May 30th, 2024
7minute read
The guy who almost killed me was named Khai.
Our meeting was somewhat less than cordial.
Khai threw a jungle workshop grenade at me that failed.
Capt. Dale Dye, U.S.M.C. (ret.) with a Chinese Type 53 bring-back rifle from Vietnam. The gun was taken from a Vietnamese soldier who tried to kill the author.
I fired three rounds in his direction that did not.
But theres always that one guy that decides what the hell, hell take a shot.
Or maybe Khai was some kind of runner or scout tracking us through the downpour.
The author’s bring-back Chinese Type 53 rifle is a variant of the original Mosin-Nagant and is a copy of the Soviet Union’s M44.
Waiting as ordered for the S-2 people to arrive, I went through Khais sodden combat gear.
In a little two-pocket grenade pouch, he had another of the homemade frag grenades.
That matched the name on some letters he had wrapped in plastic in his pack.
The entrenching tool shows the name of “Khai” carved into the wooden handle.
Nobody else seemed to want it and I wasnt so sure about humping the extra weight.
What the hell, I thought as I unloaded the rifle and strapped it to my pack.
Maybe some souvenir-hungry dude in the rear would buy it from me.
Like the Russian M44, the Chinese Type 53 rifle had a fold-out, cruciform-style bayonet and hooded front sight.
Im glad I never sold it.
Years later digging through some of my salvaged wartime gear, I found Khais rifle in a footlocker.
That tripped my intellectual trigger and I began to do some research.
Among the Communist arms seized in Operation Urgent Fury were these Soviet-made Mosin-Nagant M44 rifles. Image: PH2 D. Wuicik/U.S. Navy
Its a classic example of what aint broke doesnt need fixing.
So Khais rifle is a late-production descendant of a Russian design.
It was manufactured in China in the 1960s at the Jianshe Arsenal No.
A Polish soldier sits in the back of a BTR-152 with a Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine during military exercises in the 1950s. The Chinese Type 53 was based on this rifle. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
Thats affirmed by the marking on the chamber-end of the barrel.
Virtually all the Chinese-produced key in 53s bearing that mark were shipped to Vietnam so that computes.
It fires the standard 7.6254 Rimmed cartridge from a five-round internal magazine.
The bayonet on the Type 53 rifle gave the gun a muzzle-heavy balance. The bayonet was relatively easy for soldiers to deploy and fold.
The weapon weighs in at just under nine pounds with a distinctive forward balance due to the folding bayonet.
Khai received weapon number A8767 which is marked on stock, barrel and magazine floorplate.
The stock is wood, likely beech, and was originally laminated to protect against foul weather.
China has a great deal of experience with Mosin-Nagant rifles. Here, Chinese troops armed with Mosins march to meet Japanese invaders at Jinzhou in 1931. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
Naturally, I picked up some 7.62x54R ammo and fired a few rounds.
Recoil was surprisingly mild, more of a push than a jolt, but the muzzle flash was massive.
Its drift adjustable for windage and the post itself can be manipulated for elevation changes.
The author with his Chinese Type 53 rifle. He found the rifle’s action to be smooth and fast while the recoil was modest when shot. A trained rifleman could easily work through the magazine’s five rounds quickly.
After all the years and rough handling in a harsh environment, that action is still butter-smooth.
But when I picked it up, the bang out 53 was safetied.
Fortunately for me, he didnt do that.
The Type 53 chambers the 7.62x54R round. Similar in power to the .30-06 Sprg. cartridge, the communist load makes quite a fireball from a shorter-barreled gun like this one.
I clean it thoroughly after firing it and imagine him doing the same many years ago.
It gives new meaning for me to the old Riflemans Creed.
This is my rifle.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
One of these days in honor of my old enemy, Ill have that translated to Vietnamese.
