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CLAYCO Sports Center, out of Kansas. This is an early importer, I have heard as early as 1983. See photograph with date below. They imported the very nicely finished rifles with Black or RARE Dark Green Bakelite furniture. I have also made a post on original Bakelite furniture if you are interested.
Here are the import stamps and markings on the Clayco. These are very beautiful rifles.
They were all made at the MIN SHAWN Factory, or at the LING HUA Factory. Their receivers are stamped as such.
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| "Alterations to this Firearm are Dangerous and Illegal. |
Clayco Full Stock model. They were all in boxes bolt down. Only.
Some were also imported with wood furniture.
Clayco Bayonets have a green tint, not black, especially in sunlight. They ALL have a small round bump on the non clip side of the sheath. Visible in the photo below. This seems to be an extremely green version.
All full stock Claycos were all made at the Ling Hua Factory, and stamped as such.
Pictured on the right.
All underfolders were made at the Min Shan factory. As pictured to the right.
Again, Clayco = Norinco.
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Here is a New in Box Clayco Underfolder.
They all sat Bolt up, in boxes like this. ONLY.
Here is Mine:
Clayco Bayonets have a green tint, not black, especially in sunlight. They ALL have a small round bump on the non clip side of the sheath. Visible in the photo below. This seems to be an extremely green version.
Pictured on the right.
All underfolders were made at the Min Shan factory. As pictured to the right.
Look closely at the brochure below.
CLAYCO = Norinco. The only possible difference is the black/green stock sets.
The rifles are the same in every way, and came out of the same factory side by side.
Here is MY latest Furniture set below. Please vote on you favorite Pistol grip to go on the rifle, and if you like the cheese grater more than the Clayco upper hand guard to achieve the "right" look.
Please comment below, Yes, that is an original Chinese RPK muzzle break and a Black Bakelite 20 round Pebble Magazine.
See picture blow, where the Clayco ad is stamped 7/83 for July 7, 1983. These Clayco's were probably the first ones brought into America.
I have a Clayco my dad purchased in 1984. It is by far the nicest and smoothest ak I have ever handled. The finish always gets complimented whenever I take it out.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if anyone reads these questions, but I found out that more underfolder Claycos were imported than fixed stocks. Is that true at all? Anyone has any idea how many came in?
ReplyDeleteThat may be true. Although I think I have seen more fixed stock up for sale as shooters than underfolders in the used pre-ban market.
DeleteThanks John. For sure, 2 full stock Claycos were sold in the last couple months for under $2000... Miracle if you ask me and I had no funds available :(
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine has a clayco underfolder with the black Bakelite. He said it was purchased in the mid '70s. The serial number is under 10.
ReplyDeleteClaycos were imported into the US starting 1985... Mid 70's LMAO
DeleteWere AK's in general imported into the US before 85? In other words, were Clayco's imported first in 85, or were AK's typically imported first in 1985?
DeleteI have a black fiberglass Clayco import.
First AK paterns imported were the Valmet M62s and 72s in 1981. Followed by Maadis imported by Steyr in March of 1982(Red Dawn movie). Claycos came in 1983, Polytechs in 1985, Kassnar Hungarians in 1986 and so on...
DeleteI need some advice I recently acquired a polytech 7.62 sidefolder pre ‘89 for $800 marked AKS 7.62 ,KFS Atlanta Ga. But it has black furniture?? Even the stock side panels
ReplyDeleteThe furniture was switched out with an 84S-5A.
DeleteI've got the black fiberglass stocked Clayco (with polished bolt carrier). It was my first AK. I bought it used in 1994. Super nice rifle.
ReplyDeleteI have a clayco fixed stock ak, under 10 serial number, no prefix, but its marked differently than your pictures. It says "ALTERATIONS TO THIS FIREARM ARE UNSAFE AND ILLEGAL" AND " LING HUA FACTORY"
ReplyDeleteAll Clayco dustcovers come marked with those words, thats how you know it's legit.
DeleteMy first high power rifle...
ReplyDeleteBack in the mid 80's, a friend of mine and I decided on our first high power rifles and AKs were on top of the list.
He bought what he thought was a rare breed at that time, (a Hungarian AK) and I decided to go with the only underfolder in the shop which turned out to be a Clayco Sports import.
With a price tag of $400, it came with 3 blued magazines, green plastic oil bottle, cleaning rod & cleaning kit, green canvas type sling and a bayonet W/scabbard with matching Black/dark Green bakelite scales.
The entire rifle is blued, the dust cover has the warning stamped on the L. side and it was manufactured at the Min Shan factory. This unit did not come with a blued/dark bolt & carrier, it came with a gray, phosphate type finish. Rifle serial 1019XX on the L. side F. trunion. Last 4 numbers on:
The top-cover (rear, under the recoil spring, lug opening). Gas tube/fore-grip (rear band/lug). Folding stock (inside L. support rail). Rear recoil guide rod (L. side, rear by lug). Bolt carrier (L. side). Bolt (bolt head, behind lugs). The bayonet (rear, safety lug). The barrel also have 4 numbers running vertically (under the gas tube) but they do not match the serialization. Any info on these numbers and relation is greatly appreciated. Also to be noted, all numbers are stamped (not electropenciled).
With no foresight on it's collective properties and first high power rifle in my collection, I managed to cycle over 3K surplus rounds through it with no failures, camped with it and as much as I hate to admit, even conducted several bumpfire mag dump ... 👍.
The rifle has smoothed itself out amazingly well, a true pleasure to shoot.
Thanks for the blog..
I have a Clayco underfolder and are in search for the original dark black/green furniture. There is one pictured here and was wondering if that was for sale. Please let me know.
ReplyDeletedoes anybody have this bakelite furniture available for sale? Im in the market for some
ReplyDeleteSure, they come up on Gunbroker, AKfiles now and then for $700 or more
DeleteCan you please provide a link to info on the different furniture found on a Clayco . Lots of bad info out there . If you look at their logo picture , it has a different grip than most , the one I have , is the same as Clayco Logo rifle . I also heard they came in Wood , Black , Black/green fiber, and red/black Fiber .. I’d like to get some concrete info on this . Many sites think they only came with the Green/Black Fiber furniture
ReplyDeleteYes, the concrete info is visually posted above.
DeleteLike mentioned above, ALL Clayco came in with Green / black Fiberglass / Bakelite furniture. And ALL had the green / black straight Polytech style grip. (NONE had the 84s black plastic 1919 curved grips) and NONE had the elongated black plastic stock that only came on the 84S-3A. Completely different furniture than ANY 84S.
Some Clayco were imported with Chinese Choo wood furniture.
If that was the case why would Clayco’s logo( shown above ) show otherwise with the Grip ?
DeleteI am not only a collector but also been in the preban sales for decades. Have a few in my collection and sold dozens of both versions. NONE had any other furniture besides the dark green phenolic. Clayco was the Importer, who knows how many parts they put their name on... but the AKs came in with wood and green.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support.
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