This Chinese Type 53 Mosin-Nagant carbine is considered to be a pre-production trial example, bearing serial number "A000001" as manufactured in 1953. The rifles authenticity is confirmed by an accompanying letter from Navy Arms President Val Forgett, and another letter, dated November 7th, 2015, from historian Lin Xu to a previous owner in which it states, "It should be one of the very first pre-production rifles off the production line. Documents I have suggest that the Factory 296 (later triangle-26 marked, located in Congqing, Sichuan Prov., China) started test production (first assembled Russian supplied parts to test production line, then assembled with in-factory produced components) in January 1953." and further states, "The Chinese letter at the end of the serial number means 'Trial' or 'Test'. Prefix letter 'A' is a Russian style numbering on early products." and "Recent sales of Albanian imported samples suggest that about 30,000 were marked as pre-production run. Preproduction Chinese letter and 'A' prefix disappeared at around December 1953/January 1954." The top breech of the barrel is marked with the Factory 296 marking above the date "1953.6" above the serial number and trial marking. The bolt is a non-matching replacement numbered "4003684". Navy Arms import markings on the right rear of the receiver. With folding spike bayonet. Absent forend cap and cleaning rod. Provenance: The Supica Collection