Hey all. This magazine is installed on my NA M21 sks. Does this font line up with Sino Soviet ones? Down turned 7 and blocked 1. Just curious....thanks!
(https://i.ibb.co/R2rVC8N/20230331-105827.jpg) (https://ibb.co/F6ZjBpX)
Yes I would say this is a magazine off a type 56 Ghost.
Reason #1: 6 digit s/n which is very seldom (if never, I can't recall one off the top of my head in fact) seen on carbines after year 6.
Reason #2: Jives fairly well with magazines from sister guns. The 1 has perhaps a bit more serif, but even among my examples the 1's vary a bit:
(https://i.ibb.co/YbCJctY/147490-magazine.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/3cTt2QC/147700-magazine.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/p458ZB9/176097-magazine.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/c2HMFP9/184751-magazine.jpg)
Would love to see the full suite when you get ger cleaned up. Not many catalogued M21 NA's out there at all! thumb1
I think it could also be a 7-digit 1957 or a 1958.
Here is my 1958 ser# 3197171
(https://i.ibb.co/sJgmyBR/20161019-105709.jpg) (https://ibb.co/84mK6hs)
Ahh good catch Boris, I totally forgot about the 3 mils! It can't be a 2 mil as the 2 mils don't start that low only starting at ~2,369,000 (being that they are a continuation of six digit /26\s).
You are probably right as that 1 matches much better with Pat's font.
Here are a few other sisters from the 3 mil /26\ grouping:
(https://i.ibb.co/hC3GRVv/3196616-magazine.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/bdtmY0r/3215729-magazine.jpg)
Oh, yeah. I forgot about the serial range limits on the 1957 carbines.
Could it also be from a later production year? I'm not up on all the nuances of early serial fonts, but I think they used the same (or very similar) font until about year 9 or 10.
Though the font may be similar with later year carbines, the six digit S/N on components in combination with that font is unique to the ghost, six digit, year 2, and year 3 /26\’s only (as far as I’ve seen). Five digit component numbers pretty much dominate the rest of the /26\ run and the other arsenals all have their own quirky conventions.