SKS

SKS
SKS Carbine from the collections of Armémuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
Type	Semi-automatic Carbine
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1945–present
Used by	See Users
Wars	See Conflicts
Production history
Designer	Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov
Designed	1944
No. built	15,000,000+
Variants	Chinese Type 56; Yugoslavian PAP; Romanian SKS; Albanian SKS; East German SKS; (North) Vietnamese SKS; North Korean SKS
Specifications
Weight	3.85 kg (8.5 lb)
Length	1,020 mm (40 in), M59/66: 1,120 mm (44 in)
Barrel length	520 mm (20 in), M59/66: 558.8 mm (22.00 in)
Cartridge	7.62×39mm M43
Action	Short stroke gas piston, tilting bolt, self-loading
Rate of fire	Semi-automatic 35–40 (rd/min)
Muzzle velocity	735 m/s (2,411 ft/s)
Effective firing range	400 metres (440 yd)
Feed system	10 round stripper clip, internal box magazine.
Sights	Hooded post front sight, tangent notch rear sight graduated from 100 to 1,000 meters.

The SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 7.62×39mm round, designed in 1943 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. Its complete designation, SKS-45, is an initialism for Samozaryadnyj Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945 (Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, 1945; Self-loading Carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945). The SKS-45 was manufactured at Tula Arsenal from 1949-1958 and at Izhevsk Arsenal in just 1953 and 1954, resulting in a total Soviet production of about 2.7 million carbines. In the early 1950s, the Soviets took the SKS carbine out of front-line service and replaced it with the AK-47; however, the SKS remained in second-line service for decades. It is still used as a ceremonial firearm today. The SKS was widely exported, and was also licensed for production by then Eastern Bloc nations, Romania and East Germany, as well as China, where it was designated the "Type 56 Carbine". The East German version was known as the Karabiner S, the Albanian as the Model 561 and North Korean as the "Type 63". The SKS is popular on the civilian surplus market as a hunting and marksmanship semi-automatic rifle in many countries, including the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Its age and numbers make it relatively inexpensive to purchase, and steel cased 7.62x39mm ammunition is one of the least expensive center fire cartridges currently on the market. The SKS was the second firearm to be chambered for the 7.62×39mm M43 round, with the first being the RPD.

The SKS has a conventional layout, with a wooden stock and rifle grip. It is a gas-operated rifle that has a spring-loaded bolt carrier and a gas piston rod that work to unlock and cycle the action via gas pressure exerting pressure against them. The bolt is locked to contain the pressure of ignition at the moment of firing by tilting downwards at its rear and being held by a lug pressed into the receiver. At the moment of firing, the bolt carrier is pushed rearwards, which causes it to lift the bolt, unlocking it, and allowing it to be carried rearwards against a spring. This allows the fired case to be ejected and a new round from the magazine to be carried into the chamber. The SKS represents an intermediate step in the process towards the development of true assault rifles, being shorter and less powerful than the semi-automatic rifles that preceded it, such as the Soviet SVT-40, but being longer (10cm or 4in) than AK-series rifles which replaced it. As a result, it has a slightly higher muzzle velocity than those arms that replaced it.