“Just finished reading your webpage, and I'm afraid I've got bad news on the year of manufacture and logbooks:

Bottom line - After many months of research, I ran into a guy who works at Marstar in Canada, who has had extensive business dealings with the plant who made the Yugo SKS rifles. Literally, he's made close to a hundred trips to the factory where these were made, and has spoken with the management that made these rifles. He's asked all the questions that you and I sought answers to.

Basically, there is no correlation between serial number and year of manufacture. They were simply labeled in order starting at 00001 for the 59's, and A000001 for the 59/66's with exceptions for some that were made for overseas sale to nations in Africa. Rifles were often renumbered when overhauled, so that tells us nothing. Same thing with the night sight configuration and the six hole versus no hole grenade launcher - these were retrofitted as rifles came in from the field, and say nothing about original date of manfacture. No night sights and the holed grenade launcher was the original configuration, which was later changed to add non-tritium night sights, then removed the holes in the launcher becuase they didn't regulate grenade launching distance as expected, then the change to tritium night sights.

I originally thought that an A prefix would be 1966, B prefix 1967, etc... That is not the case. Plus, any records that were kept that would determine year of production have been destroyed, be it from the NATO bombing or simply because the factory didn't think they were important to be kept.

Also, the logbooks tell us nothing. According to the factory managers and a former armorer of the Yugoslav Army I've run into, the books that were issued with the rifles were turned in and destroyed when the rifle was overhauled or repaired, and a new one issued. Old rifle + overhaul = new rifle = new book. The same happened when the rifle was transferred between units. All you'll get from the log books is the last time the rifle was overhauled, serviced, or transferred between units. This is why 99% of all of the logbooks have the date of manufacture blank - becuase they don't know when they were made! The only thing we can gather from the log book is date of last issue or overhaul...”

I feel that some of the data collected so far seems to contradict what Ben was told concerning the serial number prefix to year correlation. Hopefully more data will confirm or contradict the possibility of a correlation. I felt to be totally honest in sharing the information I have received I needed to share the above information.

I received an e-mail from John Hannan regarding his observations on variances he has observed in the serial number locations, lettering sizes and changes in features. I found the information helpful, and would like to pass it on. The following information is reproduced with John’s permission.

Reflections on Yugoslavian SKS’s

Following are my thoughts on the progression of manufacturing changes on Yugoslavian SKS’s based on looking at a number of rifles, but without the benefit of the log books now becoming available.

DATA POINTS ON GUNS I HAVE SEEN

C block – Model 59, with the features of the Russian M45 SKS. One notable feature is that the serial number on the bolt carrier is on the left side rather than the top. The receiver serial number is in rather small characters.

D block – serial D-74652 has the small serial numbers like on the M59, there is a faint serial number on the left side of the bolt carrier, but it has been reapplied to the top of the bolt carrier in larger characters, there is also a serial number on the side of the magazine housing and the bottom of the trigger guard that look like they were applied later. The gun has a non-ported flash hider, but no night sights. Various parts have “part numbers”on them. The stock is the old dark wood variety. This gun has obviously been reworked. I wonder if it started life as an M59. Other “D” blocks I have seen may or may not have night sights; several have the serial number still on the left side of the bolt carrier.

E block – serial E-121072 has the small serial number, but no evidence of a serial number on the side of the bolt carrier. There are no serial numbers on the gun other than the receiver and the top of the bolt. There is a lightly scratched number on the bottom of the trigger guard. Night sights, ported grenade launcher. Wood is the early dark type. “Part numbers” on various parts.

I did see an e block, serial E- 86397 with the serial number on the left side of the bolt carrier, no night sights, ported grenade launcher. Other than the bolt and receiver no other parts were serial numbered. I wish I had bought this gun to look at it further. I did not since the stock was renumbered.

F block – serial F-167098 has a larger character set serial number on the receiver and bolt top. No other parts are serialized except for a light number crudely electropenned on the bottom of the trigger guard. Ported grenade launcher, phosphor night sites, part numbers. Dark wood but showing more grain than previous rifles.

G block – serial G182222 large character set, with serials also on the side of magazine housing, rear top cover, and bottom of trigger guard. Serials are the same size and look like they were “panagraphed” in some fashion. Ported grenade launcher, night sights, part numbers. Dark grained wood.

I saw G206xxx, which had an obviously repaired stock, with a section forward of the breech having been removed and a new piece inletted. The interesting thing was that the repair and the area around it had a number of proofs in the wood “BK” in a box, like is seen on the underside of the stocks behind the trigger guard and also like you see on the Yugo Mauser M-48’s. I guess this was a repair proof or mark.

H block – H241217 much like the “G” block. A ported grenade launcher, phosphor sights, part numbers with a dark grained stock.

J block – J372253 much like the “H” block, except the grenade launcher is not ported. Phosphor sights, part numbers, dark stock with grain.

K block. Much like the J block, but K388742 has smaller size part numbers on the bolt, and the wood is a lighter color with a grain.

O block - The part numbers are no longer present. O630729 has non-ported grenade launcher, phosphor sights and a somewhat nicely grained stock, somewhat darker than the “K” block gun. The stock has a numeral mark of “2” on the bottom vs. the boxed “BK”.

P block – P615722 has non-ported grenade launcher, phosphor sights, and a nicely grained stock, but much lighter than O630729. Stock is marked “2” on the bottom.

S block – serial S665969 has the phosphor sights, the light oak wood with no grain, and has smaller size serial numbers than the previous guns, although the number on the magazine is a larger font than on the receiver. The serial number in the bolt carrier is deeply cut, not a photoengraving like the previous guns appear to be.

T- block – serial T676066 has the phosphor sights, light oak wood and both large and small serial numbers on the parts like on S665969.

B,C block – have small serial numbers, on all parts, including the bolt, which is a smaller font than that in the “S” block. B716535 has tritium sights, and light oak wood, no porting on the grenade launcher. Serial C726415 which is the highest I have seen appears to be reworked in that the serial number on the receiver is not in the white, a second serial number has been cut on the side of the magazine housing (although it is the same number as the original one which remains on the magazine the new one is in a larger font), the serial number on the bottom of the trigger housing has been polished over, refinished and recut in larger characters. The serial number on the rear of the top cover has not been redone, but has been finished over and is no longer in the white.

What does this say about the progression of features of these guns? (my hypothesis)

Some M59’s may have been modified to the M66 configuration, although I can not identify one for certain that has been, the logbooks may help on this.

The earliest M66’s have ported grenade launchers (not all), and no night sights (not all), and are serialized only on the received and bolt carrier, and have part numbers on bolt, handguard, takedown lever, gas tube, gas piston, top cover, front of trigger housing, etc.

Later guns had night sights; serial numbers were added to the magazine, top cover and trigger guard. The characters used for the serial numbers got bigger. The wood got lighter and showed more grain. Wood color/type is hard to judge and may have been replaced on specific guns – I plan to line up the pieces I have and try to photograph them together to see if there is a natural progression.

The ports were eliminated from the grenade launcher between the H & J block, the part numbers were eliminated between the “K” and “O” block, the wood was changed to a “white oak” and the serial number size became smaller. The phosphor sights were replaced by tritium sights (“Z” block?)

The other amazing fact to me is that it appears these guns were made from 1959 until 1989 based on your dating matrix, which is a long time. Another interesting point is that there is a Zrak scope and rail set, supposedly for these guns, which is marked M89. If that is the year of adoption, why is it so late in the manufacture of these guns?

Some other thoughts on serial numbers.

I still think the letters represent the year of manufacture. Randy Bessler had a Yugo M-57 Tokarev pistol on his web site. The frame serial number was preceded by the letter “H”. (it also had part numbers like the SKS’s). I saw two of the infamous M76 sniper rifles. One had the letter “H” ahead of the serial number on the receiver; the other (which had a higher serial number) had the date 1989 on the receiver under the model number, but no letter code.

Many of the Yugo M59/66’s have a number penciled on the stock beside the trigger housing, this number is also electropenned under the trigger assembly, under the rear sight leaf, the front bottom of the gas tube, and maybe other locations. I assume these are assembly numbers to keep track of the parts during finishing and assembly and that the serial numbers were applied after final finishing, which is why I think original guns will show their serials in the white.

A final thought – we call these rifles M59/66’s. The logbooks and the packing lists I have seen designate them as M59/66A. I wonder what the “A” stands for. Obviously there will continue to be much to learn about these fascinating rifles.

I have also received several other e-mails referring to “assembly numbers.” Unfortunately I deleted these e-mails or I would post them. The explanation of these numbers is a follows. When the rifle was built the parts were numbered with an assembly number to keep all the parts to a particular rifle together. When the rifle was completed the receiver was serial numbered and the serial number was added to the various parts. The assembly numbers should not be confused with the part numbers that appear on some of the parts. A part number will have the format x.xx.xxx . A good example of this is the part number visible (0.00.022) on the bolt carrier of the rifle in the second picture on the “variations” page.

I would like to thank everyone who has submitted data for my survey. Also I would like to acknowledge everyone who has sent me the various pictures I have posted in my web page. Howard Bearse deserves a special recognition for his contribution on the English Logbook pages and the variations in the grenade launchers. Lastly I am grateful for all the e-mails of encouragement I receive about my project.

If you have questions or comments please contact me at yugosurvey@hotmail.com

Please put “yugo” in the subject line of the e-mail so I do not delete the message as spam.

Last updated 10-2-2003