I think Ray is right, it's a Russian mix master of sorts.
Russia stopped production of the SKS in 1956 or 57. There are some who think they may have gone a tad longer but that's speculation as far as I know. Doubtful they would have gone all the way to 1961 so I don't think it's a Russian barrel if that really is a date on it. That's odd though because I didn't think the Chinese put dates on anything back then.
That's one of the reasons Chinese SKSs can't get C&R status. The few thousand that did a few years ago came in from somewhere else (probably Albania or a Balkan region perhaps?) so they had paperwork showing they were held somewhere else for a period of time. I could be off on the details, I forget but it was something along those lines. So it would seem odd if not impossible for it to be a 1961 Russian barrel or a Chinese barrel from that time period with any date on it. Are you certain it's a date and not a number that looks like a date?
Are there any other markings on the side of the receiver like an arsenal designation such as this: /26\ ? That would be the Jianshe arsenal where the early Chinese SKSs came out of. These were made on the machines the Russians sold the Chinese and as Ray said very often used leftover parts the Russians also sold the Chinese. They look and feel pretty much the same as Russian SKS and are excellent shooters. Some of the earliest Chinese SKS had no arsenal markings, commonly referred to as ghost guns as Ron Swanson said. They are pretty much Russian guns assembled in China by the Chinese.
Are there any markings on top of the receiver cover (yes, it's a receiver cover, not a dust cover, it's not an AR15, lol)? If it's a ghost gun I would not expect there to be.
The rear sight ladder is definitely Russian with the n instead of a 3 for the battle sight marker. Did you look to see if the same serial number is electro penciled to the underside of the rear sight ladder? If so, does it match? What about the gas tube and gas piston? They may have electro penciled numbers as well since those parts could not be stamped. How about the bolt, any numbers on that?
It's definitely not Albanian as the bolt handle and hand guard are wrong for Albanians but those double trap door on the butt of the stock is usually found on Albanians. Are there actually two holes behind the doors or was the butt plate just replaced with an Albanian one? If there are two holes do they both look factory or was one drilled in later? The Albanian stock would also be longer at the fore end too to match the longer hand guard the Albanians had.
Sorry, lots of info coming to mind all at once. I have been a bit out of the SKS info business for a couple years so I may have gotten one or two things wrong. Ray is probably the better source, I am just spitting out what I can remember. Either way, see what other numbers you can find and post pics if you can.
![[popcorn]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/043.gif "Popcorn [popcorn]")
