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A battlefield-proven Chinese Type 56 with Vietnam War bring-back provenance just made history, hammering down for $246,750 at Rock Island Auction Company’s early December sale.
The price marks a world record for a Type 56 machine gun. And the story behind this rifle explains why collectors pushed it into the stratosphere.
China’s Type 56, produced with Soviet tooling in the 1950s, became one of the most recognizable rifles of the Cold War. It armed communist forces worldwide. But nowhere was it more iconic than Vietnam, where it appeared in the hands of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong.
Thousands were captured during the war, and a select few made it back to the United States through the 1968 NFA Amnesty, legally registered time capsules of the conflict.
This rifle, serial number 9472501, was one of them.
Registered during the November 1968 amnesty as a “Chinese AK-47,” it came from Lieutenant Colonel Frank Bliss Wolcott III. Wolcott was a U.S. Marine artillery officer who served in Vietnam and fought in the ferocious Battle of Hue during the Tet Offensive.
While the exact circumstances of acquisition aren’t recorded, Wolcott would have had no shortage of opportunities to recover a battlefield pickup Type 56. He brought it home, registered it properly, and kept the documentation, which still accompanies the gun today.
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The rifle later transferred to Wolcott’s wife in 2024 following his passing, and then to the consignor who brought it to auction this month. That unbroken provenance line, combined with amnesty registration and wartime connection, made it a standout even before bidding began.
Technically, this is an early-pattern forged-receiver Type 56 with integral trunnion, Soviet-style front sight base and gas block, and matching serial numbers on the major components.
The rifle lacks the classic Chinese “pig-sticker” bayonet, but retains its correct factory marks, including the Factory 66 triangle-66 logo. Visible damage on the buttstock and buttplate suggests the rifle once absorbed a strike from shrapnel or a small-caliber projectile. Battle scars that only deepen its authenticity.
Condition rates very good, with about 50% original blue finish remaining. It includes a canvas sling, two extra magazines, and its original NFA paperwork.
As a fully transferable Class III NFA machine gun classified as a Curio & Relic, the rifle already occupied rarefied air. Add its Vietnam provenance, and its owner’s history, and it’s no surprise collectors drove it to a new world record.
For more information on RIA, click HERE.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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