Found amongst my father in law’s Vietnam bring-backs. If only it could talk.
The New Rifleman
In pursuit of practical marksmanship.
War Trophy
In pursuit of practical marksmanship.
Found amongst my father in law’s Vietnam bring-backs. If only it could talk.
Maybe that magazine can tell you more than you think. There are collectors and experts who obsess over all the little details of AK magazines and can tell you when and where it was made.
I think you have a Chinese ‘ribbed transitional’ magazine. The hook on the magazine that engages the magazine catch looks in your photo like it’s a cast part, not formed from stamped sheet metal. Yours appears to be like the one on the right in the first photo here:
http://www.theakforum.net/forums/20-magazines/172619-chinese-7-62-magazines.html
Look at the two ribs on the side of the magazine, near the bottom, running the width of the magaine just above the floorplate. As far as I know, only Chinese and Yugoslavian magazines have just two long raised stamped ribs, without a short rib in-between them. In the first photo in the link above, the transitional magazine (right) has just the two long ribs, as yours does, while the Sino-Soviet magazine (left) has the additional short rib, which almost all stamped-steel AK magazines have.
While I don’t collect AK magazines or know that much about them, I do find it interesting to be able to identify them by nationality. In the random group of magazines I shoot with, I’ve got exmples of Russian, Yugoslavian, Romanian and Bulgarian, and just picked up some really nice arsenal-refurbished Polish magazines (which AIM has on sale right now, cheap — they look brand new).
I’m sure there are knowledgeable collectors who would be thrilled to help you find more information about your magazine, especially given its interesting history as a wartime bring-back.
http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=419
BTW, the Vietnam-era Chinese AKs were called the Type 56, and were made in both milled reciever (AK-47) and stamped receiver (AKM) versions. Your WASR is essentially an AKM.
Many Chinese military items are stamped with a number inside a geometric shape, which identifies the factory. You might look for that on your magazine.