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LOT 404
Very Scarce and Desirable North Korean Type 58 Kalashnikov-Style Selective Fire Rifle, Class III/NFA C&R Fully Transferable Machine Gun - Serial no. 2L6250, 7.62x39 mm cal., 16 inch round
bbl., blue finish, hardwood stock. The North Korean answer to the Soviet AK-47 and Chinese Type 56, the Type 58 is of the early pattern, using a solid milled steel receiver instead of the more common later stamped pattern, and would serve as both a domestic front-line military rifle and a major export item, seen in Cuba, Grenada, Nicaragua and Vietnam. Hooded post front and tangent rear sights graduated to 800 meters, with the Korean “5-pointed star” and serial number on the left side of the receiver and a set of Korean selector markings on the right. The combination selector switch and dust cover is configured in the traditional Kalashnikov pattern, with “safe” as the top most position, “semi” at the bottom, and “full” at a midpoint. Matching numbers are present on the receiver, dust cover, recoil spring guide,
bolt carrier, bolt and gas cylinder. Fitted with a smooth hardwood forearm, pistol grip and buttstock, the latter carved on the right side with “BERNAL A 1/12” and “30 March 66”. While no documentation/ provenance was supplied with the lot, “A 1/12” may be Battery A, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, a USMC artillery unit active in Vietnam on the date in question; Bernal may have taken this AK variant as a field trophy, and registered it during the amnesty period.