14.5x111.8mm Prts
The concept of the Assault Rifle began with the Soviets in the early 1900's. Later, during World War I Vladimir Federov introduced the Federov 1916 Automatic Rifle, which fired a 6.5x50.5SR Japanese cartridge At this time this cartridge was thought to be the best for use in rapid firing rifles. These guns were used toward the end of the 1914-18 war and the Russo-Finnish war of 1939-40.
During World War II, the Russians' need for the "Avtomal" increased, and they adopted use of a 7.62x39mm cartridge. The weapon created by S.G. Simonov to lire this cartridge was the SKS-45, (Samozaryadnl Karabln Simonova) a self-loading carbine, which was a scaled-down version of the 14.5x111.8mm PRTS anti-tank rifle. The SKS-45 was easy to field strip and maintain and was quite popular.
At this same time, M.T. Kalashnikov was working on designing a series of small arms, which would also use the 7.62x39mmcartridge. He was successful, and developed one of the best known military weapons of ourtime, the AK-47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova) in 1947. The AK-47was the prototype for many subsequent versions, and the Chinese manufactured SKS Type 56 rifle is a direct derivative of Kalashnikov's design.
At the conclusion of World War II, the People's Republic of China inherited many of these Soviet weapons from the Japanese. (The Japanese had seized them in Manchuria.) During the Chinese Civil War, the PRC began making this equipment, and by war's end were well on their way to standardizing production of these Soviet-type small arms.
in recent years, the People's Republic of China has been producing the 7.62x39mm Type 68, the 7.62x39mm Type67, the 7.62x25mm Type 64, and the SKS Type 56 with the distinguishing folding bayonet. The SKS Type 56 was encountered frequently during the Vietnam War.
As a military weapon, the SKS rifle is only used by frontier forces, however it remains ever popular with the American sportsman as a hunting weapon, and as always with collectors and firearms enthusiasts
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