WWW.SIMONOV.NET - CHINESE FACTORY CODE CHART

OVERVIEW: Thanks to Howard Bearse and the contributions of this site's visitors, this site now has the LARGEST factory symbol list for Chinese SKS's on the web or in print. Remember, the Chinese refuse to tell us what these symbols mean because they fear a breach of their national security. (They refuse to give us 50 year old production information, but help themselves to stealing the United State's nuclear secrets at whim. Go figure..) These symbols are fairly accurate, but the numbers they translate to are personal interpretation and one way of identifying them. The Chinese and others in the industry may have other ways of reading them. I ordinarily stylize my images, but I left this chart black and white for ease of printing. If you have a symbol on your SKS that isn't on the list, please email me a simple drawing of it.

NOTE: Some Chinese Type 56 Carbines DO NOT have any factory code whatsoever. This is not uncommon. I cannot explain this or determine which factory they came from. This phenomenon is especially pronounced on detachable magazine versions for some reason.

A fun thing to do is to print out this list and take it with you to gun shows. When you see a code, date it. I treat it like bird watching. I'll take the chart to a gun show and date the stamp when I see it. It's cheap and something to do. How long will it take you to "spot" all the symbols?

Let's take a look at what a little analysis can reveal. The following chart is a little something I put together to better visualize a pattern that started to emerge while I was arranging the codes for this chart.

TRIANGLE CODE ANALYSIS

	6	06	16	26	36	56	66
1	016	106	116	-	136	156	-
2	26	206	216	-	-	-	-
3	36	306	316	326	-	-	366
4	-	406	416	-	-	456	-
6	66	606	-	-	636	-	666
9	96	906	916	-	-	-	-
5	-	-	-	526	-	-	-

	Highest Concentration		Highly likely to exist
	Likely to exist		Possibly exists

Interesting, yes? Judging from the chart, one can deduce that it is very likely factories 46 and 616 exist. When I originally started this analysis I had 4 "highly likely" factory codes and we've since located 206 and 606. Of course there is no proof of the last two reds or any other exist, but the pattern STRONGLY suggests otherwise.

1/25/01 - Joe W. sends us the code 0225. Mr. W learned how incredibly hard it is to get a good photo of these codes, so he filled it in with white crayon and let the contrast do the work. Over time I've learned new respect for the photographers who take all those pictures of firearms for monthly periodicals. Too much direct light and the piece looks chrome, too little and the black matte steel will suck in the light and everything looks shadowy. Natural, diffused, indirect sunlight is easiest for people who don't have studios at their disposal. Thanks for the effort, Joe, it's greatly appreciated.

1/18/01 - CCF70 sent me a few rubbings of one of the most interesting symbols on the chart, factory 0408. It's particularly strange because it's the only triangle symbol which contains the number 8. When placed in sequence, a new pattern is clearly demonstrated. So far we have 0406, 0408, blank, 0412. Theoretically, 0410 should exist as well if this pattern holds as true as the other triangle patterns. This pattern also lends credence to the 0406 code that was recently submitted. I was horribly torn whether to interpret it as a 46 or 0406. For pride reasons, I wanted it to be a 46, but for some reason it had a line between the 4 and the 6, UNLIKE the 36 code which has none. Why the line then? It has to be because there are 0's in the number. Now with the 0408 and 0412, I'm absolutely sure it's 0406.

This also brings up another good point. This new pattern jives with the rectangle codes and one of the oddball codes. If you ignore the shape and concentrate on strictly on the numbers, yet ANOTHER sequence appears. This is interesting, because now we can start speculating on which rectangle factories are left undiscovered. Ah, the mystery of it all. Man I love this stuff!

1/15/01 - Again, for the second time, I get a mysterious diagram and a picture of the EXACT same stamp a within the same week. OUTSTANDING! A.F. Chuck and Bud Lang bring us one of the most perplexing symbols I've seen since 526. It looks like the Area 51 stamp, but it's got he gaps in different spots. At first I thought it was factory 46. I really want it to be that code because it would have completed another of my projections, but after looking closer at the number patterns on the chart and another code I'm expecting in the mail soon (0408) it appears to be 0406.

Then comes the icing on the cake. David Lanz sends me a photo of his factory 206 code. The second of four predictions comes to pass! I am beside myself with joy!

11/2000 - Last November (2000) KEVIN sent me a drawing of an odd factory code. I spent the morning scratching my head trying to figure it out when not 12 hours later, from across the U.S., MATT B. sends me a digital photo of the EXACT same stamp. What are the odds!?!?! Each discovered they owned factory 6616 which was also previously unknown, and with the photo I was able to understand the diagram.

9/19/00 - I am absolutely overjoyed to announce that my chart of potential factories accurately predicted an otherwise unknown factory! Jerry L. was generous enough to mail me an outstanding photo of the stamp of the factory 606 code for us all to learn from. Factory 606 has been otherwise unknown to collectors and was on my above analysis chart as "very likely to exist" until now. Special thanks to Jerry for sending the photograph. Please, if you have a code that doesn't show on the list, contact me so you can mail physical proof.

Please visit the SKSProject to further assist in a new data analysis project.