
The carbine's ten-round box magazine is fed from a stripper clip (see below), and rounds stored in the magazine can be removed by depressing a magazine catch (thus opening the "floor" of the magazine and allowing the rounds to fall out) located forward of the trigger guard. Some selective-fire variants were produced in the PRC, and many SKS's have been modified in various ways to accept detachable magazines however, the basic design of the SKS is semi-automatic and fixed-magazine in nature. The basic design lacks both selective fire capability, and a detachable magazine. Contrary to popular belief, the SKS is a carbine and not a modern assault rifle, because it does not meet all the criteria for such a weapon.
#Russian sks rifle serial number lookup series#
As with the American M1 carbine, the SKS is shorter and less powerful than the semi-automatic rifles which preceded it-most notably, the Soviet SVT series and the American M1 Garand. Most versions are fitted with an integral folding bayonet which hinges down from the end of the barrel, and some versions, such as the Yugoslavian-made M59/66 variant, are equipped with a grenade launching attachment.

The SKS has a conventional carbine layout, with a wooden stock and no pistol grip. Yugoslavian SKS M59/66 with a rifle grenade launcher and folding bayonet The SKS was one of the first weapons chambered for the 7.62x39mm M43 round later used in the AK-47 and RPD. It is today popular on the civilian surplus market in many countries. It was widely exported and produced by the 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". The Soviets rather quickly phased the SKS carbine out of front-line service, replacing it with the AK-47, but it remained in second-line service for decades.

The SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic rifle chambered for the 7.62x39mm round, designed in 1945 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 internal box magazine, 10-round stripper clip-fed or individual round loading SKSĬhinese Type 56 Yugoslavian PAP Romanian SKS Albanian SKS East German SKS (North) Vietnamese SKS North Korean SKSġ,021 millimetres (40.2 in), M59/66 length 1,117 millimetres (44.0 in)ĥ21 millimetres (20.5 in), M59/66 558.8 millimetres (22.00 in) For other uses, see SKS (disambiguation).
