JustaGuy1250
Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2021
- Messages
- 2
Hey all,
recently found this beauty for sale here in The Netherlands, and as a Vietnam war-era collector, i couldn't pass it up!
Since i've had it, i've been trying to uncover as much information about these as possible.
from production dates and numbers, so official names it had amongst Vietnamese troops and i thought i'd share my findings here.
So far, i've found that these K-50M's were originally called K-50 Báng Sât, meaning Type-50 folding stock in Vietnamese.
However, US troops could only find Type-50's to be referred to as K-50's so they stuck with K-50 and added an M behind it for 'modified', this name later transferred to Vietnam aswell as internet became a thing so it is now there too known mostly as K-50M
as for production, or rather assembly, this ran from 1962 to 1965 with about 7000 being assembled by then, and then continued to 1967 with a total of 10,000~ roughly being assembled.
Mine here is numbered 5188, this is a Vietnamese S/N and these coincide with the number of the gun produced.
so this one would fall around about 1964 or early 1965 but leaning more to 1964.
As for chinese S/N's, they all seem to fall between 350,000 and 370,000 however this does not mean it was the 350,000th gun to be produced in China.
As for how a handfull, or rather.. less than a handfull came to Europe?
I've uncovered that in 1999, there was a K-50M captured in Kosovo (Balkan wars).
This goes to show the K-50M was used in the Yugoslav civil war, and almost everything points to Albania as a reason for these being there.
China in 1980's or so, send alot of chinese guns (mostly AK's and SKS' but also Mat-49's and alot of other firearms) to Albania, for them to spread it around Yugoslavia and give it to rebel troops as aid.
what most likely happened is that during the chinese invasion of Vietnam, Chinese troops encountered the K-50M and captured a few of them and brought those back.
Back in China, they probably noticed it were just their K-50's but modified and thus stashed them away in crates and they seem to have ended up in these crates that were being sent to Albania.
This to me sounds like the most likely scenario for these ending up in Europe, as K-50M's were never internationally sold or directly given as aid.
What i am now trying to find out is the meaning behind some of the stamps on these firearms.
allmost all K-50M's i find online have a square with a 2 stamped on the front sight, except mine.
that is my main objective as of now, find out what it means.
quick notes:
As i live in Europe, this example is deactivated to current EU law.
this means while all parts move, it cannot be disassembled (shouldn't be able to, but the trigger mechanism CAN be taken out) nor can the topcover open up due to a small weld on the side visible in picture 2
also something worth mentioning:
the front slingswivel seems to have been replaced with a fieldreplacement made from a bend nail and some bend wire. the sling it came with is a chinese 7.62x39 sling for an AK or SKS, which was also slightly modified with a small leather band around the middle to keep both sides together as seen in picture 2, under the trigger.
recently found this beauty for sale here in The Netherlands, and as a Vietnam war-era collector, i couldn't pass it up!
Since i've had it, i've been trying to uncover as much information about these as possible.
from production dates and numbers, so official names it had amongst Vietnamese troops and i thought i'd share my findings here.
So far, i've found that these K-50M's were originally called K-50 Báng Sât, meaning Type-50 folding stock in Vietnamese.
However, US troops could only find Type-50's to be referred to as K-50's so they stuck with K-50 and added an M behind it for 'modified', this name later transferred to Vietnam aswell as internet became a thing so it is now there too known mostly as K-50M
as for production, or rather assembly, this ran from 1962 to 1965 with about 7000 being assembled by then, and then continued to 1967 with a total of 10,000~ roughly being assembled.
Mine here is numbered 5188, this is a Vietnamese S/N and these coincide with the number of the gun produced.
so this one would fall around about 1964 or early 1965 but leaning more to 1964.
As for chinese S/N's, they all seem to fall between 350,000 and 370,000 however this does not mean it was the 350,000th gun to be produced in China.
As for how a handfull, or rather.. less than a handfull came to Europe?
I've uncovered that in 1999, there was a K-50M captured in Kosovo (Balkan wars).
This goes to show the K-50M was used in the Yugoslav civil war, and almost everything points to Albania as a reason for these being there.
China in 1980's or so, send alot of chinese guns (mostly AK's and SKS' but also Mat-49's and alot of other firearms) to Albania, for them to spread it around Yugoslavia and give it to rebel troops as aid.
what most likely happened is that during the chinese invasion of Vietnam, Chinese troops encountered the K-50M and captured a few of them and brought those back.
Back in China, they probably noticed it were just their K-50's but modified and thus stashed them away in crates and they seem to have ended up in these crates that were being sent to Albania.
This to me sounds like the most likely scenario for these ending up in Europe, as K-50M's were never internationally sold or directly given as aid.
What i am now trying to find out is the meaning behind some of the stamps on these firearms.
allmost all K-50M's i find online have a square with a 2 stamped on the front sight, except mine.
that is my main objective as of now, find out what it means.
quick notes:
As i live in Europe, this example is deactivated to current EU law.
this means while all parts move, it cannot be disassembled (shouldn't be able to, but the trigger mechanism CAN be taken out) nor can the topcover open up due to a small weld on the side visible in picture 2
also something worth mentioning:
the front slingswivel seems to have been replaced with a fieldreplacement made from a bend nail and some bend wire. the sling it came with is a chinese 7.62x39 sling for an AK or SKS, which was also slightly modified with a small leather band around the middle to keep both sides together as seen in picture 2, under the trigger.
