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11-18-2004, 09:34 AM | #1 |
Member Location: Peoples Republik of Illinois | I have an SKS that I'm trying to properly identify. It is marked SKS M.7.62X39MM BTC S.EL MONTE, CA MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO 94 XXXXX It also has a POLYTECH mark in front of the lettering. It has a 16.5' barrel and a regular type stock, (not the thumb-hole stock), and accepts double stack AK 47 mags. It does not have the stripper clip guide in the bolt carrier and does not lock open on the last shot. I understand that the 94 preceeding the serial number is the year of manufacture, and the BTC S.EL MONTE, CA is the importer. What I would like to know is what the M in the SKS M means. I have been told it has been converted to accept AK mags, and is worth what any other SKS is worth and have also been told that it is a 'SPORTER' model which is a variant of the paratrooper model and was manufactured to accept the AK mags and is somewhat sought after because of the notoriety, selling in the $400-$500 range. I paid $250 for if about 3 years ago, put it away and kinda forgot about it till I ran across it in the safe. It's still in the grease. Hope someone out there can enlighten me as to what I have. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ REMEMBER-DO IT TO THEM BEFORE THEY DO IT TO YOU!!!!! |
The SKS has a conventional layout, with a wooden stock and rifle grip. It is a gas-operated rifle that has a spring-loaded bolt carrier and a gas piston operating rod that work to unlock and cycle the action via gas pressure exerting pressure against them. The bolt is locked to contain the pressure of ignition at the moment of firing by tilting downwards at its rear and being held by a lug. It does not have the stripper clip guide in the bolt carrier and does not lock open on the last shot. I understand that the 94 preceeding the serial number is the year of manufacture, and the BTC S.EL MONTE, CA is the importer. What I would like to know is what the M in the SKS M means. Hmmm, I have owned a Tula (Russian), Norinco and a Yugo. All have been excellent, guns. But the Yugo had, far and away, the best build quality. Best Fit, Best Finish, Best Stock, Best Length Of Pull, all milled components, all well machined and th. Detailing all aspects of the Chinese Type 56 SKS carbine from original military examples to commercial models including important data, research, descriptions, pictures, and more. Re: Russian SKS Identification Help! « Reply #12 on: October 27, 2010, 05:09:50 PM » Once you tackle the 922 regs/#parts requirement, you can pretty much have at it.
Decoding Soviet Military Surplus Ammunition Labels
When you buy Soviet or Russian military surplus ammunition in 'Spam cans' contained in wooden crates, you will find that the containers have cryptic labels. The markings clearly tell you about the bullet type, powder type, and year and place of manufacture, if you know how to decode the markings. Here is how to read Soviet military surplus ammunition labels.
Military surplus ammunition for classic Warsaw Pact weapons like the Mosin-Nagant or Kalashnikov usually comes in containers labeled in Russian using Soviet military nomenclature.
Here are two views of a wooden crate containing 7.62x54mmR ammunition. Once you know how to read the markings, you can clearly see that this crate contains 880 rounds of 7.62mm cartridges. The bullets are the standard military ball, not armor-piercing, tracer, or other even more exotic types.
We will be able to tell more once we open the case and see the markings on the sealed metal cans. That will tell us:
The cartridge cases are the usual bimetallic cases, steel clad with 'gilding metal'.
How old? The powder was manufactured in 1977, the same year the cartridges were loaded.
Manufactured where? The powder was manufactured in Kemerovsk, and the cartridges were assembled in Novosibirsk, if that matters to you.
Inside the wooden crate are two green metal 'Spam Can' containers, as shown here. Resting on top is the included can opener. These are Russian military surplus, or more precisely, Soviet given their vintage.
The short version is that ЛПС is equivalent to 'military ball' in U.S. nomenclature, but..
Let's learn how to decode Soviet military surplus ammunition labels
What we see on the can:
7 ,62 ЛПС ГЖ | |||||
Л54-77-188 |
| ||||
440ШТ. |
What that means:
Caliber / Bullet type / Case type | ||
Cartridge: Lot - Year - Factory | Powder: Type Lot/Year Source | |
Quantity |
Let's start with the easy part.
7,62
specifies the caliber. Like most Europeans, Russians use ',' to indicate the decimal point. Next, almost as easy: Did you notice that the wooden case was marked
880ШТ
and it contained two metal packages marked 440ШТ
? ШТ is short for штука or shtuka — item, thing or piece. Two 440-round cans go into one 880-round case.
As for the rest of the markings, here is what I have figured out with the help of the Russian-language Wikipedia and two U.S. military training manuals, TM 30-544 Russian Military Dictionary and TM 30-546 Glossary of Soviet Military and Related Abbreviations. You may also want to ask Google to search for a DIA document from August, 1984 with explanations of headstamps and packaging for most if not all countries:
'small-caliber ammunition identification guide' filetype:pdf
Marking | Meaning |
7,62 | Caliber |
ЛПС | Bullet type |
ГЖ | Case type |
Л54 | Lot series & number |
77 | Cartridge production year |
188 | Factory |
ВТ | Powder type |
92 | Powder lot number |
77 | Powder production year |
С | Powder source |
440ШТ | Quantity |
Realize that, of course, the Soviets used the Russian language's Cyrillic alphabet. In some cases, such as the letters АК,М,О and Т, our corresponding Latin character looks the same. But often, the Cyrillic only looks like a Latin one. For example, Cyrillic В is equivalent to Latin V, Cyrillic Н is equivalent to Latin N, and so on. Others, like Cyrillic Ж,И,Ш,Щ,Я and several others are unlike anything in the Latin alphabet. Here is a quick guide to the Cyrillic alphabet.
Cyrillic | Latin | Cyrillic | Latin |
А | A | Р | R |
Б | B | С | S |
В | V | Т | T |
Г | G | У | U |
Д | D | Ф | F |
Е | YE | Х | KH |
Ж | ZH | Ц | TS |
З | Z | Ч | CH |
И | I | Ш | SH |
Й | Y | Щ | SHCH |
К | K | Ъ | — |
Л | L | Ы | IY |
М | M | Ь | ' |
Н | N | Э | EH |
О | O | Ю | YU |
П | P | Я | YA |
Now let's decode the rest of the ammunition case markings. Torrent spotmau powersuite iso torrent.
Russian Sks Identification Guide Pdf
Bullet Types | |
Mark | Meaning |
Б | Armor-piercing (also Б-30, Б-32) |
БЗ | Armor-piercing incendiary |
БЗТ | Armor-piercing incendiary tracer (also БЗТ-44) |
БП | Armor-piercing |
БС | Armor-piercing with special core of tungsten carbide instead of carbon steel (also БС-40, БС-41) |
БСТ | Armor-piercing with tungsten carbide core with added tracer |
БТ | Armor-piercing tracer |
Д | Heavy (long-range) with lead core instead of carbon steel |
З | Incendiary |
ЗП | Incendiary |
Л | Lightweight bullet |
ЛПС | Light ball bullet with mild steel core |
МДЗ | High explosive incendiary |
П | Spotting / ranging (also П-41) |
ПЗ | Incendiary spotting / ranging |
ПП | Enhanced penetration |
ПС | Ball round with mild steel core |
ПТ | Spotting / ranging tracer |
СНБ | Armor-piercing sniper |
Т | Tracer (also Т-30, Т-45, Т-46) |
57-У-322 57-У-323 | Cartridge with higher powder charge |
57-У-423 | High-pressure cartridge |
57-Х-322 57-Х-323 57-Х-340 | Blank cartridge |
57-НЕ-УЧ | Training cartridge |
7Н1 | Sniper bullet |
7,62ЛПСГЖ
Caliber — Bullet type — Case type
7,62
means 7.62mm caliber. ЛПС means Light ball bullet with mild steel core. An added two-digit number would indicate a bullet with a pattern introduced in that year. For example, Б-30 and Б-32 are armor-piercing bullet designed introduced in 1930 and 1932.
ГЖ = Bimetallic case. (steel case clad with gilding metal)
So,
7,62ЛПСГЖ
simply means it's 7.62mm light ball bullet with mild steel core (ЛПС) in a gilded or copper-washed steel case (ГЖ). Cartridge Cases | |
Mark | Meaning |
ГЖ | Bimetallic case (gilding metal clad steel) |
ГЛ | Brass case |
ГС | Steel case |
Л54-77-188
Lot series & number — year — Factory
Russian Sks Price
Л54
simply means lot series Л54, you would have to check with the factory records to figure out what that really means. The rest means that it was manufactured in 1977 at factory #188. That factory is in Novosibirsk (or Новосибирск) as this table tells us. The table is from the DIA 'Small-Caliber Ammunition Identification Guide'.
This table is for Russian factories. Other countries of manufacture will have their own codes. Bulgarian, for example, will have '10' in a double circle (and use БР as an abbreviation for 'count' or 'quantity').
The production year and factory number, 77 and 188, appear in the somewhat indistinct headstamp. That's a modern Russian commercial Bear cartridge at left, and one of the rounds from this surplus case at right.
Ammunition Factories | ||
Code | Location | |
3 | Ulyanovsk | Уляновск |
17 | Barnaul | Барнаул |
38 | Yuryuzan | Юрюзань |
60 | Frunze (now Bishkek) | Фрунзе |
188 | Novosibirsk | Новосибирск |
270 | Voroshilovgrad (now Luhansk) | Ворошиловград |
304 | Lugansk | Луганськ |
539 | Tula | Тула |
711 | Klimovsk | Климоск |
T | Tula | Тула |
Powder | ||
type | lot | factory |
year | ||
ВТ | 92 | С |
77 |
As for the powder type and source, as seen above, ВТ is the type, С is the source, and it's lot #92 from 1977. I have only limited information on how to interpret the type and source codes. I don't know what type ВТ is, but source С is the 'Progress' factory of Kemerovsk.
I see a lot of confused postings in on-line forums where people think that ВТ means 'Boat-Tail' bullet. Remember that these cans are labeled in the Cyrillic alphabet and so ВТ is equivalent to Latin VT! However, the frequency of this misunderstanding suggests that ВТ is a common powder type. I would guess that the В stands for винтовочный or vintovochniy, meaning 'for rifles'.
Powder types and factories
Powder type
ВУФЛ — Винтовочный Уменьшенный ФЛегматизированный Пороха.
Small-grain phlegmatized gun powder. A phlegmatizer is a material added to an explosive to make it more stable, less susceptible to detonation and safer to handle and transport.
Small-grain phlegmatized gun powder. A phlegmatizer is a material added to an explosive to make it more stable, less susceptible to detonation and safer to handle and transport.
ССНФ 30/3,97 — Стрелкового оружия Сфероидная — Нитроглицерина — Флегматизатора.
Small arms spheroid — Nitroglycerin — phlegmatized (stabilized)
30 = average size of grains in hundredths of millimeters; that is an average grain size of 0.3 mm.
3,97 = average thermal energy developed, in MJ.
Small arms spheroid — Nitroglycerin — phlegmatized (stabilized)
30 = average size of grains in hundredths of millimeters; that is an average grain size of 0.3 mm.
3,97 = average thermal energy developed, in MJ.
П-125 — Пистолетные пироксилиновых пористые пороха трубчатой формы — 125.
Pyroxylized powder, porous tubular grains, for pistols. Pyroxylin is a nitrocellulose compound soluble in ether and alcohol.
125 = Quantity of nitrate incorporated to obtain porosity. (used for blank rounds)
Pyroxylized powder, porous tubular grains, for pistols. Pyroxylin is a nitrocellulose compound soluble in ether and alcohol.
125 = Quantity of nitrate incorporated to obtain porosity. (used for blank rounds)
П-45 — Пистолетные пироксилиновых пористые пороха трубчатой формы — 45.
Pyroxylized powder, porous tubular grains, for pistols.
45 = Quantity of nitrate incorporated to obtain porosity. (used for subsonic rounds)
Pyroxylized powder, porous tubular grains, for pistols.
45 = Quantity of nitrate incorporated to obtain porosity. (used for subsonic rounds)
Powder factories
Don't count on this list being 100% complete or accurate. There is debate among specialists on the details of these. Factories used varying marks, sometimes (but not always) because the factories were renamed. Factory #577 in Solikamsk was established in 1941, then renamed Ural in 1966. Marks might be for a city name at times and the factory name at other times. 'K' might indicate the city of Kazan, or maybe the S. M. Kirova factory in the city of Perm. Also see all the reorganization and renaming after the end of the Soviet Union, plus the spelling differences between Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian.
А — завод No100, Алексинский химический комбинат — Aleksinskiy khimecheskiy kombinat — Aleksinsky chemical plant.
Б — завод No577, Соликамский пороховой завод Урал — Solikamskiy porokhovoy zavod (1941), Solikamskiy zavod «Ural» (1966) — Solikamsk powder factory (1941), Solikamsk factory 'Ural' (1966).
Е — завод No580, Красноярский завод Енисей — Krasnoyarskiy zavod «Yenisei» — Krasnoyarsk factory 'Yenisei'.
К — завод No98, Казанский пороховой завод — Kazanskiy porokhovoy zavod — Kazan powder factory. Or, К might indicate the Perm factory, which was named for С. М. Кирова (that is, S. M. Kirova) while С may mean the Kazan factory.
Sks Rifle Identification
М — завод No98, Пермский пороховой завод — Permskiy porokhovoy zavod — Perm powder factory. Or possibly Kazan, see above.
Р — завод No101, Рошальский химкомбинат — Roshal'skiy khimkobinat — Roshal chemical factory.
С — Кемеровский завод Прогресс — Kemerovskiy zavod «Progress» — 'Progress' factory of Kemerovsk. Or possibly Kazan, see above.
Т — завод No204, Тамбовский пороховой завод — Tambovskiy porokhovoy zavod — Tambov powder factory.
Ш — завод No9, Шксткинский завод Звезда — Shostkinskiy zavod «Zvezda» — Shostkinsk factory 'Star'.
ШЛ — завод No6, Морозовский химический завод — Morozovskiy khimicheskiy zavod — Morozovskiy chemical factory. It was designated ШЛ because it had earlier been the Шлиссельбургский or Shlissel'burgsky powder factory.
Ю — Гос. НИИХП, г. Казань — Гаучно-Исследовательский Институт Химических Продуктов — Gosudarstbenniy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institute Ximicheskikh Produktov, gorod Kazan' — State Scientific-Research Institute of Chemical Products, of the city of Kazan.
The Mosin-Nagant '3-Line' Rifle Russian Military Nomenclature
for 9x18mm Handgun Ammunition 7.62x54mmR
Ammunition 7.62x39mm
Ammunition
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