
Remember how cheap these used to be? Those of us who are fond of visiting gun shows and purchasing unique shooting irons, often more for show than plinking, have no doubt handled the Russian-made SKS 45 7.62x39mm semi-automatic carbine. A quick glance at this rifle, with its spike-bayonet folded neatly beneath its barrel, its canvas sling taut and its rear sight raised, calibrated to 1,000 meters, makes this little baby rather menacing.
Imagine its look from the receiving end, with the bayonet extended! We have Russian designer Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov to thank for the SKS 45. Comrade Simonov designed the SKS, and the Soviets produced it at the Tula Armory from 1949 until 1955, and at the Izhevsk Armory from 1953 to 1954. SKS is an abbreviation for Samozaryadniy Karabin sistemi Simonova, Russian for self-loading carbine Simonov’s system, 1945. SKS 7.62x39mm M43 ammunition is the same round as the ammo used in the wildly effective, popular, and mass-produced AK-47. The AK-47 later became the weapon of choice for Russian troops over the SKS, due to its increased ammunition capacity and automatic capabilities.
In Australia, the Chinese SKS rifle (along with the Russian SKS rifle) was very popular with recreational hunters and target shooters during the 1980s and early 1990s before the Australian government banned semi-automatic rifles from legal ownership in 1996. Since the introduction of the 1996 gun bans in Australia, the Mosin-Nagant series of bolt-action rifles and carbines have now filled the void created by the now illegal SKS. In the early 1990s, the Chinese SKS rapidly became the “poor man’s deer rifle” in some Southern areas of the United States due to its low price, lower even than such old favorites in that role as the Marlin 336. The United States government banned importation of the Chinese SKS in 1994.