Post by Woodard on Sept 15, 2007 13:05:34 GMT -5
Well, Dinner and a movie are always a nice start... 
Just kidding.
After seeing a "Chinese Korean war grenade belt" (read SKS ammo bandoleer) on ebay this morning, I figured I'd make a quick post about reading Chinese factory stamps.
Box 1: 56 type. This is the type of weapon the item was designed for. A bit confusing since the AK and SKS clones are both designated Type 56. Basically this says that this item is a no-go for Korea.
Box 2: The caliber of the weapon. Most everything the Chinese have produced until quite recently has been 7.62.
Box 3: the factory the item was produced in.
Box 4: Year of production. In this case 1966. 13 years and one weapon design too late for Korea.
The rest of it: I have no friggin idea. Chinese is a tough language, I'm learning as fast as I can.
The At The Front website states that the Chinese switched from Khaki to Green in 1968, but this seems to be based on examples rather than an official order. Here is the ATF Vietnam page:
www.atthefront.com/vietnam_main.htm
And the last question, "How the hell do I know what any of that chickenscratch means?" Well, you may have to enable your computer to view Chinese, but you shouldn't have to install anything.
Chinese numbers 1-10
0- 零 or a Western style "0". Both are used in China, and I haven't seen a Chinese item ending in 0.
1- 一 One horizontal line
2- 二 two horizontal lines
3- 三 take a wild guess.
4- 四 now it gets tricky
5- 五
6- 六notice two of these in box 4, "66"
7- 七
8- 八
9- 九
The earliest stamp of this style I've ever seen is 1961. Remember that most items used in Korea would either be Japanese, Soviet (very limited) or cottage industry made. Also, Some stuff has Western style year stamps. I have a Mao cap stamped "1963" and a haversack stamped "2004". Omaha's is selling Vietnam era Chinese haversacks identical to my 2004 one here:
www.omahas.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1470
click on "click to enlarge" for a pic of the date stamp.
Just kidding.After seeing a "Chinese Korean war grenade belt" (read SKS ammo bandoleer) on ebay this morning, I figured I'd make a quick post about reading Chinese factory stamps.
Box 1: 56 type. This is the type of weapon the item was designed for. A bit confusing since the AK and SKS clones are both designated Type 56. Basically this says that this item is a no-go for Korea.
Box 2: The caliber of the weapon. Most everything the Chinese have produced until quite recently has been 7.62.
Box 3: the factory the item was produced in.
Box 4: Year of production. In this case 1966. 13 years and one weapon design too late for Korea.
The rest of it: I have no friggin idea. Chinese is a tough language, I'm learning as fast as I can.
The At The Front website states that the Chinese switched from Khaki to Green in 1968, but this seems to be based on examples rather than an official order. Here is the ATF Vietnam page:
www.atthefront.com/vietnam_main.htm
And the last question, "How the hell do I know what any of that chickenscratch means?" Well, you may have to enable your computer to view Chinese, but you shouldn't have to install anything.
Chinese numbers 1-10
0- 零 or a Western style "0". Both are used in China, and I haven't seen a Chinese item ending in 0.
1- 一 One horizontal line
2- 二 two horizontal lines
3- 三 take a wild guess.
4- 四 now it gets tricky
5- 五
6- 六notice two of these in box 4, "66"
7- 七
8- 八
9- 九
The earliest stamp of this style I've ever seen is 1961. Remember that most items used in Korea would either be Japanese, Soviet (very limited) or cottage industry made. Also, Some stuff has Western style year stamps. I have a Mao cap stamped "1963" and a haversack stamped "2004". Omaha's is selling Vietnam era Chinese haversacks identical to my 2004 one here:
www.omahas.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1470
click on "click to enlarge" for a pic of the date stamp.
