Russian SKS
The SKS-45 was produced in the Soviet Union by the Tula arsenal from 1949-1957 and by the Izhevsk works in 1953-54. Production ranges were estimated to be nearly 2,000,000. Issued at first to front line troops it was rapidly replaced by the AK-47 assault rifle which could be produced cheaper and had a larger detachable magazine. Thousands of the Russian made guns were rapidly given away to Warsaw bloc allies. A near clone of the weapon was made in Suhl, East Germany at the old Sauer rifle plant on Russian machinery in unknown numbers and dubbed the Karabiner S. Production numbers for the German guns are hard to verify but what is know is that they were manufactured from 1955-60 and rapidly found themselves in turn given away as aide to Vietnam, Angola and others.
Chinese SKS
Soviet trade partner, the People's Republic of China, was the largest producer of the SKS. The Soviet Russians provided the original set of machinery, plans, a huge stash of spare parts and teams of production experts to China to manufacture the weapon in Asia. It is thought than in excess of 8 million Chinese SKS were produced. They were originally produced at the Jianshe Arsenal (Factory 26) from 1956-71 for military use. These Chinese SKSs were designated the Type 56 after the first year of indigenous production. China exported thousands of weapons to North Vietnam, North Korea and numerous third world countries in the 1960s and 70s as military aid. China also helped North Korea and North Vietnam produce the weapon for their own use, where it was referred to as the Type 63 and Type 1 Carbines respectively. Several million were manufactured with a slightly shorter stock using a soft local wood rather than Russian hardwood. While early weapons kept the Russian blade bayonet, later designs used a lighter spiked version. The Chinese also used a different, non-spring-loaded firing pin design than the Russian original.
When military production converted to production for export in 1971, other streamlining and cost saving measures were seen. These included non-standard parts, the increasing use of thinly stamped rather than milled steel, laminated wood, and increasingly cheaper wood furniture. Variants were numerous and included those with smaller so called ‘Paratrooper’ barrels, those modified to take AK-47 magazines, fire in three-round bursts and others. From 1987-1994 these export SKSs sold under the Norinco label were brought into the United States by the boatload. The "$99 SKS" was a staple of gun shows for nearly a decade and an estimated one million passed into private ownership in the US before they were banned from importation in 1994.
Balkan SKSs
Taking a page from the Soviets in weapons manufacture, several of the Balkan communist countries produced their own SKS designs for issue to their local militaries and police militia units. Rumania was the first and produced almost perfect copies of the original Russian design at the State Arsenal at Cugir from 1956-1962. Tiny Albania produced an estimated 17,000 of a totally unique design from 1967-1980 at their Umgramish Factory. The Albanians had a one of a kind stock with a longer top hand guard, a AK-style charging handle, a milled receiver, chrome-lined threaded barrel and a Chinese-type spike bayonet.
Starting in 1959, Yugoslavia followed suit and produced the M59 (model year of course) version of the SKS. The Yugoslav version was made at the Government Red Banner Zavodi Crvena Zastava works in Kragujevac. The "Yugo SKS" differed from the Russian design in that it used a slightly smaller beech wood stock, often with a butt pad, and just as often did not have a chrome lined barrel. In 1966 a 22mm rifle grenade launcher and sight was attached to the barrel and production continued (as the M66) until 1989 when the 767,000th Yugoslav SKS was produced in a crumbling country. The Red Banner works is now Zastava Arms in an independent Serbia. Theystill produce a version of the SKS, known as the LKB 66, for sporting use with a scope mount, hardwood stock and a flush fit 7 round magazine.
Sources
Department of the US Army The SKS RIFLE (Training Circular 9-56, SIMONOV TYPE 56) US Government Printing 1969
Fuller, Wyant and Stephen compliers Editors Lamont SIMONOV SKS-45 TYPE CARBINES (Paperback - 1988)
Gebhart, James F Official SKS Manual of the U.S.S.R. Army (Paperback - Jan 1997)
Gun Guides SKS Rifle Disassembly & Reassembly Gun-guide (Ring-bound - 2006)
Kehaya, Steve and Poyer, Joe The SKS Carbine, 4th Revised and Expanded Edition Biotechniques Books, 2008
Long, Duncan The SKS Type 45 Carbines 1992
Sweeney, Patrick The Gun Digest Book Of The AK & SKS: A Complete Guide to Guns, Gear and Ammunition Gun Digest 2009
carbinecollectors.com/sks.htm Maintained by RK Smith & Dan Reynolds, accessed June 2009. For collectors information about various models.
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