SKS War Trophy BringBack???

I recently purchased a Chinese SKS and after reading the threads here I have fairly well determined that is a Chinese SKS manufactured at the Jianshe (26) arsenal. According to research again, the serial number of 12,xxx,xxx dates this gun to circa 1968.

The interesting point about the this one is that is has NO import identification marks at all. I have scoured the gun from barrel to butt and find nothing. That leads me to believe the gun was a war trophy probably during the Vietnam war (based solely on date of mfg).

The SKS is pristine and shows no evidence of slogging thru the jungles of Vietnam or any other war zone. That leaves me with the thought that this came from a recovered weapons cache, rather than taken from an individual combatant.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this matter...am I wrong? am I right? Is there another explanation of an SKS without importation marks/identification?

Thanks in advance.

It may have been re-barreled at some point stateside or refurbished. Who knows. Things like this are sticky wickets. It's easy to go down the rabbit hole off guesses and "logical" explanations to determine the story of a gun. I did it lots of times in my early days of collecting. Heck, I still get excited at the "could be" prospects regarding the history of a gun. That's half of the fun of doing this! But at the end of the day, it can turn into a dangerous game of misinformation and story telling.
As to why it's pristine and has no import marks, I'm sure someone else will be along soon. Until then, enjoy it and continue the research!

Well disregard my question and thread...after getting a more powerful magnifying glass, better light and clean eyeglasses I finally found the import marks...located on the barrel so faint and small that it took a 10x magnifier and BRIGHT led light to find it. So my good find is just a regular SKS in excellent condition and it is NOT the great war trophy find I thought...just goes to show that old eyes need more light and magnification. Just in case you are interested it was imported by DIG, Va Beach, Va. Dont know when tho.

Thanks to all who read or responded or both!

The only SKS of which I'm reasonably sure was a bringback in my small collection is one that I purchased about a year or tw obefore the first wave of imports came in. Pricey at the time, and Lapua was about the only ammo available. (and not much of that!)

I saw one at a So Cal gun shop in the early 1970's. I do not remember what the story was but it looked like it was an issued rifle. Seeing one with the bayonet was kind of cool to a teenager.

Dave

I am willing to be corrected but all the ones I saw had the capability of full auto and would not be allowed in the US. Wasn't there a story awhile back about a soldier who brought back a "capture" and got into deep trouble?

I had a legit Chicom Type 56 SKS vet bring back complete with the capture/permission papers from both the USA and Vietnamese authorities in the early 1980's. It was complete and in rough cosmetic condition but fired and functioned fine. They're out there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A. F Medic

I am willing to be corrected but all the ones I saw had the capability of full auto and would not be allowed in the US. Wasn't there a story awhile back about a soldier who brought back a "capture" and got into deep trouble?

---

You're talking about an AK 47, also called a type 56 by the chicoms.
What is being discussed here is a 10 rd fixed mag, semi-auto only SKS carbine.
I brought home 2 with trophy papers. I also have an AK 47 that was snuck home by a GI and registered in the 68 amnesty.
Sarge

The most likely way to get a pristine 1968 SKS w/o an import stamp is that the importer missed it. It happens. I've seen it several times. I could be wrong but it is the simplest answer.

Cheers

Yes there were imports of all varieties/types of weapons that did not get the importer stamp. I have a variety of them, both rifles & pistols.
In the case of the SKS imports though there were very few that were in Exc/mint condition, most showed noticeable wear/use.
The 2 I brought back were 1 of each. One was from a cache where we found about 300 SKSs in mint unfired condition and well greased up for storage. The other one is "about" Exc, but shows use.
Sarge

The Chinese made a very few SKS's that had a full-auto switch. They did not run well and very few were made. They were seen in Viet Nam and a very few made it home to the US as capture guns. Very interesting variation.