Manual

THE 7.62~MM SIMONOV SEMIAUTOMATIC
CARBINE (SKS)
General
The Soviet-designed Simonov semiautomatic carbine (fig1 ), a
gas-operated, integral box magazine-fed weapon equipped with a
folding blade bayonet, is now obsolete in the Soviet Army, but is
used by most of the other Eurasian Communist countries. This
weapon has been manufactured in East Germany as the
Karabiner-S (fig 2 ),
in the People’s Republic of China as the Type
56 semiautomatic carbine, in North Korea as the Type 63 carbine,
and in Yugoslavia as the M59/66 rifle. The country of origin can
be determined by the markings. The Soviet and East German
weapons usually carry the year of manufacture and the serial
number on the front left of the receiver; the PRC weapons have
the symbol XhA
(Type 56) located there, and the late
PRC Type 56 has a spike bayonet. The North Korean weapons
have “63” stamped into the receiver cover. The East German
version has a hole through the stock for attaching the lower end of
the sling; the others all have sling swivels. The Yugoslav M59/66
(fig 3 ! has a prominent spigot-type grenade launcher permanently
attached to the muzzle and a folding grenade launching sight (fig
4 ) at the rear of the launcher.
OPERATING HANDLE
I
Wu.9. 511396
SAFtlY
Figure 1 . Soviet Simonov semiautomatic carbine (SKS).
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