Ancient history

SKS 45

SKS 45

The SKS (Samozariadni Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945; in French:"Carabine semi-automatique system Simonov 1945") or SKS 45, is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine designed in 1945 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov (en), adopted in 1949 by the 'Red Army alongside the AK-47 assault rifle.

With the massive production of new assault rifles, the SKS was quickly withdrawn from the hands of frontline units but remained the weapon of reservists and official ceremonies.

It was widely exported and was produced by several countries of the former Warsaw Pact. Among these are the GDR (Karabiner S.), Poland and Romania began manufacturing (Wz 49 and Model 56) but quickly abandoned the idea. Only China, North Korea and Yugoslavia modified it somewhat.

It is nowadays very popular on the civilian market of military surplus weapons.

Presentation

Country USSR
Type Semi-automatic rifle
Ammunition 7.62 x 39 mm
Period of use 1944
Production 15,000,000 copies

Weights and dimensions

Mass (unloaded) 3.85 kg
Length(s ) 1021 mm (1245 mm with bayonet)
Barrel length 521mm

Technical characteristics

Scope 600 m
Maximum range 1000 m
Practical range 400 m
Rate of fire 35-40 rounds per minute
Muzzle Velocity 735 m/s
Capacity 10-round magazine blade
Sight Metallic sight with graduated rise from 100 to 1000 m

Variants

Type 56 (China)
Norinco Model 8 (USA and Canada)
PAP M59, M59/66 and M59/66A1 (Yugoslavia)
ZKP 66 (Serbia)

History

At the end of World War II, the Red Army needed a new rifle for its infantry. Indeed, the old bolt-action Mosin-Nagants were outdated and also had a very low rate of fire, while the machine pistols also used (PPSch-41 and PPS-43) provided a much larger volume of fire but were sorely lacking long-range precision.

It was therefore decided that the new weapon had to be compact (we had turned to short weapons during the conflict), semi-automatic and chambered in a new caliber intermediate between those of the Mosin-Nagant (7.62x54mm R) and those submachine guns (7.62x25 mm).

Description

The SKS uses the Soviet 7.62mm M43 7.62x39mm intermediate cartridge. It has a fixed magazine of 10 cartridges. When reloading, a 10-ammunition blade is placed at the entrance to the magazine, and then the cartridges are pushed inside it. Its users therefore do not carry magazines with them, but blade-chargers.

Once the ammunition has been inserted, the first is engaged in the chamber by manual recoil of the cocking handle placed on the right of the weapon's receiver. After the first shot, the gases created during the combustion of the powder charge of the cartridges are reused to actuate a system of pistons and springs causing the bolt to move back, ejecting the used case and replacing it with a new ammunition.

Unlike the AK-47, the SKS can only be used in semi-automatic mode. The mechanisms of the SKS are well designed and particularly reliable, hence also its success in Third World armies, which need weapons that do not require too much maintenance.

The SKS is a compact and easy to handle weapon, its barrel ten and a half centimeters longer than that of the AK-47 allows greater precision and range than the latter. Most models also have a folding bayonet, folding under the barrel, which it inherited from the Mosin-Nagant rifle model 1944.

Variants

Chinese Type 56

The People's Republic of China produced its copy of the SKS from 1956 to 1971 in its Factory No. 26. The first Chinese Type 56 carbines were identical to the Soviet models. Those manufactured between 1965 and 1971 were equipped with a longer and more tapered bayonet, a style generally found on older bayonets (for example those fitted to the old French Lebels). Produced in 1 million units, the Type 56 was widely exported to the Third World and took part in the Vietnam War (second-line units and Vietcong village militias) then in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. It is not no longer used by the People's Liberation Army since the beginning of the 1980s but remains the weapon of ceremonies and reservists. It served as the basis for the Type 63/68 Rifles.

The Chinese SKS was also produced by Albania (July 10 Rifle) and by the North Vietnamese (Type 1 Rifle).

The China Sports company imports many Type 56 in the United States and Canada under the name of Norinco Model 8. This one, deprived of its bayonet, is very appreciated for hunting deer. Commercial versions D and M, also produced by Norinco, are fed by a thirty-round curved magazine identical to that of the AK-47.
Italian commercial variant

In the same way the Italian firm Armi Jäger proceeded to the conversion of Russian surplus in .222 Remington to resell them then in Western Europe under the name of Rifle AP88. The AP 88-2 sold in France had no bayonet and measured 102 cm and weighed 3,100 g with its magazine reduced to 5 empty rounds.
Yugoslavian models
In service with the Yugoslav People's Army

Between 1960 and 1970, nearly 400,000 (for semi-automatic weapons) M59, M59/66 and M59/66A1 were produced for the Yugoslav People's Army and the Yugoslav Police. 100,000 of these weapons were sold abroad. The Zastava M59s were similar to the SKS 45s, but the barrels are not internally chromed.

The M59/66 and M59/66A1 models are easily identifiable from the other versions:they have an elongated cylindrical flash hider allowing the firing of different models of 22 mm grenades to NATO standards. In addition, a folding sight alidade for curved firing is placed above the barrel on these models which were widely exported to Uruguay and Mozambique. Mozambican versions have a teak mount supplied by that nation, but the vast majority of Yugoslav rifles have beech wood stocks. The manufacturing quality is close to or even superior to that of the model from the USSR.

Commercial versions

Since 2003, the Serbian manufacturer resumed production of the M59/66 for the civilian market. He also designed a hunting version:the ZKP 66. This has a stock, handguard and sighting elements different from the military model.

M59 data sheet:


Mass
:3.85 kg
Length :1,020 mm
Barrel :520 mm
Store :10 cartridges

M59/66 and 59/66A1 data sheet:

Mass :4.10 kg
Grenade launcher sleeve :22 mm NATO
Length: 1,120mm
Canon :560 mm
Store :10 cartridges

Military and civilian use

Although it was quickly supplanted in the front line units of the Red Army by the AK-47, this rifle was used in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as well as during several other conflicts.

Among the nations that used the SKS militarily without producing it are Afghanistan, Algeria, the People's Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, the UAR (Egypt) , Syria and South Yemen.

The SKS was withdrawn from service in the 1960s and 1970s in Third World armies close to Moscow in favor of the AK-47. Many surplus weapons were resold in the 1990s, and photos and accounts attest to the use of SKS by snipers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Somalia, as well as in other countries in Africa and Southeast Asia (especially in East Timor) during the 1990s and 2000s.

The US Army encountered them in Afghanistan and Iraq, the French soldiers did the same in the Comoros (Operation Azalée), in Côte d'Ivoire (Operation Licorne) and in Mali (Operation Serval).

With the end of the Cold War, many SKS, from Warsaw Pact stocks, or new Type 56 carbines, poured into the civilian markets of North America and Europe (European Union and Switzerland). This phenomenon explains the development of various accessories that can transform a simple SKS into a clone of the AK-47 or even into a sniper rifle (bipod and telescopic sight). For example, during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, Korean shopkeepers used SKSs to defend their stores against looters.


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