How often do you see EP'ed serial numbers on gas tube and rear sight leaf without the Cyrillic prefix? Thanks.
Not terribly uncommon but the full S/N is by far the more popular method. I suspect that the original builds all used the full S/N and they may have gotten lazy a time or two at a rebuild plant:
BM767_И (1957 Tula):
(http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/jelucer/Russian/1957_Tula/BM767__right_gas_tube.jpg)
E1689_И (1954 Izhevsk):
(http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/jelucer/Russian/1954_Izhevsk/E1689__gas_tube.jpg)
MП889 ('50 to '52 Tula):
(http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/jelucer/Russian/unknown/M889_right_gas_tube.jpg)
PЯ2340 ('49 Tula):
(http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/jelucer/Russian/1949_Tula/P2340_gas_tube.jpg)
Sometimes they went the other way and added info they normally only ever have on the receiver (letter gun suffixes), TИ4982_K ('57 Tula):
(http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q647/jelucer/Russian/1958_Tula/T4982_K_right_gas_tube.jpg)
They were also not terribly consistent about the location on the gas tube. Many are on the bottom and hidden from view until disassembly but others are very prominent on the sides and easily readable while assembled.
Thank you very much, RM!! I learned something new today.
Quote from: pcke2000 on December 27, 2016, 07:24:56 PM
Thank you very much, RM!! I learned something new today.
Hey now, me also!
All mine are just the numbers, and some are better placed than others