The SKS is a gas-operated weapon that has a spring-loaded bolt carrier and a gas piston rod that work the action via gas pressure pushing against them. The SKS has a conventional layout, with a wooden stock and no pistol grip. Yugoslavian SKS M59/66 with the muzzle formed into a spigot-type grenade launcher, and folding bayonetĪn AK without its magazine (top) and an SKSĪ field-stripped SKS carbine (disassembled into major components for cleaning). The magazine release is circled.Ī blade-type bayonet in its closed and open positions SKS with the magazine closed (top) and open. Note that the safety is in the fire position The SKS can be quickly reloaded using disposable 10-round stripper clips. It was one of the first weapons chambered for the 7.62×39mm M43 round, which was also used later in the AK-47. The SKS is currently popular on the civilian surplus market in many countries, including the United States, Canada and New Zealand. The SKS was widely exported, and was also produced by some former Eastern Bloc nations as well as China, where it was designated the "Type 56", East Germany as the Karabiner S and in North Korea as the "Type 63". It is still used as a ceremonial arm today. 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. 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), or SKS 45. The SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 7.62×39mm round, designed in 1943 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. Hooded post front sight, tangent notch rear sight graduated from 100 to 1,000 meters. Short stroke gas piston, tilting bolt, self-loadingġ0 round stripper clip-fed or individual round loading. SKS Carbine from the collections of Armémuseum, Stockholm, SwedenĬhinese Type 56 Yugoslavian PAP Romanian SKS Albanian SKS East German SKS (North) Vietnamese SKS North Korean SKSġ,020 millimetres (40 in). For other uses, see SKS (disambiguation).