View source for SKS

{{Short description|Soviet semi-automatic carbine}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = SKS
| image              = Simonow SKS 45 noBG.jpg
| image_size         = 300
| caption            = An SKS from the collections of [[Armémuseum]], Stockholm, Sweden
| origin             = [[Soviet Union]] <!-- WP:INFOBOXFLAG -->
| type               = [[Semi-automatic rifle|Semi-automatic carbine]]
| is_ranged          = Yes
| service            = 1949–present
| used_by            = See ''[[#Users|Users]]''
| wars               = See ''[[#Conflicts|Conflicts]]''
<!-- Production history -->| designer           = [[Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov]]<ref name=Ezell>{{cite book|last=Ezell|first=Edward|title=The AK47 Story: Evolution of the Kalashnikov Weapons|date=1986|pages=322–342|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Harrisburg|isbn=978-0811722476}}</ref>
| design_date        = 1941–1944<ref name=Ezell/>
| unit_cost          = 
| production_date    = 1949–1958 <small>(Soviet Union)</small><ref name=Bolotin>{{cite book|last=Bolotin|first=David|title=Soviet Small Arms and Ammunition|year=1995|pages=112–117|publisher=Finland Arms Museum Foundation|location=Hyvinkaa|isbn=978-9519718415}}</ref><ref name="Campbell1">{{cite news |title=A Look Back at the SKS-45 Rifle |last=Campbell |first=Mike |url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/a-look-back-at-the-sks-45-rifle/ |work=The American Rifleman |location=Fairfax |date=12 March 2018 |access-date=8 October 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241008201407/https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/a-look-back-at-the-sks-45-rifle/ |archive-date=8 October 2024}}</ref><br/>
1956–1980 <small>(China)</small><ref name="Wuku">{{cite news |title=关于56式半自动步枪一些班门弄斧的介绍 |last=Wuku |first=Xiaoyujun |url=https://kknews.cc/zh-sg/news/lrrbq8z.html |work=KK News |location=Phoenix |date=25 July 2018 |access-date=6 October 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241006165536/https://kknews.cc/zh-sg/news/lrrbq8z.html |archive-date=6 October 2024}}</ref>
| number             = 5,000,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP25-Self-loading-rifles.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=www.smallarmssurvey.org |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515170501/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP25-Self-loading-rifles.pdf |archive-date=15 May 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>–15,000,000<ref name="hogg2002"/>
| variants           = See ''[[#Variants|Variants]]''
<!-- General specifications -->| weight             = {{convert|3.85|kg|lb|abbr=on}}<ref name=Jane98>{{cite book|last=Gander|first=Terry|title=Jane's Infantry Weapons, 1997-98|date=1997|pages=135, 166, 731–741|publisher=Jane's Information Group|location=Surrey, UK |isbn=0-7106-1548-5}}</ref>
| length             = {{convert|1.021|m|in|abbr=on}} <small>(with bayonet folded)</small><ref name=Jane98/>
| part_length        = {{convert|521|mm|in|abbr=on}}<ref name=Jane98/>
| width              = 
| height             = 
| diameter           = <!-- Ranged weapon specifications -->
| cartridge          = [[7.62×39mm]]<ref name=Ezell/>
| action             = [[Gas-operated reloading|Gas-operated]] (short-stroke, [[tilting bolt]])<ref name=Jane98/><ref name="pdf.textfiles" />
| rate               = 35–40 rounds/min<ref name="pdf.textfiles" />
| velocity           = {{convert|735|m/s|ft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name=Jane98/>
| range              = {{convert|400|m|yd|abbr=on}}<ref name=Jane98/>
| max_range          = 
| feed               = 10-round fixed magazine fed by a [[stripper clip]]<ref name="pdf.textfiles" />
| sights             = [[Iron sight]]s graduated from 100 to 1,000 meters<ref name="pdf.textfiles" />
}}
The '''SKS''' ({{langx|ru|Самозарядный карабин Симонова|Samozaryadny karabin Simonova|Simonov self-loading [[carbine]]}}) is a semi-automatic carbine designed by Soviet small arms designer [[Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov]] in the 1940s.

The SKS was first produced in the [[Soviet Union]] but was later widely exported and manufactured by various nations. Its distinguishing characteristics include a permanently attached folding [[bayonet]] and a hinged, fixed magazine. As the SKS lacked select-fire capability and its magazine was limited to ten rounds, it was rendered obsolete in the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] by the introduction of the [[AK-47]] in the 1950s. Nevertheless, SKS carbines continued to see service with the [[Soviet Border Troops]] and second-line and reserve army units for decades.<ref name="Beckhusen">{{cite news |title=Where Russia's SKS Rifle Bested America's Famous M1 Garand |last=Beckhusen |first=Robert |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/where-russia’s-sks-rifle-bested-america’s-famous-m1-garand-180017 |work=The National Interest |location=Washington DC |date=14 March 2021 |access-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223033742/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/where-russia’s-sks-rifle-bested-america’s-famous-m1-garand-180017 |archive-date=23 February 2024}}</ref>

The SKS was manufactured at [[Tula Arsenal]] from 1949 to 1958, and at the [[Izhevsk Arsenal]] from 1953 to 1954. Altogether, the Soviet Union produced 2.7&nbsp;million SKS carbines.<ref name="Chicom1">{{cite news |title=Is the Chicom Type 56 SKS Rifle Worth the Investment? |last=Dabbs |first=Mike |url=https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/type56-sks-rifle/472826 |work=[[Firearms News]] |location=Peoria, Illinois |date=2 May 2023 |access-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128165654/https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/type56-sks-rifle/472826 |archive-date=28 November 2023}}</ref> Throughout the [[Cold War]], millions of additional SKS carbines and their derivatives were also manufactured under license in the [[People's Republic of China]], as well as a number of countries allied with the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref name="Chicom1"/> The SKS was exported in vast quantities and found favour with insurgent forces around the world as a light, handy weapon which was adequate for guerrilla warfare despite its conventional limitations.<ref name="Gander">{{cite book|last=Gander|first=Terry|title=Guerrilla Warfare Weapons: The Modern Underground Fighter's Armoury|year=1990|pages=52, 80|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company|location=New York City|isbn=978-0806973333}}</ref>

Beginning in 1988, millions have also been sold on the civilian market in North America, where they remain popular as hunting and sporting rifles.

== Design ==
[[File:SKS magazine.JPG|thumb|left|SKS with the magazine closed (top) and open. The magazine release is circled. The release gets pulled back to open the built-in magazine.]]
[[File:SKS bayonet noBG.jpg|thumb|left|An SKS with a blade-type [[bayonet]] in its closed (folded back) and open positions.]]
[[File:SKS field strip.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Field strip|field-stripped]] SKS carbine (disassembled into major components for cleaning).]]

The SKS is a [[Gas-operated reloading|gas-operated]] carbine with a conventional wooden stock and a fixed ten-round box magazine enclosed inside the receiver.<ref name=Jane98/> It has a tilting bolt and a [[Gas-operated reloading#Short-stroke fixed|gas piston operating rod]] that works to unlock and cycle the action via gas pressure.<ref name=Jane98/> When a round is discharged, some of the gases in the bore are diverted through the gas port and impinge on the head of the piston.<ref name=Jane98/> The piston is driven rearwards and the tappet strikes the bolt carrier; a spring returns the tappet and piston to their forward position.<ref name=Jane98/> The bolt carrier is driven rearwards, which causes it to lift and unlock the bolt and allowing it to be carried rearwards against the recoil spring.<ref name=Jane98/> This allows the fired cartridge case to be ejected, and as the bolt is returned to its original position by the recoil spring it strips a new round from the magazine and chambers it.<ref name=Jane98/>  

The SKS magazine can be loaded either by hand or from a [[stripper clip]] which seats in the bolt carrier.<ref name=Jane98/> To load the rifle, the cocking handle on the right of the bolt is retracted, and if the magazine is empty the bolt will remain at the rear.<ref name=Jane98/> When the magazine is fully loaded, the bolt is pulled slightly back then released, at which time it will chamber the first round.<ref name=Jane98/> Cartridges stored in the magazine can be removed by pulling back on a latch located forward of the trigger guard (thus opening the "floor" of the magazine and allowing the rounds to fall out).<ref name="pdf.textfiles">[http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army_tc_9-56%20-%201_october_1969.pdf SKS Rifle: Simonov Type 56] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224023008/http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/MILITARY/united_states_army_tc_9-56%20-%201_october_1969.pdf |date=24 December 2012 }} | TC 9–56, Department of the Army Training Circular, SKS RIFLE, Simonov Type 56, Headquarters, Department of the Army, October 1969</ref>

When the magazine is expended, a small stud engages the bolt and holds it to the rear, in effect functioning as a bolt hold open device.<ref name=Jane98/> After the magazine platform is depressed by the insertion of ammunition, the stud continues to hold the bolt at the rear of the receiver until the bolt is pulled slightly back, at which time it drops into its normal position and releases the bolt to chamber the next round.<ref name=Jane98/>

While early (1949–50) Soviet models had spring-loaded firing pins, which held the pin away from cartridge primers until struck by the action's hammer, most variants of the SKS have a free-floating firing pin within the bolt. Because of this design, care must be taken during cleaning (especially after long storage packed in [[cosmoline]]) to ensure that the firing pin can freely move and does not stick in the forward position within the bolt. SKS firing pins that are stuck in the forward position have been known to cause accidental "slamfires" (the rifle firing on its own, without pulling the trigger and often without being fully locked). This behavior is less likely with the hard primer military-spec ammo for which the SKS was designed, but as with any rifle, users should properly maintain their firearms. For collectors, slamfires are more likely when the bolt still has remnants of cosmoline embedded in it that retard firing pin movement. As it is triangular in cross section with only one way to properly insert it (notches up), slamfires can also result if the firing pin is inserted in one of the other two orientations.

In most variants (Yugoslav models being the most notable exception), the barrel is chrome-lined for increased wear and heat tolerance from sustained fire and to resist corrosion from chlorate-primed corrosive ammunition, as well as to facilitate cleaning. Chrome bore lining is common in military rifles. Although it can diminish accuracy, the effect in a rifle of this type is limited.

The front sight has a hooded post. The rear sight is an open notch type which is adjustable for elevation from {{convert|100|to|1000|m|yd}}. There is also an all-purpose "battle" setting on the sight ladder (marked "П", for "Прямой выстрел", meaning "Straight shot"), set for {{convert|300|m|yd|abbr=off}}. This is attained by moving the elevation slide to the rear of the ladder as far as it will go.<ref name="pdf.textfiles" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pistolcraft.com/sks/ |title=SKS Instruction Manual<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2012-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411103553/http://www.pistolcraft.com/sks/ |archive-date=2012-04-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

All military SKSs have a [[bayonet]] attached to the underside of the barrel, which is extended and retracted via a spring-loaded hinge. Both blade and spike bayonets were produced.<ref name="pdf.textfiles" /> Spike bayonets were used on the 1949 Tula Russian SKS-45, the Chinese Type 56 from mid 1964 onward, and the Albanian Model 561.<ref name="pdf.textfiles" /> The bayonet on the SKS in both the closed/deployed positions also serve to apply tension on the (otherwise free floating) cleaning rod to keep it firmly in place.

The SKS is easily field stripped and reassembled without specialized tools,<!-- unfired cartidges are not needed for field stripping, the trigger group does not need to be removed to field strip the gun--> and the trigger group and magazine can be removed with an unfired cartridge, or with the receiver cover. The rifle has a cleaning kit stored in a trapdoor in the buttstock, with a cleaning rod running under the barrel, in the same style as the AK-47. The cap for the cleaning kit also serves as a cleaning rod guide, to protect the crown from being damaged during cleaning. The body of the cleaning kit serves as the cleaning rod handle. In common with some other Soviet-era designs, it trades some accuracy for ruggedness, reliability, ease of maintenance, ease of use, and low manufacturing cost.

==Development history==

The Soviet Union utilized a number of semi-automatic as well as select-fire rifles during [[World War II]], namely the [[AVS-36]], [[SVT-38]], and [[SVT-40]].<ref name="Smith1">{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Joseph |title=Current Soviet small arms |journal=[[Infantry (magazine)|Infantry]] |pages=21–23 |volume=51| issue=2|publisher=[[United States Army Infantry School]] |location=Fort Moore, Georgia |date=March–April 1961}}</ref> However, the primary service rifle of the [[Red Army]] remained the bolt-action [[Mosin–Nagant]], which fired the powerful but heavy [[7.62×54mmR]] round.<ref name="Smith1"/> Even prior to the war, the Red Army had recognized that these weapons were obsolete and initiated a program to modernize its existing small arms, although this was interrupted by the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941]].<ref name="Johnson1">{{cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Harold |title=Current Soviet small arms |journal=Army Research and Development |pages=31–32 |volume=15 |issue=6|publisher=[[United States Army Materiel Command]] |location=Alexandria, Virginia |date=March–April 1961}}</ref> Among the military development programs the Soviet Union had monitored in other countries were the Finnish, Swiss, and German developments in intermediate rifle cartridges.<ref name="Johnson1"/> These had limited range and muzzle velocity compared to the 7.62×54mmR and other contemporary rifle rounds such as the [[7.92×57mm Mauser]] and the [[.30-06 Springfield]], but also possessed numerous advantages: they were cheaper to manufacture, permitted easier weapons handling due to their much-reduced recoil and muzzle blast, and enabled infantry to carry more due to their small size and light weight.<ref name="Smith1"/> They could also be fired from shorter and lighter rifles.<ref name="Smith1"/> The Red Army's interest in an intermediate cartridge was piqued when stocks of [[7.92×33mm Kurz]] ammunition were captured from the [[Wehrmacht]], and by the end of 1943, Soviet technicians had developed a similar cartridge based closely on the German design, the [[7.62×39mm|7.62×39mm M43]]. Early trials showed that the new round had the penetrative capacity to pierce three panels of plywood, each of 2.25 cm thickness, at a six hundred meter range.<ref name="Chivers">{{cite book|title =The Gun |first= C. J.|last= Chivers |pages=155–167, 186|publisher =Simon and Schuster|location=New York| year=2011 |isbn = 978-0-7432-7173-8 }}</ref> Red Army officials believed this was more than enough power to wound or kill a soldier at typical battlefield range.<ref name="Chivers"/> Limited production of the new ammunition type commenced in 1944.<ref name="Oruzhie">"Патрон – основа оружия. Глава третья. Из истории автоматного 7,62-мм патрона образца 1943 г. (7,62х39)", ''Оружие'' 2005/9, pp. 21–44</ref>

Hurried efforts were made to introduce a rifle capable of firing the new cartridge, and the first prominent design was offered by [[Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov]].<ref name="Chivers"/> This was known as the ''Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova'' (SKS), or "Simonov's self-loading carbine system" <ref name="Chivers"/> Simonov had already been working on a semi-automatic carbine chambered for a lighter cartridge as early as 1941, owing to recent complaints about the effectiveness of the SVT-40.<ref name=Ezell/> In fact, one of his earliest prototypes was chambered for the [[7.62×25mm Tokarev]] pistol cartridge, which was also used in the [[PPSh-41]] submachine gun.<ref name=Ezell/> He also built at least one prototype chambered for the larger 7.62×54mmR cartridge.<ref name=Ezell/> Unlike previous Soviet semi-automatic rifles, these utilized fixed five or ten-round magazines loaded from stripper clips.<ref name=Ezell/> They were also distinguished by a large muzzle brake and a fixed gas system covered with a metal shroud.<ref name=Bolotin/> Simonov's design was based on the operating mechanism of the [[PTRS-41]] anti-tank rifle he'd previously developed for the Red Army the same year.<ref name="Smith1"/> On 1 July 1941, the Artillery Committee of the Red Army noted in its records that the Simonov's self-loading carbine, designated SKS-41, satisfied its basic "tactical and technical requirements".<ref name=Bolotin/> The Committee praised the SKS-41 for its light weight and the design of its fixed magazine; it recommended that 50 pre-production models with ten-round magazines be presented to the Red Army for trials.<ref name=Bolotin/> The SKS-41 was to be chambered for the 7.62×54mmR cartridge for logistical reasons, as the Soviet government wished to adapt its existing rifle barrel production lines for the new carbine.<ref name="Walter05">{{cite book|last=Walter|first=John|title=Guns of the Elite Forces|year=2005|pages=41, 118–120|publisher=Greenhill Books|location=London|isbn=978-1853676376}}</ref>
[[File:Kalashnikov Museum (September 2022) - 4.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Kalashnikov's carbine, which resembled an amalgamation of the SKS and M1 Garand.]]
Red Army evaluation of the SKS-41 prototypes was shelved due to the German invasion, and did not resume until Simonov rechambered his weapon to accommodate the 7.62×39mm cartridge in 1944.<ref name=Ezell/> He also made a number of other detail improvements to his original carbine, omitting the large and unwieldy muzzle brake, adding a folding bayonet, and replacing the metal gas system shroud with a removable wooden upper handguard and gas tube which housed the gas piston.<ref name=Bolotin/> The gas tube and upper handguard could now be removed as needed to access the gas port and piston for cleaning.<ref name=Bolotin/> The appearance of a 7.62×39mm prototype revived interest in Simonov's design, as only he and one other weapons designer, [[Alexey Sudayev]], were able to produce rifles chambered for the new round on short notice.<ref name="Walter05"/> Sudayev's prototype was a less conventional, more compact [[AS-44|assault rifle]] which more closely resembled the later [[AK-47]].<ref name="Walter05"/> A second 7.62×39mm semi-automatic carbine contender was later offered by [[Mikhail Kalashnikov]]; this was based on the operating system of the [[M1 Garand]].<ref name=Bolotin/> Kalashnikov's carbine appeared too late to participate in the Red Army's initial evaluation, and was rejected as the decision had already been made to submit the SKS for field trials.<ref name=Bolotin/>

The SKS was light, simple, and considerably shorter than the Mosin–Nagant, which made it easier to handle in dense foliage and urban environments.<ref name="Chivers"/> Simonov deliberately designed the SKS with loose-fitting parts, making it less likely to jam when dirty or inadequately lubricated.<ref name="Chivers"/> This was a notable departure from the relatively tight tolerances on the previous generation of Soviet semi-automatic rifles, and was also part of the design process of the AK-47.<ref name="Chivers"/> The SKS was officially designated as a carbine, although it did not fulfill the same role as the [[M1 carbine]] used in the [[United States Army]] at the time, and more resembled a traditional infantry rifle both in terms of design and envisaged role.<ref name="Smith1"/> Simonov's early 7.62×39mm models were quickly pressed into service with troops of the [[1st Belorussian Front]] during the final months of World War II.<ref name="Johnson1"/> The SKS was still undergoing active field trials when Germany surrendered to the Allies in May 1945.<ref name=Lockhart>{{cite book|last=Lockhart|first=Paul|title=Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare|date=2021|pages=322–342|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-1541672963}}</ref> At the war's end, the trials commission in the 1st Belorussian Front recommended the carbine be accepted into general service as the SKS-45.<ref name=Bolotin/> Mass production was delayed while the SKS underwent minor technical changes and alterations as a result of its trial performance during the war.<ref name="Johnson1"/> By the end of the 1940s, it finally superseded the various models of the Mosin–Nagant as the standard Soviet infantry rifle.<ref name="Johnson1"/> 

The AK-47 assault rifle and the [[RPD machine gun]], both firing the same 7.62×39mm cartridge, were introduced into Soviet service around the same time to complement the SKS.<ref name="Johnson1"/> During the 1950s, the Soviet Army rapidly mechanized its existing infantry formations, shifting primarily from light infantry on foot to a much more mobile force deploying from armored vehicles.<ref name="Johnson1"/> This fundamental shift in tactics called for large volumes of automatic fire to be delivered from moving vehicles, and the AK-47, with its select-fire capability, compact size, and larger detachable magazine, was more appropriate for this role than the SKS.<ref name="Johnson1"/> As a result, the AK-47 gradually replaced the SKS as the standard service rifle of the Soviet Army throughout the 1950s.<ref name="Johnson1"/> A US Army review of Soviet tactics and weapons found that "the SKS was phased out of infantry use in the late 1950s, not because of any inherent faults, but because a radical change in Soviet tactics rendered it obsolete."<ref name="Johnson1"/> However, even at the time of its introduction, Soviet military strategists had always desired an infantry rifle with more firepower than the SKS.<ref name="Chivers"/> They needed a weapon that better permitted the infantry to give massed automatic fire during an offensive.<ref name=Ezell/> Military historian Edward Ezell suggested that the SKS was always intended to be an interim solution, and the Soviets simply pushed it into production because they wanted any rifle chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge in general service as soon as possible, while a select-fire assault rifle was still being perfected.<ref name=Ezell/> Small arms expert John Walter concurs in his works, noting that the SKS was "ordered into series production largely to gain experience with the new M43 intermediate ammunition and buy time while a true assault rifle was developed."<ref name="Walter05"/> There was a proposal that the SKS could be retained as a dedicated marksman rifle, but it failed to meet the accuracy requirements and this role was subsequently filled by a new weapon, the [[SVD (rifle)|SVD]].<ref name=SVD1>{{cite book|last=McNab|first=Chris|title=The SVD Dragunov Rifle|year=2023|pages=8–9|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1472855961}}</ref>

In June 1955, the Soviet Union hosted a military and civilian delegation from the [[People's Republic of China]] led by General [[Zhao Erlu]].<ref name="Chivers"/> The Chinese delegation was given a tour of the [[Tula Arms Plant]], where they observed the assembly of SKS carbines.<ref name="Chivers"/> General Erlu expressed an interest in acquiring the technology for the SKS, as China had previously only been granted a license to produce the Mosin–Nagant, which was by then a rather antiquated design.<ref name="Chivers"/> After negotiations between [[Mao Zedong]] and Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]], the Soviet Union agreed to transfer the technology for the SKS, as well as the AK-47 and the 7.62×39mm cartridge.<ref name=Cronin>{{cite book|last=Cronin|first=Audrey|title=Power to the People: How Open Technological Innovation is Arming Tomorrow's Terrorists|date=2020|page=149|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0190882143}}</ref> Parallel production lines for the SKS and the AK-47 were set up in China the following year.<ref name="Chivers"/> Chinese production of the SKS continued for decades after it ceased in the Soviet Union, and over nine million had been manufactured as the ''Type 56'' carbine in that country by the 1980s.<ref name=SKSG>{{cite book|last1=Poyer|first1=Mark|last2=Kahaya|first2=Steve|title=The SKS Carbine|date=2020|pages=3, 61, 136|publisher=North Cape Publications|location=Tustin|isbn=978-1882391141}}</ref> Eighty Chinese factories eventually tooled up to produce the Type 56 carbine, although the primary production line was established at the Jianshe Machine Tool Factory, officially designated Factory 296.<ref name="Wuku"/> The Chinese carbines were mostly identical to the Soviet weapon, although their receivers were produced with carbon steel rather than the Soviet specified chrome-nickel alloy steel.<ref name="Wuku"/> Over the course of production, the Type 56 carbine was also manufactured with a greater percentage of stamped as opposed to machined parts.<ref name="Wuku"/> 

In terms of production numbers, the SKS was the ninth most produced self-loading rifle design in history.<ref name="Survey1">{{cite web|title=Global Development and Production of Self-loading Service Rifles, 1896 to the Present|last=Jenzen-Jones|first= N.R.|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP25-Self-loading-rifles.pdf|location=Geneva|publisher=Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies|year=2017|access-date=15 May 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515170501/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP25-Self-loading-rifles.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2020}}</ref> Nearly all the [[Warsaw Pact]] member states adopted the SKS at one time or another, and technical specifications to produce the carbine were shared with the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) and [[Romania]].<ref name=SKSG/> With the assistance of Soviet or Chinese technicians and generous military grants, armaments factories producing SKS carbines were later established in [[North Vietnam]], [[North Korea]], [[Yugoslavia]], and [[Albania]] as well.<ref name=SKSG/>

While remaining far less ubiquitous than the AK, both original SKS carbines and foreign variants can still be found today in civilian hands as well as in the arsenals of insurgent groups and paramilitary forces around the world.<ref name="Survey1"/> The SKS has been circulated in up to 69 countries, both by national governments and non-state actors.<ref name="Bonn">{{cite web|title= SALW Guide: Global distribution and visual identification|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://salw-guide.bicc.de/pdf/weapons/013/simonov-sks.std.en.pdf|location=Bonn|publisher=Bonn International Center for Conversion|year=2016|access-date=15 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515172041/https://salw-guide.bicc.de/pdf/weapons/013/simonov-sks.std.en.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2020}}</ref> In 2016, it remained in the reserve and training inventories of over 50 national armies.<ref name="Bonn"/>

==Service history==
[[File:Vietcong1968.jpg|right|thumb|upright|A guerrilla of the [[Liberation Army of South Vietnam]], crouching in a tunnel with an SKS carbine.]]

A few years after the SKS was brought into service in 1949, it was rendered obsolete for the Soviet military by the new AK-47, which was adopted in increasing numbers by Soviet front-line units throughout the 1950s.<ref name="Walter05"/> During the early 1950s, the typical Soviet rifle squad was organized on the basis of the SKS and the RPD light machine gun, which was chambered for the same 7.62×39mm ammunition.<ref name=Musgrave>{{cite book|last1=Musgrave|first1=Daniel|last2=Nelson|first2=Thomas|title=The World's Assault Rifles and Automatic Carbines|date=1967|page=7, 171|publisher=TBN Enterprises|location=Alexandria, Virginia|asin=B000OQ20VW}}</ref> The RPD's role was the designated squad automatic weapon, laying down suppressive fire in support of infantry armed with semi-automatic carbines.<ref name=Musgrave/> The Soviet Army wanted all members of the rifle squad to have the ability to use fully automatic fire as needed, which played a pivotal role in the AK gaining favor as the standard infantry weapon over the SKS.<ref name=Musgrave/> The SKS and RPD were also very different weapons with no interchangeable parts, and they required separate training and maintenance programs.<ref name=Musgrave/> As a result, a light machine gun more compatible with the rest of the rifle squad's weapons was requested.<ref name=Musgrave/> This would result in the adoption of the [[RPK]] light machine gun.<ref name=Musgrave/> The RPK was derived directly from the AK and had an identical manual of arms.<ref name=Musgrave/> 

The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) first noted the SKS replacing the Mosin–Nagant with front-line Soviet units in Europe in 1954, and began compiling detailed information about the new service rifle.<ref name="CIA54">{{cite web|title=New Weapons in Soviet Army in Austria|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00046R000400110004-1.pdf|location=Langley|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|date=27 October 1954|access-date=3 June 2024|archive-date=3 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603201045/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00046R000400110004-1.pdf}}</ref> The CIA observed that the AK-47 was being introduced at the same time to replace the PPSh-41 submachine gun.<ref name="CIA54"/> Two years later, the SKS was used by Soviet troops and Hungarian partisans alike during the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 Hungarian Revolution]].<ref name="Laemlein">{{cite web|title=When the SKS faced the M14|last=Laemlein|first=Tom|url=https://www.thearmorylife.com/when-the-sks-faced-the-m14/|location=	Geneseo, Illinois|publisher=[[Springfield Armory, Inc.]]|date=5 May 2020|access-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902214049/https://www.thearmorylife.com/when-the-sks-faced-the-m14/|archive-date=2 September 2022}}</ref><ref name="Budapest">{{cite book|last1=Schmidl|first1=Erwin|last2=Ritter|first2=László|title=The Hungarian Revolution 1956|year=2006|pages=53,60|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1846030796}}</ref> Thereafter, while the SKS was retained for various auxiliary duties, it ceased to have any real military significance in the Soviet Union.<ref name="Walter05"/> Only a small number remained in active service, mostly with support units, until the 1980s.<ref name="UA">{{cite web|title=7,62-мм самозарядний карабін Симонова (СКС)|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.ukrmilitary.com/2021/09/sks-45.html|location=Kyiv
|publisher=Ukraine Military Pages|date=13 September 2021|access-date=11 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528110851/https://www.ukrmilitary.com/2021/09/sks-45.html|archive-date=28 May 2022}}</ref> However, the SKS found a longer second life in the service of various Soviet-aligned nations, in particular the People's Republic of China.<ref name="Walter05"/> The Chinese state manufactured it for decades after production had ceased in the Soviet Union, mainly to arm its vast military reserves and militia forces.<ref name="Walter05"/> 

The SKS was in general issue with regular units of the [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) for thirty years as the Type 56 carbine.<ref name="Huey">{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Peter|title=UH-1 Huey Gunship vs NVA/VC Forces: Vietnam 1962–75|year=2021|page=6|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1472845153}}</ref> In the [[Sino-Indian War|Sino-Indian War of 1962]], the semi-automatic carbine gave the PLA a distinct advantage over the Indian infantry, then armed with bolt-action [[Lee–Enfield]] rifles.<ref name=VanTonder>{{cite book|last=Van Tonder|first=Gerry|title=Sino-Indian War Border Clash: October–November 1962|date=2018|page=63|publisher=Pen & Sword|location=South Yorkshire, UK |isbn=978-1526728371}}</ref> During the early 1960s, China developed the [[Type 63 assault rifle]] to replace the Type 56, but it failed to meet the PLA's standards and was withdrawn from service after a short period.<ref name="Moss">{{cite news |title=When China Wanted a New Assault Rifle, It Tried to Reinvent the AK-47 |last=Moss |first=Matthew |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/when-china-wanted-new-assault-rifle-it-tried-reinvent-ak-47-168222 |work=[[The National Interest]] |location=Washington, D.C. |date=3 September 2020 |access-date=13 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004212812/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/when-china-wanted-new-assault-rifle-it-tried-reinvent-ak-47-168222 |archive-date=4 October 2023}}</ref> In 1978, the typical PLA infantry battalion was still armed with 360 Type 56 carbines and 221 [[Type 56 assault rifle]]s.<ref name="O'Dowd">{{cite book|last=O'Dowd|first=Edward|title=Chinese Military Strategy in the Third Indochina War: The Last Maoist War|year=2009|page=144|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon|isbn=978-0415545280}}</ref> PLA forces armed primarily with Type 56 carbines fought Soviet troops armed primarily with [[AKM]] rifles during the [[Sino-Soviet border conflict]].<ref name="Brimelow">{{cite news |title=A bloody battle over a tiny island raised fears that China and the Soviets would start World War III |last=Brimelow |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/fighting-over-dispute-border-island-risked-chinese-soviet-nuclear-war-2021-3 |work=Business Insider |location=New York City |date=10 March 2021 |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711045254/https://www.businessinsider.com/fighting-over-dispute-border-island-risked-chinese-soviet-nuclear-war-2021-3|archive-date=11 July 2022}}</ref><ref name="Yegorov">{{cite news |title=How China and USSR nearly started WW3 |last=Yegorov |first=Oleg |url=https://www.rbth.com/history/330058-china-ussr-world-war-three |work=Russia Beyond |location=Moscow |date=2 March 2019 |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902024653/https://www.rbth.com/history/330058-china-ussr-world-war-three|archive-date=2 September 2022}}</ref> During the [[Sino-Vietnamese War]], PLA infantry armed primarily with Type 56 carbines engaged Vietnamese infantry armed with the same weapon and its Soviet equivalent.<ref name="O'Dowd"/> The conflict was notable in that both sides commonly fielded the SKS/Type 56 carbine alongside AK-pattern automatic rifles, although the Vietnamese forces had largely transitioned to the latter while the PLA had not.<ref name="O'Dowd"/><ref name="Moss"/> The Type 56 carbine was retired from PLA service in the late 1980s, when it was replaced by the [[Type 81 assault rifle]].<ref name="Moss"/> Aside from ceremonial purposes, it remained in limited use as a training rifle for military cadets and members of the [[Militia (China)|Chinese state militia]] during the 1990s and 2000s.<ref name="Wuku"/> 

The [[Polish People's Republic]] and [[Socialist Republic of Romania]] received technical assistance from the Soviet Union to produce the SKS under license in 1956.<ref name="Layman">{{cite news |title=Will The Real Russian SKS Please Stand Up? |last=Layman |first=George |url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/will-the-real-russian-sks-please-stand-up/ |work=The American Rifleman |location=Fairfax |date=30 December 2024 |access-date=13 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231073633/https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/will-the-real-russian-sks-please-stand-up/ |archive-date=31 December 2024}}</ref> However, later that year the Polish general staff belatedly rejected the SKS as a standard service rifle, choosing to retain the AK-47 for that role instead.<ref name="Layman"/> The Polish government subsequently resold the technical data package and tooling equipment to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1959.<ref name="Layman"/> The East German [[National People's Army]] (NVA) was rearmed with the SKS, designated the Karabiner-S, during the early 1960s.<ref name="Layman"/> The first examples of the SKS directly acquired by the United States were three Karabiner-S carbines stolen by NVA soldiers near [[Potsdam]] in 1961.<ref name="Layman"/> These weapons were sold to a visiting American military officer whose vehicle was not subject to search, enabling him to smuggle them into West Germany.<ref name="Layman"/> One Karabiner-S was presented to General [[Garrison H. Davidson]] as a commemorative piece in 1962, while the other two were sent to the United States for further study in 1963.<ref name="Layman"/> The NVA began to retire the Karabiner-S from front-line service during the late 1960s, at which time many had their official markings defaced to minimize their intelligence value and were exported overseas to other friendly socialist states such as [[North Vietnam]].<ref name="Layman"/> 

Before adopting domestic AK-47 derivatives, a number of non-aligned nations such as [[Egypt]] and Yugoslavia adopted the SKS as a standard service rifle.<ref name="Suez">{{cite web|title=Simonov SKS Model 1943 7.62 mm self-loading rifle used by the Egyptian Army during the Suez Crisis, 1956|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1963-12-251-94|location=London|publisher=National Army Museum|year=2021|access-date=3 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123040316/https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1963-12-251-94|archive-date=23 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="Walter05"/> The [[Egyptian Army]] used the SKS extensively during the [[Suez Crisis]], and a number were captured and evaluated by Western intelligence agencies in the aftermath of that conflict.<ref name="Laemlein"/> Some Egyptian forces were still armed with the SKS as late as the [[Six Day War]], which saw thousands of the carbines captured by the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF).<ref name="Infantry">{{cite journal |last=Henry |first=Michel |title=Small arms in the Middle East: A potpourri of weapons |journal=[[Infantry (magazine)|Infantry magazine]] |page=26 |publisher=[[United States Army Infantry School]] |location=Fort Moore, Georgia |date=May–June 1971}}</ref> During its own evaluation of the weapon, the IDF described the SKS as "first rate in several respects" but noted the difficulty of loading the fixed magazine quickly with stripper clips, especially during night fighting operations when visibility was poor.<ref name="Infantry"/> 

The [[Indonesian Army]] attempted to adopt the Type 56 carbine as its standard service rifle during the early 1960s, and ordered 100,000 from China following negotiations between [[Sukarno]] and Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] in 1962.<ref name="Chung1">{{cite news |title=An Overview of the Differences Between Chung Type 56 Carbine Rifle, Type 56 Assault Rifle |last1=Ahimsa |first1=B.D |last2=Kurniasari |first2= Fitri |url=https://en.netralnews.com/an-overview-of-the-differences-between-chung-type-56-carbine-rifle-type-56-assault-rifle/bllnbjVqbkdZc0prcWFWMTNPdzdLUT09 |work=TNNC Netral News |location=Jakarta |date=22 June 2024 |access-date=5 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240831152049/https://en.netralnews.com/an-overview-of-the-differences-between-chung-type-56-carbine-rifle-type-56-assault-rifle/bllnbjVqbkdZc0prcWFWMTNPdzdLUT09 |archive-date=31 August 2024}}</ref> However, deliveries of the carbines were interrupted by a [[Transition to the New Order|political crisis in Indonesia]] during the mid 1960s, and only 25,000 actually reached the army.<ref name="Chung1"/> Many were also diverted to the [[Communist Party of Indonesia]]'s paramilitary forces by sympathetic Indonesian officials.<ref name=Subroto>{{cite book|last=Subroto|first=Hendro|title=The Revolutionary Council of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI): Report on Its Failure to Turn Indonesia Into a Communist Country|date=2008|page=99|publisher=Pustaka Sinar Harapan|location=Jakarta|isbn=978-9794169049}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1960s, vast quantities of SKS carbines from military reserve stocks were donated by the Soviet Union and China to left-wing guerrilla movements around the world.<ref name="Gander"/> The increasing ubiquity of the SKS altered the dynamics of [[asymmetric warfare]] in developing nations and colonial territories, where most guerrillas had previously been armed with bolt-action rifles.<ref name="Gander" /> For example, the SKS served as one of the primary arms of the [[Viet Cong]] during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="Charlie1">{{cite book|last=Senich|first=Peter|title=The One-Round War: USMC Scout-Snipers In Vietnam|date=1996|page=316|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison|isbn=978-0-87364-867-7}}</ref> The weapon type was encountered so frequently by the [[United States Armed Forces]] in Vietnam that captured examples were used by [[opposing force]] (OPFOR) units during training exercises designed to simulate battlefield conditions there as early as 1969.<ref name="OPFOR">{{cite book|last1=Boutell|first1=Earl|last2=Petmecky|first2=H.G|title=Only by the Hand of God|year=2016|page=14|publisher=Dorrance Publishing Company|location=Pittsburgh|isbn=978-1-4809-2467-3}}</ref> Captured SKS carbines were also prized as [[War trophy|war trophies]] among individual US military personnel, and a number were brought back to the United States by returning veterans over the course of the Vietnam conflict.<ref name="Voices">{{cite book|last=Pratt|first=John Clark|title=Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years, 1941–1975|year=2008|page=272|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=978-0820333694}}</ref><ref name="Borisenko">{{cite news |title=SKS Collecting And Identification: A Buyer's Guide |last=Borisenko |first=Adam |url=https://gundigest.com/military-firearms/sks-collecting-and-identification-a-buyers-guide? |work=[[Gun Digest]] |location=Iola, Wisconsin |date=10 March 2022 |access-date=23 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313122521/https://gundigest.com/military-firearms/sks-collecting-and-identification-a-buyers-guide |archive-date=13 March 2024}}</ref> 

The SKS found particular favour in southern Africa, where it was used by a number of insurgent armies fighting to overthrow colonial rule in [[Angola]],<ref name="Angola1">{{cite book|title=Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa: Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea 1961–74|last=Venter|first=Al J|location=Solihull|publisher=Helion and Company|year=2013|isbn=978-1909384576|page=134}}</ref> [[Rhodesia]] (Zimbabwe),<ref name="Rhodesia">{{cite book|title=Winds of Destruction: the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot|last=Petter-Bowyer|first=P. J. H.|date=November 2005|orig-year=2003|location=Johannesburg|publisher=30° South Publishers|isbn=978-0-9584890-3-4|page=380}}</ref> and [[South West Africa]] (Namibia).<ref name="Hooper">{{cite book|title=Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War|last=Hooper|first=Jim|location=Solihull|publisher=Helion and Company|year=2013|orig-year=1988|isbn=978-1868121670|page=260}}</ref> After Angolan independence, the Soviet Union delivered up to 5,000 SKS carbines to support the [[People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola]] (MPLA) during that country's lengthy [[Angolan Civil War|civil war]].<ref name="CIA1975">{{cite web|title=Estimated costs of Soviet weapons to Angola|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/LOC-HAK-102-4-15-7.pdf|location=Langley|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |date=14 October 1975|access-date=2 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303025715/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/LOC-HAK-102-4-15-7.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2024}}</ref> The MPLA's primary opponent, the [[UNITA|National Union for the Total Independence of Angola]] (UNITA), commonly used Type 56 carbines supplied by China.<ref name="UNITA">{{cite book|last1=Eisenman|first1=Joshua|last2=Shinn|first2=David|title=China and Africa: A Century of Engagement|year=2012|page=489|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0-8122-4419-9}}</ref> The SKS was also used in large quantities by [[uMkhonto we Sizwe]] (MK), the armed wing of the [[African National Congress]] (ANC) in South Africa.<ref name="MK">{{cite book|last1=Luthuli|first1=Daluxolo|last2=Bopela|first2=Thula|title=Umkhonto We Siswe: Fighting for a Divided People|year=2005|pages=60–61|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann-Arbor|isbn=9781919854168}}</ref> Between 1963 and 1990, the Soviet Union shipped 3,362 SKS carbines to MK through the guerrillas' external sanctuaries in Angola and Tanzania.<ref name="MK2">{{cite news|title=Investigation: The ANC's secret arms caches|last=Abarinov|first=Vladimir|work=[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]]|location=Moscow|date=8 August 1992|page=4}}</ref><ref name=Hot>{{cite book|last=Shubin|first=Vladimir Gennadyevich|title=The Hot "Cold War": The USSR in Southern Africa|year=2008|pages=249–253|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-7453-2472-2 }}</ref> SKS carbines captured from MK by the South African security forces were used to arm militias of the [[Inkatha Freedom Party]] (IFP) during its internal power struggle with the ANC in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="Inkatha">{{cite book|title=Into the Heart of Darkness: Confessions of Apartheid's Assassins|last=Pauw|first=Jacques|year=1997|location=Johannesburg|publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers|isbn=978-1868420582|page=124}}</ref>

East Germany and the Soviet Union both armed various factions of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) with SKS carbines from the 1950s through the 1970s; these were used against the IDF and in various internecine clashes during the [[Lebanese Civil War]].<ref name=Herf>{{cite book|last=Herf|first=Jeffrey|title=Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967–1989|date=2016|page=139|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1107461628}}</ref><ref name=Shultz>{{cite book|last=Shultz|first=Richard|title=The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare: Principles, Practices, and Regional Comparisons|date=1988|page=107|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|location=Stanford|isbn=978-0817987114}}</ref> The Soviet carbines were initially shipped to PLO training camps in Egypt, where the Egyptian Army provided instructors to train PLO fighters in their use.<ref name=Ghusheh>{{cite book|last=Ghusheh|first=Ibrahim|title=The Red Minaret: Memoirs of Ibrahim Ghusheh|date=1997|page=63|publisher=AL-Zaytouna Centre Press|location=Beirut|isbn=978-9953-572-24-6}}</ref>

Both Type 56 and Soviet SKS carbines were used by Simba forces during the [[Simba Rebellion]] in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].<ref name="Edwards1">{{cite news |title=Knight of the Elephant – The Wild Story of Colonel "Mad Mike" Hoare and the Congo Crisis |last=Edwards |first=Terry |url=https://smallarmsreview.com/knight-of-the-elephant/ |work=Small Arms Review |location=Henderson, Nevada |date=21 October 2022 |access-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604134337/https://smallarmsreview.com/knight-of-the-elephant/ |archive-date=4 June 2023}}</ref> The rebels appreciated the carbine for its relatively compact size, light cartridge, and chrome-lined bore (which made it resistant to rust and corrosion in the tropical climate) over the much bulkier Western battle rifles used by Congolese security forces.<ref name="Edwards1"/> The [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde]] (PAIG) favored the SKS as one of its primary small arms during the [[Guinea-Bissau War of Independence]].<ref name=PAIG>{{cite book|last=Venter|first=Al J.|title=Portugal's Guerrilla War: The Campaign for Africa|year=1973|page=71|publisher=J. Malherbe EDMS BPK|location=Cape Town|isbn=978-0869660478}}</ref> Captured PAIG carbines were stored and later re-issued by Portugal to its local colonial units, primarily for garrison duties.<ref name=PAIG/> A number of Type 56 carbines were acquired and used alongside the more ubiquitous AK-pattern rifles by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] during [[the Troubles]].<ref name=IRA>{{cite book|last=Moloney|first=Ed|title=A Secret History of the IRA|year=2003|page=159|publisher=W.W. Norton|location=New York City|isbn=978-0393325027}}</ref> China also supplied the [[Afghan mujahidin]] with Type 56 carbines during the early years of the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref name=Gilks>{{cite book|last1=Gilks|first1=Anne|last2=Segal|first2=Gerald|title=China and the Arms Trade|date=1985|page=47|publisher=Routledge Books|location=Abingdon|isbn=978-1-032-43630-2}}</ref> During the [[Dhofar Rebellion]], SKS carbines were smuggled into [[Oman]] by sea, most likely by the Soviet Union, to arm [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman]] (PFLO) insurgents there.<ref name=Oman>{{cite book|last=Maamiry|first=Ahmed|title=Oman and East Africa|year=1979|page=49|publisher=Lancers Publishers|location=New Delhi|asin=B0007BZ2BY}}</ref> The [[Eritrean Liberation Front]] used large numbers of SKS carbines during the  [[Eritrean War of Independence]].<ref name=Venter>{{cite book|last=Venter|first=A.J.|title=Africa at War|date=1997|page=122|publisher=Devin-Adair Publishing Company|location=Old Greenwhich, Connecticut|asin=B0006CA5W0}}</ref> The [[Communist Party of Thailand]] (CPT) used the SKS during its [[Communist insurgency in Thailand|insurgency]] until the early 1980s, when it ceased militant operations.<ref name=CPT>{{cite book|last=Tsui|first=David Chak Wing|title=China and the Communist Armed Struggle in Thailand|year=1995|page=49|publisher=Radiant Publishers|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8170272090}}</ref> Cuban and Grenadian military forces used the SKS during the [[United States invasion of Grenada|1983 US invasion of Grenada]].<ref name=Grenada>{{cite book|last=Harding|first=Steve|title=Air War Grenada|year=1984|pages=8–9|publisher=Pictorial Histories Publishing Company|location=Missoula, Montana|isbn=9780933126527}}</ref> The US Army captured 4,074 SKS carbines during the invasion, mostly from arms depots.<ref name="Engineer">{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=A Caribbean Arms Cache |journal=[[Engineer (US magazine)|Engineer]] |volume=13|issue=4|page=31|publisher=United States Army Engineer School |location=Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri |date=December 1983}}</ref>

By the early 1980s, the SKS had been almost entirely superseded in worldwide military service by the AK-47 and its derivatives.<ref name="Myatt">{{cite book|last=Myatt|first=Frederick|title=An Illustrated Guide to Rifles and Sub-Machine Guns|year=1981|page=61|publisher=Salamander Books|location=London|isbn=0-86101-077-9}}</ref> The increasing proliferation of cheap AK-pattern rifles in most asymmetric conflicts also ended the popularity of the SKS as a standard guerrilla arm.<ref name="Myatt"/> At that time, the majority of the remaining carbines still in active use were being issued to state-sponsored militias and other paramilitary formations for internal security duties.<ref name="Myatt"/> Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, SKS carbines proliferated in various civil wars and regional conflicts throughout the former Soviet republics, including the [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)|War in Abkhazia]],<ref name="Abkhazia">{{cite news |title=The War For Abkhazia: 25 Years Later |last=Chapple |first=Amos |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/twenty-five-years-on-from-the-start-of-the-abkhaz-war/28690617.html |work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |location=Prague |date=23 August 2017 |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826082641/https://www.rferl.org/a/twenty-five-years-on-from-the-start-of-the-abkhaz-war/28690617.html|archive-date=26 August 2022}}</ref> [[War of Dagestan]],<ref name=Dagestan>{{cite web|url=https://www.movingwalls.org/moving-walls/7/war-and-peace-caucasus-lkn-and-missing.html |title=War and Peace in the Caucasus: LKN and the Missingmore collections |publisher=Open Society Foundations |date=October 2000 |access-date=4 September 2022|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816210636/https://www.movingwalls.org/moving-walls/7/war-and-peace-caucasus-lkn-and-missing.html |archive-date=16 August 2019 }}</ref> and the [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|war in Donbas]].<ref name="Meduza">{{cite news |title='You could say we proved ourselves' War stories from Russians returned from fighting in eastern Ukraine |last=Pereborshchikov |first=Georgii |url=https://meduza.io/en/feature/2016/02/19/you-could-say-we-proved-ourselves |work=[[Meduza]] |location=Riga |date=29 February 2016 |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708173933/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2016/02/19/you-could-say-we-proved-ourselves|archive-date=8 July 2022}}</ref> Militant factions in the Balkans frequently used smuggled SKS and Type 56 carbines alongside the Yugoslavian M59/66 derivative during the 1990s and early 2000s.<ref name="Macedonia1">{{cite news |title=Macedonia's Weaponry: A New Nation Re-Arms and Fights |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=https://smallarmsreview.com/macedonias-weaponry-a-new-nation-re-arms-and-fights/ |work=Small Arms Review |location=Henderson, Nevada |date=1 October 2003 |access-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226121917/https://smallarmsreview.com/macedonias-weaponry-a-new-nation-re-arms-and-fights/ |archive-date=26 February 2024}}</ref> In 2016, the SKS remained in the reserve stockpiles of over 50 national armies, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet bloc.<ref name="Bonn"/>

==Variants==
After World War II, the SKS design was licensed or sold to a number of the Soviet Union's allies, including China, Yugoslavia, Albania, [[North Korea]], [[North Vietnam]], [[East Germany]], and Romania. Most of these nations produced nearly identical variants, with the most common modifications being differing styles of bayonets and the [[22 mm grenade|22 mm]] [[rifle grenade]] launcher commonly seen on Yugoslavian models.

===Soviet and Russian===
Differences from the "baseline" late Russian Tula Armory/Izhevsk Armory SKS:

* '''Variations (1949–1958)''': Early spike-style bayonet (1949) instead of blade-style. Spring-return firing pin was present on early models, and they did not have chrome bores (1949 – early 1951). The gas block had three changes: The first production stage gas block, used from 1949 through early 1950, was squared-off at a 90-degree angle. The second gas block production stage was instead cut at a 45-degree angle, seen on late 1950 to 1951 rifles. The third and final gas block stage, from 1952 through to 1956, was curved inward slightly toward the action.
* Designated marksman rifle SKS: During the late 1950s, the Soviets expressed interest in adopting an SKS variant adapted for the [[designated marksman]] role.<ref name=SVD1/> Some prototypes were produced with side-mounted scope rails to accept a [[PU scope]].<ref name=Bolotin/> These failed to meet the army's accuracy requirements, and the program was abandoned in favor of developing a new dedicated precision rifle.<ref name=SVD1/>
* '''SKS M1950''': An SKS modified for fully automatic fire.<ref name=Bolotin/> Prototype only.<ref name=Bolotin/>
* '''SKS M1951''': An SKS with a detachable bayonet and detachable box magazine.<ref name=Bolotin/> Prototype only.<ref name=Bolotin/>
* '''SKS M1953''': An SKS with select-fire fire capability, a new muzzle brake, detachable bayonet, and detachable box magazine.<ref name=Bolotin/> One prototype built before further development was canceled due to the decision to replace the SKS in general service with the AK.<ref name=Bolotin/>
*'''VPO-208''': SKS carbine modified with a smoothbore barrel and rechambered for the .366 TKM cartridge for commercial sales.<ref name="Popenker">{{cite news |title=From Russia, with love (and guns) |last=Popenker |first=Maxim |url=https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/from-russia-with-love-and-guns/386702 |work=Firearms News |location=Miami |date=8 December 2020 |access-date=11 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611005358/https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/from-russia-with-love-and-guns/386702 |archive-date=11 June 2023}}</ref>
*'''OP-SKS'''. SKS carbines converted into commercial hunting rifles by the ''Molot'' ("Hammer") factory in [[Vyatskiye Polyany]] (Russian: [[:ru:Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод|Вятско-Полянский машиностроительный завод «Молот»]], English: ''[[Vyatskiye Polyany Machine-Building Plant]]'').<ref name="Ribakov">{{cite news |title=OP-SKS: Hunting Carbine |last=Ribakov |first=Vadim |url=https://smallarmsreview.com/op-sks-hunting-carbine/ |work=Small Arms Review |location=Henderson, Nevada |date=May 2001 |access-date=12 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325071737/https://smallarmsreview.com/op-sks-hunting-carbine/ |archive-date=25 March 2023}}</ref> These were labeled OP (OP = охотничье-промысловый > ''okhotnich'ye-promyslovyy'' > "commercial hunting (carbine)").<ref name="Ribakov"/> The OP-SKS continued to be manufactured into the 2000s.<ref>
Ю. Пономарёв
[http://www.kalashnikov.ru/upload/medialibrary/dac/56_59.pdf СКС ОБР. 2000 ГОДА] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722181415/http://www.kalashnikov.ru/upload/medialibrary/dac/56_59.pdf |date=22 July 2014 }}, ''Kalashnikov'' magazine, 2000/4, pp. 56–59
</ref>

===Chinese===
[[File:Simonov-SKS-45.JPG|thumb|Chinese Type 56 semi-automatic carbine (Chinese SKS).]]

* '''Type 56 carbine (1956–1980s)''': The earliest Type 56 carbines were assembled under the supervision of Soviet technicians, using parts and materials imported from the Soviet Union.<ref name="surplus">{{cite web|url=http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/index.asp |title=Collecting and Shooting the SKS Carbine |publisher=SurplusRifle.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050123093955/http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/index.asp |archive-date=23 January 2005 }}</ref> Thereafter, minor tweaks were made from the original Soviet design, namely the transition to domestic carbon steel in production as opposed to the Soviet-specified nickel-chrome alloy steel.<ref name="Wuku"/> Early Type 56 carbines had blade bayonets, while those in later production had spike bayonets.<ref name="Wuku"/> Chinese production also introduced a larger proportion of stamped as opposed to machined parts, and the addition of a pressed and pinned barrel.<ref name="Wuku"/> 
* Stamped receiver Type 56: In 1970 and 1971, China produced a small number of Type 56 carbines with experimental stamped sheet metal receivers as a cost and weight saving measure.<ref name="McCollum1">{{cite news |title=The Rare Chinese Stamped Receiver SKS |last=McCollum |first=Ian |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-rare-chinese-stamped-receiver-sks/ |work=Forgotten Weapons |location=Tucson |date=1 May 2023 |access-date=4 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508122540/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-rare-chinese-stamped-receiver-sks/ |archive-date=8 May 2023}}</ref> About 12,000 were manufactured before the program was canceled.<ref name="McCollum1"/>
* Fiberglass stock Type 56: During the 1960s, China produced a number of Type 56 carbines with fiberglass stocks, known colloquially in Western literature as "Vietnam stocks" or "jungle stocks".<ref name=SKSG/> These were originally designed for export to North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, due to complaints about wooden stocks rotting or attracting termites while being cached in the tropical environment.<ref name=SKSG/> [[File:SKS-M.png|thumb|Norinco Model M with Monte Carlo cheek-piece stock and detachable 30-round AK-47 magazine]]
* '''Type 56 Model 84''': Short-barreled variant with a detachable magazine produced for overseas commercial sales.<ref name="Recoil">{{Cite news|url=https://www.recoilweb.com/the-hottest-cashier-at-dollar-tree-139825.html |title=SKS Rifle: The Hottest Cashier at Dollar Tree |work=RECOIL |language=en-US|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213094703/https://www.recoilweb.com/the-hottest-cashier-at-dollar-tree-139825.html|archive-date= February 13, 2023}}</ref> The Model 84 magazine resembled that of the AK-47/Type 56 assault rifle, and the two were theoretically interchangeable.<ref name="Recoil"/> However, standard Kalashnikov magazines needed modification to fit the Model 84.<ref name="Recoil"/>
* '''Type 56 Model D''': Variant which could accept standard Kalashnikov magazines, produced for overseas commercial sales.<ref name="Recoil"/> 
* '''Type 56 Model M''': Derivative of the Model D with the bayonet lug removed and fitted with a new stock to comply with US import laws.<ref name="Recoil"/>

===Other European===
* Romanian '''M56''': Produced between 1956 and 1960.<ref name="Layman"/> Typically, they are identical or nearly identical to the late Soviet model.<ref name="Borisenko"/> 
*Polish '''ksS''': Refurbished Soviet rifles fitted with unique Polish laminated stocks.<ref name="Borisenko"/> A few hundred SKS carbines were given to Poland by the Soviet Union around 1954. While Poland did import the technical data package and tooling equipment to produce the SKS under license, the [[Polish People's Army]] belatedly rejected the weapon for general service in 1956 and the program was canceled.<ref name="Layman"/> In Polish service the SKS was used only for ceremonial purposes and was designated as ksS which stands for ''karabin samopowtarzalny Simonowa'', Simonov's semi-automatic rifle.<ref name="Layman"/> 
* Yugoslav '''PAP M59''': Manufactured by [[Zastava Arms]] between 1959 and 1966.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zastava-arms.rs/en/imagetext/1945-%E2%80%93-1970 |title=Zastava arms: 1945–1970 |access-date=2015-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518082245/http://www.zastava-arms.rs/en/imagetext/1945-%E2%80%93-1970 |archive-date=2015-05-18 |url-status=live }}</ref> Barrel is not chrome-lined. PAP stands for "Polu-automatska puška" (Semi-automatic rifle) and the rifle was nicknamed "Papovka". Otherwise this rifle is nearly identical to the Soviet version. Many were converted to the M59/66 variant during refurbishment.[[File:Yugoslavian SKS M59 66 noBg.jpg|thumb|Yugoslav M59/66 with the muzzle formed into a spigot-type grenade launcher and a folding ladder grenade sight behind the front sight.]]
** [[Zastava M59/66|Yugoslav PAP M59/66]]: Produced between 1967 and 1989. Added [[22 mm grenade|22&nbsp;mm rifle grenade]] launcher which appears visually like a flash suppressor or muzzle brake on the end of the barrel. Front sight has a fold-up "ladder" for use in grenade sighting. To raise the grenade sight, the gas port must be manually blocked and the action must be manually cycled—rifle grenades must be fired with special blank cartridges, and this feature helps ensure that the gas pressure is not wasted on cycling the action. The gas port must be manually opened to again allow semi-automatic operation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shootersjournal.net/sks-review-yugo-59-66a1/|title=SKS Review: the Yugo 59/66A1|work=Shooters' Journal|access-date=26 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119232629/http://shootersjournal.net/sks-review-yugo-59-66a1/|archive-date=19 November 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Barrel was not chrome-lined. Both the grenade launcher and grenade sight are NATO spec. Stock is typically made from beech wood.
** Yugoslav PAP M59/66A1: Same as above, except with the addition of flip up phosphorescent or [[tritium]] night sights.
* Albanian '''Type 56-1''': Produced between 1967 and 1978. There were no rifles produced from 1972 to 1975. Produced by the UM GRAMSH factory located in Gramsh, Albania. Longer stock and handguard on the gas tube, and AK style charging handle. The magazine is slightly different in the shape visible from the outside. The stock has two compartments with two corresponding holes in the buttplate for cleaning implements instead of the single cleaning kit pocket. Like the Chinese Type 56 carbine, the Albanian version also features a spike bayonet fixed beneath the muzzle. The vast majority were scrapped during the late 1990s, although several thousand were sold on the commercial market in North America during the early 2000s.<ref name="Layman"/>  
* East German '''Karabiner-S''': Slot cut into back of stock for pull-through sling, similar to the slot in a [[Karabiner 98k]].<ref name="Layman"/> No storage area in back of stock or storage for cleaning rod under barrel. It is believed to have been produced at the J.P. Sauer & Sohn facility in Suhl.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kokalis |first1=Peter G. |title=Karabiner-S the mysterious (and rare) East German SKS: the Chinese SKS is a dime a dozen, but if you see one of these, be ready to reach for the checkbook; it's the rarest variant in this country. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Karabiner-S+the+mysterious+(and+rare)+East+German+SKS%3A+the+Chinese...-a0239846222 |website=The Free Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021151533/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Karabiner-S+the+mysterious+%28and+rare%29+East+German+SKS%3A+the+Chinese...-a0239846222 |archive-date=2021-10-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Other Asian===
* North Korean Type 63: Manufactured specifically for the [[Worker-Peasant Red Guards]] and other paramilitary forces.<ref name="SAR">{{cite magazine|title=North Korean Small Arms (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)|magazine=Small Arms Review|volume=16|issue=2|date=June 2012|url=https://smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1108|access-date=2019-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202212301/https://smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1108|archive-date=2019-02-02|url-status=live}}</ref> At least three separate models were made. One "standard" model with blade bayonet, and a second with a gas shutoff and a grenade launcher, similar to the M59/66. The North Korean grenade launcher was detachable from the muzzle and the gas shutoff was different from the Yugoslav model, however.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/koreansks.html|title=Pictures of North Korean SKSs (middle of page)|access-date=26 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105143853/http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/koreansks.html|archive-date=5 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> A third model appears to have side-swinging bayonet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/koreansks.html|title=Picture of North Korean SKSs (side swinging bayonet at bottom)|access-date=26 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105143853/http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/koreansks.html|archive-date=5 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Vietnamese Type 1: Nearly identical to both the Soviet and early Chinese SKS. These are identified by a small star on the receiver with a 1 in the center. The barrel is chromed, as are many of the internal parts. They were assembled in a small arms factory with Chinese assistance located 12&nbsp;km north of Yên Bái with 6,000 SKS rifles made between 1962 and 1965 when the factory was closed to American bombing raids.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McCollum|first=Ian|date=2 October 2020|title=North Vietnamese SKS|url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/north-vietnamese-sks/|access-date=2021-08-24|website=Forgotten Weapons|language=en-US|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213094943/https://www.forgottenweapons.com/north-vietnamese-sks/|archive-date= February 13, 2023}}</ref>
** Vietnamese clone: The Viet Cong manufactured somewhat rudimentary copies of the SKS, which are sometimes seen with crude finish and obvious tool markings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/U-Reports/SAS-improvised-craft-weapons-report.pdf |title=Beyond State Control |website=smallarmssurvey.org |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191126233743/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/U-Reports/SAS-improvised-craft-weapons-report.pdf |archive-date=26 November 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Conflicts==
<!--READ FIRST: This section is for cited entries only. Please do not add entries into this list without a citation from a reliable source. All entries without a citation will be removed. Thank you.-->

In the more than 70 years of use worldwide, the SKS has seen use in conflicts all over the world.

{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Algerian War]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The Algerian War, 1954–62|series= Men-at Arms 312|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|place= London |year=1997|isbn=978-1-85532-658-3|first= Martin |last=Windrow|page=23}}</ref>
* [[Bangladesh Liberation War]]<ref>{{cite news|date=29 December 2017 |title=Arms for freedom|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/bangladesh-liberation-war-1971-muktijuddho-guerrilla-fighter-arms-freedom-1511812|access-date=2019-08-31|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305022112/http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/bangladesh-liberation-war-1971-muktijuddho-guerrilla-fighter-arms-freedom-1511812|archive-date= March 5, 2018}}</ref>
* [[Suez crisis]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Soviet SKS carbine|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30033479|publisher=[[Imperial War Museum]]s|access-date=2018-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127022634/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30033479|archive-date=2018-11-27|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Simba Rebellion]]<ref name="Edwards1"/>
* [[Vietnam War]]<ref name="Vietnam">{{cite book|title=Personal firepower|first=Edward Clinton|last= Ezell|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1988|series=The Illustrated history of the Vietnam War 15|oclc=1036801376|url=https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/personalfirepowe00ezel/page/84 84]|isbn=9780553345490}}</ref>
* [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hungarian Revolution 1956|url=https://archive.org/details/hungarianrevolut1956schm|url-access=limited|series=Elite 148|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|first1= Erwin |last1=Schmidl|first2= László |last2=Ritter|date=10 November 2006|isbn=9781846030796|page=[https://archive.org/details/hungarianrevolut1956schm/page/n34 60]}}</ref>
* [[Guatemalan Civil War]]
* [[Portuguese Colonial War]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abbott|first1= Peter |last2=Rodrigues|first2= Manuel|title=Modern African Wars 2: Angola and Mozambique 1961–74|publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=1998|page=12}}</ref>
* [[Rhodesian Bush War]]<ref name="Zimbabwe">{{cite book|title=Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965–80|url=https://archive.org/details/modernafricanwar00abbo_940|url-access=limited|series=Men-at-Arms 183|first1=Peter|last1= Abbott|first2= Philip|last2= Botham |date=15 June 1986|isbn=9780850457285 |publisher = Osprey Publishing|page=[https://archive.org/details/modernafricanwar00abbo_940/page/n10 10]}}</ref>
* [[South African Border War]]<ref name="MAA">{{cite book|first=Helmoed-Romer|last=Heitman|title=Modern African Wars (3): South-West Africa|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9Aj997IO9gC|isbn=978-1-85532-122-9|year=1991|publisher=Osprey Publishing|access-date=2018-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516212656/https://books.google.com/books?id=t9Aj997IO9gC|archive-date=2016-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[The Troubles]]<ref name=IRA/>
* [[Colombian conflict]]
* [[Communist insurgency in Thailand]]
* [[Six Day War]]<ref name="Infantry"/>
* [[Sino-Soviet border conflict]]<ref name="Brimelow"/><ref name="Ryabushkin">{{cite journal|last=Ryabushkin |first=Dmitri |url=https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/eurasia_border_review/Vol3SI/ryabushkin.pdf |date=May–August 2012 |title=New Documents on the Sino-Soviet Ussuri Border Clashes of 1969 |journal=Eurasia Border Review |volume=3 |page=165 |issn=1884-9466|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207153918/https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/eurasia_border_review/Vol3SI/ryabushkin.pdf |archive-date=February 7, 2025 }}</ref>
* [[Ethiopian Civil War]]<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Ethiopian military rifle cartridges: Part 2: from Mauser to Kalashnikov.|last=Scarlata|first=Paul|magazine=Shotgun News|date=1 March 2009|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ethiopian+military+rifle+cartridges%3A+Part+2%3A+from+Mauser+to...-a0195134991|access-date=24 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124055029/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ethiopian+military+rifle+cartridges%3A+Part+2%3A+from+Mauser+to...-a0195134991|archive-date=24 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Angolan Civil War]]<ref name="UNITA"/>
* [[Lebanese Civil War]]<ref name="Lebanon">{{cite magazine|first=Paul|last=Scarlata|title=Military rifle cartridges of Lebanon Part 2: from independence to Hezbollah.|magazine=[[Shotgun News]]|date=July 2009|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Military+rifle+cartridges+of+Lebanon+Part+2%3A+from+independence+to...-a0203540052|access-date=2018-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128164605/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Military+rifle+cartridges+of+Lebanon+Part+2%3A+from+independence+to...-a0203540052|archive-date=2018-11-28|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Western Sahara War]]
* [[Shaba II]]<ref name="Congo">{{cite magazine|title=Les armes de Kolwezi|first=Jacques|last=Sicard|pages=25–30|magazine=La Gazette des armes|language=fr|url=http://fr.1001mags.com/parution/gazette-des-armes/numero-111-novembre-1982/page-28-29-texte-integral|issue=111|date=November 1982|access-date=2018-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019075744/http://fr.1001mags.com/parution/gazette-des-armes/numero-111-novembre-1982/page-28-29-texte-integral|archive-date=2018-10-19|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Sino-Vietnamese War]]<ref name="Moss"/><ref name="O'Dowd"/>
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]<ref name="Laemlein"/>
* [[Nicaraguan Revolution]]
* [[Salvadoran Civil War]]
* [[Tuareg rebellion (1990–1995)]]<ref name ='SAS 2005'>{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2005.html|chapter-url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2005/en/Small-Arms-Survey-2005-Chapter-06-EN.pdf|chapter=Sourcing the Tools of War: Small Arms Supplies to Conflict Zones|title=Small Arms Survey 2005: Weapons at War|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2005|author=Small Arms Survey|page=166|isbn=978-0-19-928085-8|access-date=2018-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830004838/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2005.html|archive-date=2018-08-30|url-status=dead|author-link=Small Arms Survey}}</ref>
* [[Yugoslav Wars]]<ref name="North Macedonia" />
* [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)]]<ref name="Abkhazia"/>
* [[Algerian Civil War]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Les patriotes sont passés de la gloire à l'oubli. Igoudjal, village kabyle et amer|url=https://www.lesoir.be/art/%252Fles-patriotes-sont-passes-de-la-gloire-a-l-oubli-igoudj_t-19970530-Z0DT2A.html|language=fr|newspaper=[[Le Soir]]|date=30 May 1997|first=Francis|last=David|access-date=31 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331002323/https://www.lesoir.be/art/%25252Fles-patriotes-sont-passes-de-la-gloire-a-l-oubli-igoudj_t-19970530-Z0DT2A.html|archive-date=31 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Burundian Civil War]]<ref name ='SAS 2007 6'>{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2007.html|chapter-url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2007/en/full/Small-Arms-Survey-2007-Chapter-06-EN.pdf|chapter=Armed Violence in Burundi: Conflict and Post-Conflict Bujumbura|title=The Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2007|author=Small Arms Survey|page=204|isbn=978-0-521-88039-8|access-date=2018-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827001033/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2007.html|archive-date=2018-08-27|url-status=live|author-link=Small Arms Survey}}</ref>
* [[Republic of the Congo Civil War (1997–99)]]<ref name ='SAS 2003'/>
* [[1999 East Timorese crisis]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://analisnews.co.id/2020/10/mantan-milisi-timor-timur-serahkan-1-pucuk-senjata-api-organik-kepada-satgas-yonif-rk-744-syb.html|title=Mantan Milisi Timor-Timur Serahkan 1 Pucuk Senjata Api Organik kepada Satgas Yonif RK 744/SYB|work=ANALISNEWS |date=30 October 2020|accessdate=3 May 2021|language=id|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506010820/https://analisnews.co.id/2020/10/mantan-milisi-timor-timur-serahkan-1-pucuk-senjata-api-organik-kepada-satgas-yonif-rk-744-syb.html|archive-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref>
* [[Iraq War]]<ref name ='SAS 2012 10'>{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2012.html|chapter-url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2012/eng/Small-Arms-Survey-2012-Chapter-10-EN.pdf|chapter=Surveying the Battlefield: Illicit Arms In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia|title=Small Arms Survey 2012: Moving Targets|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2012|author=Small Arms Survey|page=320|isbn=978-0-521-19714-4|access-date=2018-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831002411/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2012.html|archive-date=2018-08-31|url-status=dead|author-link=Small Arms Survey}}</ref>
* [[Kivu conflict]]<ref name = 'FDLR'>{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2015/eng/Small-Arms-Survey-2015-Highlights-EN.pdf|chapter-url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2015/eng/Small-Arms-Survey-2015-Chapter-07-EN.pdf|chapter=Waning Cohesion: The Rise and Fall of the FDLR–FOCA|title=Small Arms Survey 2015: weapons and the world|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2015|author=Small Arms Survey|ref={{harvid|Small Arms Survey 2015}}|page=201|access-date=2018-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128065841/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2015/eng/Small-Arms-Survey-2015-Highlights-EN.pdf|archive-date=2018-01-28|url-status=dead|author-link=Small Arms Survey}}</ref>
* [[Northern Mali conflict]]<ref name="armamentresearch">{{cite web|url=http://www.armamentresearch.com/small-arms-recovered-in-mali/|title=Small arms recovered in Mali raid &#124; Armament Research Services|date=24 December 2014|publisher=[[armamentresearch.com]]|access-date=2015-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020145452/http://armamentresearch.com/small-arms-recovered-in-mali/|archive-date=2015-10-20|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)]]<ref name="Meduza"/><ref name="Ares">{{cite web|title=Raising Red Flags: An examination of arms & munitions in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine|last1=Ferguson|first1=Jonathan|last2=Jenzen-Jones|first2=N.R|url=https://armamentresearch.com/Uploads/Research%20Report%20No.%203%20-%20Raising%20Red%20Flags.pdf|location=Perth
|publisher=Armament Research Services|date=November 2014|access-date=4 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404001151/https://armamentresearch.com/Uploads/Research%20Report%20No.%203%20-%20Raising%20Red%20Flags.pdf|archive-date=4 April 2022}}</ref>
{{Div col end}}

==Users==
<!--READ FIRST: This section is for cited entries only. Please do not add entries into this list without a citation from a reliable source. All entries without a citation will be removed. Thank you.-->
[[File:SKS Users.png|thumb|A map with SKS users in blue and former users in red]]<!--READ FIRST: This section is for cited entries only. Please do not add entries into this list without a citation from a reliable source. All entries without a citation will be removed. Thank you.-->
[[File:PLAN sailors.jpg|thumb|PLAN sailors at Qingdao, North Sea Fleet HQ, parading with Chinese Type 56 carbines.]]
[[File:Independence Day Parade - Flickr - Kerri-Jo (116).jpg|thumb|The [[Independent Honor Guard Battalion (Turkmenistan)|Independent Honor Guard Battalion]] of [[Turkmenistan]] on parade with Soviet SKS carbines.]]

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{Flag|Albania}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name= 'bicc 3'>{{cite report|title=Simonov SKS|url=https://salw-guide.bicc.de/pdf/weapons/013/simonov-sks.min.en.pdf|page=3|series=SALW Guide: Global distribution and visual identification|ref={{harvid|BICC}}|author=Bonn International Center for Conversion|author-link=Bonn International Center for Conversion|access-date=2018-07-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713233259/https://salw-guide.bicc.de/pdf/weapons/013/simonov-sks.min.en.pdf|archive-date=2018-07-13|url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Algeria}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Angola}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Armenia}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Azerbaijan}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref>[https://mod.gov.az/ru/news/v-azerbajdzhanskoj-armii-sostoyalis-ceremonii-prineseniya-prisyagi-video-53337.html В Азербайджанской Армии состоялись церемонии принесения присяги - ВИДЕО] / официальный интернет-сайт министерства обороны Азербайджана от 8 ноября 2024</ref>
* {{Flag|Bangladesh}} – [[Bangladesh Ordnance Factories]] produced Chinese Type 56 under license until 2006.<ref name="new capabilities">{{cite web| url=http://www.bof.gov.bd/site/page/29312da4-0a1e-41e0-95bf-5850b5c5d802/-| title=Small Arms Factory| publisher=Bangladesh Ordinance Factory| access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="jones2009"/> Currently used by [[Border Guard Bangladesh|BGB]], [[Bangladesh Police|police]] and [[Bangladesh National Cadet Corps|BNCC]].
* {{Flag|Belarus}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Benin}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Bosnia-Herzegovina}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Bulgaria}}:<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/> [[National Guards Unit of Bulgaria|National Guards Unit]]
* {{Flag|Cambodia}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Cape Verde}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Central African Republic}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Importante saisie d'armes en Centrafrique|url=http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20140315-importante-saisie-armes-centrafrique-rca-misca|language=fr|date=15 March 2014|publisher=[[Radio France International]]e|access-date=13 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713230556/http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20140315-importante-saisie-armes-centrafrique-rca-misca|archive-date=13 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{Flag|China}}: ''Type 56'' variant.<ref name="hogg2002">Hogg, Ian (2002). ''Jane's Guns Recognition Guide''. Jane's Information Group. {{ISBN|0-00-712760-X}}.</ref> Used for ceremonial purposes by the [[People's Liberation Army]].<ref name=sks28/><ref name=Jane98/> Also used by [[Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department]] for ceremonial purposes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=广东公安举行2023年清明节缅怀公安英烈活动 |trans-title=Guangdong Police commemorate Heroes in 2023 [[Qingming Festival]] |url=http://gdga.gd.gov.cn/jmhd/xwfb/content/post_4148908.html |website=Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Comoros}}: ''Type 56'' variant.<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=DTIC1>{{cite web|url=https://www.dia.mil/FOIA/FOIA-Electronic-Reading-Room/FOIA-Reading-Room-Africa/FileId/178704/ |title=Military Intelligence Summary: Volume IV, Africa South of the Sahara |publisher=Defense Technical Information Center |date=March 1985 |access-date=29 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103224837/https://www.dia.mil/FOIA/FOIA-Electronic-Reading-Room/FOIA-Reading-Room-Africa/FileId/178704/ |archive-date=3 November 2020 }}</ref><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Congo-Brazzaville}}<ref>{{cite web|language=fr|title=Congo : PCAD – suspension temporaire des opérations de collecte d'armes|work=ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/congo/congo-pcad-suspension-temporaire-des-op%C3%A9rations-de-collecte-darmes|date=24 November 2006|access-date=13 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713230832/https://reliefweb.int/report/congo/congo-pcad-suspension-temporaire-des-op%C3%A9rations-de-collecte-darmes|archive-date=13 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name ='SAS 2003'>{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2003.html|chapter-url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2003/en/Small-Arms-Survey-2003-Chapter-08-EN.pdf|chapter=Making the Difference?: Weapon Collection and Small Arms Availability in the Republic of Congo|title=Small Arms Survey 2003: Development Denied|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2003|author=Small Arms Survey|pages=267–268|isbn=0199251754|ref={{harvid|Small Arms Survey 2003}}|access-date=2018-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175229/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2003.html|archive-date=2018-08-29|url-status=dead|author-link=Small Arms Survey}}</ref><ref name="SA93">{{cite book|last1=Ezell|first1=Edward|last2=Smith|first2=Walter Harold Black|title=Small Arms of the World: A Basic Manual of Small Arms|date=1993|pages=35–36|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Harrisburg|isbn=978-0880296014}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Croatia}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name=sks28>{{cite web|url=http://yooperj.com/SKS-28.htm|title=Yooper John's SKS – Battle rifle of many nations|access-date=14 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804192942/http://www.yooperj.com/SKS-28.htm|archive-date=4 August 2018|url-status=live}}{{Self-published source|date=December 2018}}</ref><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Cuba}}<ref name=sks28/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Egypt}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name="miller2001">Miller, David (2001). ''The Illustrated Directory of 20th Century Guns''. Salamander Books Ltd. {{ISBN|1-84065-245-4}}.</ref>{{sfn|Smith|1969|p=614}}
* {{Flag|Equatorial Guinea}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Ethiopia}}{{sfn|BICC|p=4}}<ref name="Ayele">{{cite book|last=Ayele|first=Fantahun|title=The Ethiopian Army: From Victory to Collapse, 1977-1991|date=2014|page=47|publisher=Northwestern University Press|location=Evanston, Illinois (US)|isbn=978-0-8101-3011-1}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Georgia}}<ref name="jones2009"/>
* {{Flag|Guinea}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Guinea-Bissau}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Guyana}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Hungary}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=sks28/>{{sfn|Smith|1969|p=456}}
* {{Flag|Indonesia}}: ''Type 56'' variant.<ref name=Subroto/><ref name="Chung1"/><ref name="SA93"/>
* {{Flag|India}}{{sfn|Smith|1969|p=461}}
* {{flag|Iraq}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Kazakhstan}}<ref>Постановление Правительства Республики Казахстан № 1060 от 28 августа 1996 года "О внесении изменений и дополнений в некоторые решения Правительства Республики Казахстан"</ref>
* {{Flag|Kenya}}: Used by the [[Kenya Police Reserve]].<ref name="Kushner">{{cite news |title=Bandits, cows and bullets: the gangs turning to guns in Kenya |last=Kushner |first=Jacob |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jun/20/rustlers-bandits-and-gun-runners-the-gangs-vying-for-cattle-in-kenya |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=20 June 2017 |access-date=20 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321212915/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jun/20/rustlers-bandits-and-gun-runners-the-gangs-vying-for-cattle-in-kenya |archive-date=21 March 2023 }}</ref>
* {{Flag|Kosovo}}<ref name=sks28 />
* {{Flag|Kyrgyzstan}}<ref name=sks28 /><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Laos}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Libya}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Madagascar}}<ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Mali}}<ref name=sks28 /><ref>{{cite news|title=Armée malienne : le difficile inventaire|date=18 June 2013|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/170176/politique/arm-e-malienne-le-difficile-inventaire/|first=Laurent|last=Touchard|work=[[Jeune Afrique]]|language=fr|access-date=14 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408142653/https://www.jeuneafrique.com/170176/politique/arm-e-malienne-le-difficile-inventaire/|archive-date=8 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Malta}}<ref name=sks28/>
* {{Flag|Moldova}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Mongolia}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/><ref name="SA93"/>
* {{Flag|Montenegro}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Mozambique}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Myanmar}}<ref name="jones2009"/>
* {{Flag|Namibia}}<ref name="MAA"/>
* {{Flag|North Macedonia}}<ref name="North Macedonia">{{cite magazine|title=Macedonia's Weaponry: A New Nation Re-Arms and Fights|first=Rob|last=Krott|url=https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2122|journal=Small Arms Review|volume=7|issue=1|date=October 2003|access-date=2019-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330233215/https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2122|archive-date=2019-03-30|url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{Flag|North Korea}}<ref name="hogg2002"/><ref name="jones2009"/>
* {{Flag|Oman}}<ref name="miller2001"/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|State of Palestine}}: used by the Palestinian Honor Guard.<ref name=sks28 /> SKS were also used by [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]] troops in the 1970s<ref name="Arabs">{{cite book|title=Arab Armies of the Middle East Wars 1948–73|series=Men-at-Arms 128|first=John |last=Laffin|date=15 June 1982|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9780850454512|page=36}}</ref><ref name="Arabs2">{{cite book|title=Arab Armies of the Middle East Wars (2)|url=https://archive.org/details/arabarmiesmiddle02katz|url-access=limited|series=Men-at-Arms 128|first= Sam |last=Katz |date=24 March 1988|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9780850458008|page=[https://archive.org/details/arabarmiesmiddle02katz/page/n42 44]}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Romania}}: Ceremonial purposes.{{sfn|Smith|1969|p=533}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Russia}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name ='Russian Army 2016'>{{cite book|title=The Modern Russian Army 1992–2016|series=Elite 217|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9781472819086|date=February 2017|first= Mark |last=Galeotti|pages=16, 44}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Rwanda}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.armyrecognition.com/rwanda_armee_rwandaise_grades_uniformes_combat/rwanda_rwandan_army_ranks_land_ground_forces_combat_uniforms_military_equipment_rwandais_grades_unif.html |title=Rwandan Army Military Equipment |publisher=armyrecognition.com |access-date=2014-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923225606/http://www.armyrecognition.com/rwanda_armee_rwandaise_grades_uniformes_combat/rwanda_rwandan_army_ranks_land_ground_forces_combat_uniforms_military_equipment_rwandais_grades_unif.html |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Sao Tome and Principe}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Serbia}}<ref name=sks28 /><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Seychelles}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Sierra Leone}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Slovenia}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name=sks28/>
* {{Flag|South Sudan}}: Used by the [[South Sudan Police Service]].{{sfn|BICC|p=4}}<ref name="King1">{{cite book|title=Excess Arms in South Sudan: Security forces and surplus management|last=King |first=Benjamin|date= April 2014|publisher=[[Small Arms Survey]]|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/179854/SAS-IB6-Excess-Arms-in-South-Sudan.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323073304/https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/179854/SAS-IB6-Excess-Arms-in-South-Sudan.pdf|archive-date=23 March 2022|page=10}}</ref><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Sri Lanka}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Sudan}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Tajikistan}}<ref name=sks28/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Tanzania}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Transnistria}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oryx |title=The Victory Day Parade That Everyone Forgot |url=https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2020/09/transnistria-shows-off-military.html |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=Oryx}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Turkmenistan}}<ref name=sks28/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Uganda}}<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Ukraine}}<ref>Наказ Міністерства внутрішніх справ України "Про організацію службової діяльності цивільної охорони Державної служби охорони при МВС України" № 1430 від 25 November 2003</ref><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Uzbekistan}}<ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Vietnam}}: Ceremonial and militia purposes.<ref name="jones2009"/><ref name=sks28/><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Yemen}}<ref name="miller2001"/><ref name=Jane98/><ref name= 'bicc 3'/>
* {{Flag|Zambia}}: ''Zastava M59'' variant.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hide and Seek: Taking Account of Small Arms in Southern Africa|url=https://oldsite.issafrica.org/publications/other-publications/hide-and-seek.-taking-account-of-small-arms-in-southern-africa|chapter=Country study: Zambia|chapter-url=https://oldsite.issafrica.org/uploads/HIDEZAMBIA.PDF|date=1 October 2004|first1=Robert|last1=Mtonga|first2=Gregory|last2=Mthembu-Salter|work=ISS Africa |page=285|access-date=25 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925154626/https://oldsite.issafrica.org/publications/other-publications/hide-and-seek.-taking-account-of-small-arms-in-southern-africa|archive-date=25 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Zimbabwe}}: ''Type 56'' variant; ceremonial and militia purposes.<ref name=sks28 /><ref name=DTIC1/>
{{div col end}}

===Former users===
* {{Flag|Islamic Republic of Afghanistan}}<ref name="jones2009">Jones, Richard D. ''Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010''. Jane's Information Group; 35th edition (27 January 2009). {{ISBN|978-0-7106-2869-5}}.</ref><ref name=Jane98/>
* {{Flag|Ba'athist Iraq}}<ref name=Jane98/><ref name="Iraq1">{{cite journal |last=Jacobson |first=Michael |title=The Iraqi Army's Infantry |journal=Marines |volume=20|issue=3|page=20 |publisher=[[United States Marine Corps]] Division of Public Affairs |location=Washington DC |date=March 1991}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Ba'athist Syria}}<ref name=sks28 />
* {{Flag|Gambia}}: ''Type 56'' variant.<ref name=DTIC1/>
* {{Flag|East Germany}}<ref name="hogg2002"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Joseph E.|title=Small Arms of the World|url=https://archive.org/details/smallarmsofworld00smit|url-access=registration|edition =11|location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|publisher= The Stackpole Company|year=1969|page=[https://archive.org/details/smallarmsofworld00smit/page/381 381]|isbn=9780811715669}}</ref> 
* {{flag|Grenada}}<ref name=Grenada/><ref name="Reynolds">{{cite web|url=http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/sks.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302155614/http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/sks.htm|archive-date=2012-03-02|title=SKS: Simonov System Self loading Carbine|access-date=26 November 2014}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Morocco}}<ref name="SA93"/>
* {{Flag|Poland}}: Ceremonial purposes.<ref name="Reynolds"/> Superseded by an honor guard derivative of the [[FB MSBS Grot|MSBS]] beginning in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sabak |first=Juliusz |date=2017-09-19 |title=Wojsko kupiło reprezentacyjne MSBS |url=https://defence24.pl/sily-zbrojne/wojsko-kupilo-reprezentacyjne-msbs |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=defence24.pl |language=pl}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Portugal}}: Captured from [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde|PAIG]] insurgents and re-issued to colonial troops in [[Portuguese Guinea]] during the 1970s.<ref name="PAIG" />
* {{Flag|South Yemen}}<ref name="SA93"/>
* {{Flag|Soviet Union}}: Retired from front-line service in the mid-1950s, retired from second-line service in the 1980s.<ref name="UA" />
* {{Flag|Yugoslavia}}: ''Zastava M59/66'' variant.<ref name="hogg2002"/><ref name="jones2009"/>
* {{Flag|Viet Cong}}<ref name=sks28 />

==Commercial sales and sporting use==
===United States===
[[File:Norinco SKS.jpg|thumb|Civilian-owned Chinese Norinco SKS with bayonet and cleaning rod removed.]]

Initially, the SKS was a rarity in the US, with the only examples being souvenirs brought back by returning veterans of the Vietnam War.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sweeney|first=Patrick|title=The Gun Digest Book of the AK & SKS: A Complete Guide to Guns, Gear and Ammunition|year=2009|pages=407–409}}</ref> Beginning in 1988, thousands of surplus and newly manufactured Chinese Type 56 carbines were imported in the US.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shideler|first1=Dan|title=The Gun Digest Book of Guns & Prices |edition=6th |date=2011|page=650}}</ref> Russia also began exporting the SKS to the US during the early 1990s as well.<ref name="NW">{{cite news |title=Comrades do a booming business |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=https://www.newsweek.com/comrades-do-booming-business-187374 |work=Newsweek |location=New York City |date=23 January 1994 |access-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120220107/https://www.newsweek.com/comrades-do-booming-business-187374 |archive-date=20 January 2023}}</ref> 

Due to the high volume of initial imports, the SKS became one of the most affordable centerfire rifles available to American sports shooters, retailing for as little as $70 per weapon in the early 1990s.<ref name="NW"/> Dale Armstrong, a former firearms tracking analyst with the [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] (ATF), commented on the volume of cheap surplus weapons, naming the SKS and Type 56 carbines specifically alongside [[Makarov pistol|Makarov]] and [[TT pistol|TT-33]] type pistols: "A firearm of that quality could not be made for the price it was being sold. The people selling these firearms in the former Soviet bloc countries assumed control of these stockpiles after the fall of communism&nbsp;... [therefore] they had no manufacturing cost. These weapons were pure profit, so they could afford to sell them at a low price and in bulk."<ref name=Armstrong>{{cite book|last=Armstrong|first=Dale|title=Firearms Trafficking: A Guide for Criminal Investigators|date=2018|page=13|publisher=Prudens Group Consulting|location=Saco|isbn=978-0692158807}}</ref> 

Between 1988 and 1998, several million SKS carbines exported from China and the former Soviet Union were sold on the commercial market in the US.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cutshaw|first=Charlie|title=The New World of Russian Small Arms and Ammo|year=1998|pages=1}}</ref>

===Canada===
The SKS rifle is very popular in Canada,<ref name="Levitz2023">{{cite news |last1=Levitz |first1=Stephanie |title=Inside the Trudeau government's decision to scrap its controversial gun ban amendments |url=https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2023/02/03/trudeau-government-scraps-controversial-gun-bill-amendments-after-backlash.html |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=[[The Toronto Star]] |date=February 3, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319061421/https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2023/02/03/trudeau-government-scraps-controversial-gun-bill-amendments-after-backlash.html|archive-date= March 19, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Dyer2022">{{cite news |last1=Dyer |first1=Evan |title=How Bill C-21 turned from banning handguns to hunting guns |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bill-c21-sporting-guns-1.6673730 |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=[[CBC News]] |date=December 6, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315030658/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bill-c21-sporting-guns-1.6673730|archive-date= March 15, 2023}}</ref><ref name="McLeod2022">{{cite journal |last1=McLeod |first1=Marsha |title=First Nations leaders unanimously vote against Ottawa's gun control legislation |journal=[[The Globe and Mail]] |date=December 8, 2022 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-bill-c21-gun-control-first-nations-leaders/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228013503/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-bill-c21-gun-control-first-nations-leaders/|archive-date=February 28, 2023}}</ref> with some users referring to it as "Canada's rifle".<ref name="Levitz2023"/> While the SKS is imported for commercial sales in Canada, the [[magazine (firearms)|magazines]] are affected by [[Firearms regulation in Canada|Canadian firearms legislation]], which limits the magazines to 5 rounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rcmp.ca/en/firearms/classes-firearms/maximum-permitted-magazine-capacity | title=Maximum Permitted Magazine Capacity | publisher=Royal Canadian Mounted Police | work=Canadian Firearms Program}}</ref>

Under Canadian law, the SKS is classified as a non-restricted firearm and can be owned with a [[Possession and Acquisition License]]. The classification of non-restricted permits it to be used in hunting and on rural crown land. When the Canadian government introduced an amendment to the pending Bill C-21 that would have expanded and changed the basis for classifying prohibited firearms under the law, the resulting ban on the SKS was a particular point of contention because it is widely used for [[hunting]], notably by [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations Peoples]].<ref name="Levitz2023"/><ref name="Dyer2022"/><ref name="McLeod2022"/> The leadership of the [[Assembly of First Nations]] voted unanimously to express opposition to the amendment.<ref name="McLeod2022"/> The amendment was eventually withdrawn due to the widespread opposition.<ref name="Levitz2023"/>

===Russia===
Surplus SKS carbines are available in their original chambering for sale to any Russian citizen with a rifle purchase permit.<ref name="Popenker"/> The bayonet must be removed, and an additional pin added to the barrel, to modify the SKS sufficiently from its status as a military arm and render it legal for civilian sales.<ref name="Ribakov"/> The carbines are relatively inexpensive in Russia, making them attractive to hunters on a budget.<ref name="Popenker"/> Examples of the SKS modified as smoothbore weapons and firing the unique .366 TKM cartridge are also available on the Russian commercial market.<ref name="Popenker"/> These weapons are legally classified as shotguns, and are favored by Russian sport shooters and hunters who possess the more easily obtainable shotgun purchase permit.<ref name="Popenker"/> The .366 TKM cartridge is a 7.62×39mm cartridge case necked out to accept a .366 caliber slug.<ref name="Popenker"/>

==See also==
* [[List of 7.62×39mm firearms]]
* [[List of clip-fed firearms]]
* [[701 rifle]]
* [[vz. 52 rifle]]
* [[Rasheed carbine]]
* [[Type 63 assault rifle]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121105025545/http://www.marstar.ca/html/reflibrary/Manuals/sks.html Soviet SKS Operation Manual from 1974]
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.dod.dimoc.26977|name=STAFF FILM REPORT 66-25A|description=(1966)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170702050018/http://www.armimilitari.it/wordpress/simonov-sks-ckc45g/ Simonov SKS (CKC45g)] {{in lang|it}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230517231713/https://www.rockislandauction.com/riac-blog/why-do-people-like-sks-rifles/ Why Do People Like SKS Rifles?]

{{Soviet infantry weapons of World War II}}
{{Clip-fed firearms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sks}}
[[Category:7.62×39mm semi-automatic rifles]]
[[Category:Carbines]]
[[Category:Clip-fed firearms]]
[[Category:Cold War firearms of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Infantry weapons of the Cold War]]
[[Category:Rifles of the Cold War]]
[[Category:Semi-automatic rifles of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Short stroke piston firearms]]
[[Category:Tula Arms Plant products]]
[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1940s]]
[[Category:World War II infantry weapons of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:World War II semi-automatic rifles]]
[[Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1949]]