Picked up a Type 53 today that was almost a victim of Bubba. I expect a few things went wrong in the transition and he gave up on it. One thing that ticks me off is that he took a photo of someone else's and posted it as the one he was selling. Said the two handguard bands were missing but they were showing in the photo. I assumed the photo was prior to the loss of the bands but this rifle is not the same based on comparing the stock dings. It was also missing it's cleaning rod which was shown in the photo. So I went expecting a cleaning rod but no handguard bands.
Rear sight also removed but there. Stock had minimal work done to it but it looks cleaned of cosmoline and then coated with something shiny. That is how the bands got lost. Left them laying in the grass as sun heating the stock to get cosmoline out.
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My biggest concern was the bore condition as I've heard a very mixed bag on these. He said it was the pick of three racks and after seeing it, I believe him. Bore is excellent. It's a 1955 26 and has three matching numbers but not the bolt. The bore is also why I didn't argue the missing cleaning rod. Wasn't worth risking the deal over $10.
Had to re-install the rear sight which wasn't exactly easy but didn't take long. Also had to adjust the firing pin which was way out of adjustment and was probably piercing primers when he fired it which may be why he sold it so cheap. I got a bargain on it despite the missing parts and they are already on order from Numrich.
I expect I'll clean the shiny stuff off the stock tomorrow and give it some BLO and get some photos posted shortly, will probably wait till parts arrive. It's not pretty but it's far from the worst I've seen. I have a leftover Soviet sling it inherits. Nice tiny import mark, very clear, small stamped CHINA, then an upside down 7.62mm and what looks like N A C on the rear of the receiver. No rust that I can see, exposed metal is probably only 50-60%, protected metal is near 100%. Was probably refurbished once as some of the stampings are thin and there is some slight pitting on the receiver.
