Norinco SKS

The Norinco SKS Type 56 is a Chinese copy of the famous Russian SKS rifle. SKS was designed in 1943 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. Soviets noticed that Mosin-Nagant rifles were too long and heavy, firing too powerful rounds for modern warfare so they created a smaller and lighter rifle - SKS. The Norinco SKS Type 56 was first manufactured in China under the supervision of Russian Soviet military engineers, and those rifles are known as "Sino-Soviet". Later the Chinese were manufacturing the Type 56 on their own, constantly changing technical details and manufacturing process, so variations can be seen even between two rifles from the same factory. The major difference from the Russian SKS is the hand guard take-down lever that does not feature a tab for fingers to hold onto to rotate it. A punch and hammer is required to tap it loose for disassembly making it hard to field strip. As any SKS, the rifle can be loaded by hand one round at a time or with stripper clips. Type 56 carbines with serial numbers below 9,000,000 have the Russian-style blade-type folding bayonet, while those 9,000,000 and higher have a "spike" type folding bayonet. Today Type 56 rifles are not used anymore by Chinese military except for ceremonial purposes. Muzzle velocity - 2411 fps. Bullet weight - 122 gr. Working pressure - 45,000 psi. Importing of Norinco firearms in the US was banned in conjunction with 1993 and 2003 U.S. trade sanctions.