Description
Physical description
SKS carbine, gas operated, fixed box magazine, swivel bayonet, lacks rear stock retaining bolt [note that the stock and butt have been swapped with FIR 6416]
History note
The SKS self-loading carbine was the creation of Soviet firearms designer S G Simonov. It was a gas-operated weapon, intended to exploit the introduction of the new Soviet M43 7.62mm cartridge. This was an 'intermediate' cartridge - less powerful than the contemporary ammunition used in rifles and machine guns, but with a much superior performance to the pistol cartridges used by submachine-guns. This made it particularly suitable for light automatic weapons. Its development seems likely to have owed a debt to German experiments in this field - which had borne fruit in the form of the 7.92mm Kurz cartridge used in their wartime assault rifles.
The SKS was approved for service after some experimental use at the Front, during 1945. The need to perfect it delayed its full adoption until 1949 however. Interestingly its development and issue coincided with that of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. It was usual in the Soviet Union for competing designs to be produced, but not for two types of infantry small arm to be simultaneously adopted for service. It has been suggested that the SKS was produced as a fail-safe, being a more conventional weapon than the AK47, designed by a more established designer.
The SKS was eventually replaced by the AK in front-line service, but remained in use by second line and militia units until the 1980s. It also continued to be used for ceremonial duties. Versions were produced in China, East Germany, Yugoslavia, North Korea and North Vietnam.
Stamped on left of receiver
TV 4904 I [cyrillic] & five pointed star
Stamped on bolt, underside of magazine, on trigger guard and on rear of receiver
TV 4904 [cyrillic]