the sling LESS desirable.
69396		#12	[-]
Posts: 821 (12/08/09 05:38 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A very nice undated Albanian. Like you said wood looks early rather than the "orange crate" stocks on 1970 and later rifles. A pre 1967 rifle? Someone may know for sure when undated Albanians were made. Maybe your buddy has an uncle in the old country! I THINK that sling is a Yugo or Russian AK sling. A Chinese SKS sling with leather ends would be a good fit. 4 or 5 bucks at Centerfire. Albanian values can only go up. (IMO)
Dalkowski110		#13	[-]
Posts: 1394 (12/08/09 06:59 PM) Forum Co-host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"A pre 1967 rifle?" Possible. If undated rifles with the orange crate stocks are supposedly made AFTER 1980, then I can't see any problems with logic of rifles made with early stocks made BEFORE 1967. My buddy did contribute one bit of info on Albanian culture that I didn't know. As some of you may know, Albanian SKS's were locally referred to as "July 10 rifles." I explained this to my friend who responded "July 10 rifles? Where'd they get that name?" After confirming with him AND looking on the internet that Albania celebrates its Independence Day on November 28 or November 29 (during the communist regime), that overturns a rather long-running myth that the rifles were somehow associated with Albania's independence day. In fact, Albania has no national holiday on July 10. The only significant occurance in the history of the communist regime that occured on July 10 was the Albanian Communist Partisans, who were trained in Yugoslavia, re-entered Albania in WWII on July 10. It's possible that THIS is what "July 10 rifle" intends to commemorate and that was once a national holiday. But it is NOT and never was Albanian Independence Day. Last Edited By: Dalkowski110 12/08/09 07:06 PM. Edited 2 times.