SKS Carbine

The SKS is a semi-automatic carbine designed by the Soviet engineer Sergei Simonov, tested and accepted for Red Army service in the closing stages of the Second World War in 1944 and 1945 and put into full Soviet production and issue by 1949, chambered in the then-new intermediate 7.62x39mm cartridge that the following year's AK-47 would also adopt. Its gas-operated action, fixed ten-round magazine loaded from stripper clips, and folding bayonet gave Soviet and allied infantry a more accurate and controllable rifle than older bolt-action designs while still using the same short, powerful cartridge intended to bridge the gap between full-power rifle rounds and pistol-caliber submachine gun ammunition. Although the fully automatic AK-47 soon superseded the semi-automatic SKS as the Soviet Union's primary infantry weapon, the SKS remained in production and service for decades across the Soviet bloc, China and allied and client states, and it has continued to circulate widely as a civilian and paramilitary rifle around the world into the twenty-first century.