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Posted: 12/22/2006 7:47:21 PM EDT
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I picked up a Norinco that looks like the "pre ban"It looks to have two import marks. One on the bottom is faint and i think it says IAC Billerica Ma and on the side of the gun it says CSI los Angeles CA. It has the threads on the end of the barrel. The serial is 518XXX. Is this a pre 89? Thought i might need to add a pic. last on right. http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/savage17hmr/HPIM0044.jpg |
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Sorry I mis-read your first post about the barrel threads. The last 4 digets of the serial number should be stamped on the receiver cover,bolt,bolt carrier,and electric penciled on the bottom of the gas tube as this was standard practice on all AK rifles imported from China. The Chinese did the same on SKS rifles. Can you see grinding marks on the left side of the barrel trunion? Is the bayonet lug ground down? Any evidence of spot welds on the front sight? |
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No evidence of spot welds on the site. The bayo lug has been ground and the trunion where the serial is. I was asking about the gun because,, I got a pretty good deal on it 300.00 and i was going to do the parts game but i didn't want to do it if the gun was worth more as it is. |
| Sure sounds like what JA545 is saying it is. A post ban rifle since the serial number has been remarked and the grinding off of any lugs. The two different importer markings usually happened when the rifles were caught in customs. Some weren't released until years later and the original importer may no longer have been in business and the assets were released and sold to another importer/dealer and remarked. Legally the preban rifle became a postban based on the release date from customs, not the date of importation. I researched and read the law some months ago, import date means nothing. The rifle could have been released years after the 1989 law took effect. |
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Ive got one that is similar.. It has the serial on the left side of the trunion. then below on the front left side of the receiver it has: z 00xx7 AKS 7.62x39 sporter mfg by 386 norinco On the bottom of the reciever in front of the magwell: B WEST LA CA CHINA It has red chinese side folding stock but the lugs and the cleaning rod ears have been ground off and there is a lil evidence of a spot weld. The Barrel is threaded. I assumed this is a preban that got stuck in the customs/atf fiasco? |
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B-West had preban rifles imported until the sporting purposes law took effect. B-West did have rifles stopped in customs and I thought those rifles were cut up and then used to build rifles with their US receiver, but your receiver appears to be Chinese. ak-47.net/ak47/bwest.html The US receivers would have the serial numbers from the link. Between 1986 and 1989 they built rifles on US receivers. It was said that these rifles were confiscated in Californian (port of Long Beach?) for being full auto receivers, the rifles were released when the receivers were cut. B-West also had MAK-90 type post ban rifles like my BWK-92 with the threads milled off and no cleaning rod lugs at all. The rifle has no way to hold a cleaning rod. You mention that yours does have a cleaning rod? I've seen Chinese prebans before but the only ones I can remember seeing myself used a folding bayonet, check out this site for more info on preban Chinese rifles. B-West filed a lawsuit in in federal court due to the 1994 importation ban trying to overturn it. It was decided in 1996. They lost. They may have also filed one due to seized rifles. Can you post pictures of your rifle and any markings? There were also people who had MAK-90s and rebuilt them with the Chinese sidefolder stocks. I have also seen threads where people mentioned using the sidefolders off of the Chinese AK-47 style pellet rifles. I picked one of these pellet rifles up and they have an Orange colored stockset on them, from pictures and examples I have seen of the Chinese rifles the stock and pistol grip on real ones appeared reddish. Today is the first time I have ever pulled my B-West import out and looked at it real close. The trunnion forward of the serial number is ground down but it was hard to tell. My lugs on the gas block are completely cut off flush and the lug under the barrel was ground flush and smooth and reblued. I think that your sidefolder is probably a postban but a very early one that was allowed in if the lugs were ground off to prevent a bayonet being mounted but JA545 is the expert on these. The Sporter marking would make it a postban also. Check out his site. |
| FYI: IAC is NOT the same Importer as Armco, I should know, I worked for Armco in the mid to late 1980's. Got out when I saw the writing on the wall. The owner did go toFederal jail in Danbury, CT for a short stint and has been out of jail for a long time. He was a very strange,paranoid, secretive bird. Armco was in W Boylston, MA. |
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