From: raymond@jupiter.ame.arizona.edu (Raymond Man)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Chinese SKS & AK-47 designations
Date: 8 Jan 93 22:22:59 GMT


This is a rather long post which was my response to a different newsgroup.
However, since netters in this newsgroup may have better knowledge, I just
crosspost here.
#Samuel Tung (tung@ocf.berkeley.edu) wrote:
#: Just watched the ATV news...
#
#: There was a robbery at a jewelry shop in "Shun Wor" center in Mongkok.
#: The robbers were equipped with AK47 and Russian-made gun. A policeman
#
#                   This gun is 54 made in China. It is modify from AK47
#This type of gun is used by army in China

I see some confusion about the designations about the PLA weapons, even
Western authority like the Jane's All the World's Infantry Weapons may
not be correct.

If the weapon does not have a pistol grip, it can either be an SKS,
a modified SKS or a modified AK-47 that looks like an SKS. The Western
sources has been calling the Chinese SKS Type 56 Carbine, since "SK"
stands for self-loading carbine in Russian, and they call the Chinese
AK-47 Type 56 Rifle because "A" stands for asault rifle.

However, I remeber reading a PLA training manual which referred to an
SKS like gun as Type 54 "step gun"(i.e. for foot soldier, infantry),
which is the standard translation for the term "rifle". And referred 
to an AK-47 like gun, with pistol grip and long curl magazine, as the
Type 56 "horse gun"(i.e. for mounted soldier, calvary). This is at
variance with the Russian terms but can be understandable as follows.
The traditional concept of a rifle(step gun) is a longer weapon which
is doubled as a spear when fixed with a bayonet, and that of a
carbine(horse gun) is a shorten weapon for the convenience of handling
when mounted. The AK-47 even with a fixed(non-folding) stock is much
shorter than the SKS which was the mainstay for PLA infantry anyway.

Now since the numbers are related to the years, naturally the older
gun, SKS, should have the older year and called Type 54. However, a
modified SKS may well be called Type 56 also. We also know that there
is modified AK-47 which uses the mechanism of the AK-47, with selective
fire capability and detachable magazine, but look very much like the
SKS and may follow the AK-47 in designation. (It is this weapon which
was supplied to Vietnam because it was more in common with the Russian
supplied AK-47 and AKM. So during the Sino-Vietnam War, Chinese soldiers,
some of them were still using the semi-automatic SKS, when came up against
the Vietnamese using the selective fire, modified AK-47, got really mad
and frustrated that the enemy were using the better weapon supplied by
their own government and they had to keep the second rated thing.)
To differentiate between SKS and AK-47, the terms "rifle" and "carbine"
are used but which is which is still uncertain, as least for me.
However, in either case, I would not guess a modified AK-47 being
called Type 54.

So when one sees an SKS like weapon, without pistol grip or folding
stock, one cannot really tell what it is unless one is really very
familiar with all the weapons and designations used by PLA. If any
such person is one the net, please enlighten us if there is no
danger of being accused of leaking state secrets.