SKS Simonov 56 Instructions Manual

							TC 9-56 
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY TRAINING CIRCULAR 
SKS RIFLE 
SIMONOV TYPE 56 
iEADQUARTERS, 
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 
OCTOBER 1969  
						

							THE  7.62~M M SIMONO V SEMIAUTOMATIC  
						

							Figure 2 . East German Karabiner-S. 
Figure3 . 
Yugoslav M59/66 rifle. 
Figure 4 . 
M59/66 gas cutoff. 
Technical Data 
Technical data concerning the SKS carbine will be found in table 
II.  
						

							Operation 
a. Grasp the operating handle (fig 1 ), pull it fully to the 
rear, and release it. If the magazine is empty, the bolt will remain 
open. Insert a stripper clip into the clip guides at the top front of 
the bolt carrier, and with the thumb as close as possible to the 
base of the top cartridge, press the cartridges off the clip and into 
the magazine (fig 5 ). Remove the empty clip. If clipped 
Figure 5 . Loading the SKS. 
ammunition is not available, individual cartridges can be placed on 
top of the magazine follower and pressed down into the magazine 
until it is full. Pull operating handle rearward and release it; the 
bolt will run forward and chamber a cartridge. 
CAUTION: The rifle is now ready to fire! 
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							b. If the rifle is not to be fired immediately, apply the 
safety (fig 1 ) by rotating it forward and upward. 
C. 
Set the rear sight for the desired range by depressing the 
slide catch (fq 1 ) 
and moving the sight bar along the leaf until 
the front edge of the bar is aligned with the line below the number 
that corresponds to the range in hundreds of meters. The first 
character on the sight leaf is a battle sight setting that is used in 
combat, for shooting at ranges up to 300 meters. The Yugoslav 
M59/66 has folddown luminous sights (fii 3 ) for use when firing 
under poor light conditions; flip these up for use. 
d. The front sight is adjustable for zero. 
e. To fire the weapon, rotate the safety rearward until it is 
parallel to the trigger; then aim, using a normal sight picture, and 
press the trigger. The SKS will fire one shot and reload itself; when 
the last round has been fued, the bolt will remain open. (The gas 
cutoff of the Yugoslav M59/66 must be turned to the right for the 
* 
rifle to function. Press the gas cutoff button (fig 4 
) down and 
swing to the right). 
f. To unload or clear the SKS, apply the safety, then pull 
back the magazine catch (fig 3 ) and allow the magazine to swing 
open. Remove all cartridges and close the magazine. Grasp the 
operating handle, pull it fully rearward to eject any cartridge that 
might have been in the chamber, and release the handle; the bolt 
will remain open. Inspect to insure that no cartridges remain in the 
magazine, barrel, or receiver. Close the bolt, either by opening the 
magazine again and pulling rearward on the operating handle and 
releasing it, or by pressing the magazine platform down slightly 
and pulling the operating handle rearward and releasing it. Move 
the safety to the ready position, press the trigger and apply the 
safety. 
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							g- The SKS bayonet is affixed by forcing the hilt to the 
rear (against spring pressure) ‘and swinging the bayonet forward 
until it locks to the muzzle. This action is reversed to fold the 
bayonet in its stowed position. 
.h. The Yugoslav M49/56 can launch rifle grenades. The 
grenades must have tail booms of 22-mm inside diameter and if at 
all possible, only Yugoslav-made grenades should be launched. 
Prior to firing grenades, clear the rifle and cut off the 
gas mechanism by pressing in the lock (fig 4 
) and rotating it to 
the top of the gas cylinder. Lift the grenade sight to its vertical 
position. Pull the operating handle rearward until it is caught open 
and insert a grenade launching cartridge into the chamber. 
(Note: These cartridges are packed in the tail booms of the 
Yugoslav grenades.) Under no circumstances can a bulleted 
cartridge be used; to do so will cause the grenade to explode on 
the launcher. Depress the follower and while holding it down pull 
the operating handle rearward then ease it forward. Tap the 
operating handle forward to insure that the bolt locked. Slide the 
appropriate type grenade fully onto the launcher. To launch the 
grenade, move the safety to the fire position, align the appropriate 
range arc (fig6 ) with the ogive (largest diameter) of the grenade 
and then align the sight and grenade on the target. Press the 
trigger. 
1. Prior to firing successive rounds, the operating handle 
must be smartly drawn rearward to eject the fired cartridge case. 
Prior to firing bulleted rounds, fold the grenade sight rearward, 
press in the lock (fig 6 ) and rotate it to the right as far as 
possible. 
Disassembly and Assembly 
a. To disassemble the SKS carbine: 
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							Figure 6 M59/66 grenade sight erected. 
(1) Clear the weapon 
(2) Press in on the cover in the butt plate until the 
combination tool case is ejected. Unlock the bayonet, let it hang 
vertically, and after disengaging the head of the cleaning rod from 
the front sight base, pull the cleaning rod out of the rifle. 
Note: The East German Karabiner-S does not have a combination tool case 
in the butt, nor does it have a cleaning rod; these are carried separately. 
(3) 
Rotate the receiver cover pin (fig 2 J to a vertical 
position and pull it out as far as possible. 
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							Note: It may be necessary to pry the receiver cover pin handle away 1;onl 
the receiver before it can be rotated. 
Remove the rcceivcr cover to the rear and pull the driving spring 
assembly out of the bolt carrier. 
(4) Open the magazine by pulling the magazine catch 
(fig 3 ) to the rear. Pull the operating handle fully rearward, and 
lift the bolt carrier and bolt out of the receiver. Separate the bolt 
from the bolt carrier. 
(5) Rotate the gas cylinder tube lock (fig 2 ) to its 
uppermost position and lift the rear of the handguard to remove 
the gas cylinder tube and the gas piston. The tube can be upended 
and the piston will slide out. 
Figure 7 . SKS field stripped. 
(6) If necessary, the trigger group can be removed by 
dcprcssing the catch located behind the loop of the trigger guard 
and pulling the trigger group down and out of the rifle. The safety 
must be in the safe position before the catch can be depressed. 
(7) No further disassembly is necessary or desirable. 
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							b. To rcasscmblc the wc;~pon, follow the proccdurc listed 
below: 
(1) Invert the rifle and engage the pins at the front of 
the trigger group with the notches behind the magazine box. 
Swing the trigger group into position in the stock and seat it by a 
blow of the hand on the loop of the trigger guard. Move the safety 
to the fire position to insure that the catch is fully engaged. 
(2) Slide the gas piston, small end first, into the gas 
cylinder tube; fit the large end of the tube over the gas cylinder 
(fig 2 ). Swing the rear end of the gas cylinder tube into the rear 
sight base and turn the gas cylinder lock downward. 
(3) Place the bolt into the receiver, with the extractor 
to the right front, and position the rear of the bolt about 
three-eights of an inch from the inner rear wall of the receiver. Lay 
the bolt carrier on the bolt and while pressing down on the carrier, 
move it slightly back and forth until it mates with the bolt. Slide 
the bolt and bolt carrier fully forward in the receiver. Insert the 1 
driving spring assembly, stepped end first, into the bolt carrier. 
(4) Insure that the receiver cover pin is pulled fully out 
to the right, then slide the receiver cover into place from the rear. 
Secure it with the receiver cover pin and rotate the pin down to 
the locked position. Close the magazine, and replace the cleaning 
rod and the combination tool case. 
Functioning 
a. The SKS semiautomatic carbine is gas operated (fq 
8 ). After the SKS has been loaded, pressure on the trigger 
releases the hammer, which impacts against the firing pin, firing 
the rifle. The propellant gases drive the bullet through the barrel, 
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							and after the bullet passes the gas port, some of the gases are 
tapped off and directed against t’he piston head. 
b. The propellant gases drive the piston and operating rod 
rearward against the bolt carrier. 
This forces the carrier and the 
hammer rearward and compresses the driving and hammer springs. 
After the bolt carrier moves rearward about one-fourth inch, a 
cam on the inner top of the bolt carrier (6, fig 8 ) contacts a 
projection on the top rear of the bolt and lifts the rear of the bolt 
up and out of its seat in the receiver. The disconnector, which has 
been held down by the bolt, now rises. The bolt and bolt carrier 
now travel rearward as a unit, while the piston is returned forward 
by the spring. The extractor withdraws the fired cartridge case 
from the chamber and holds it to the bolt until the case strikes the 
fixed ejector and is expelled. The rear end of the bolt carrier 
strikes the inner wall of the receiver, and all rearward movement 
then terminates. 
C. The driving spring expands and forces the bolt and bolt 
carrier forward; the bolt drives the top round out of the magazine 
and into the chamber. When the cartridge is fully seated in the 
chamber, the extractor snaps into the groove of the cartridge, and 
forward movement of the bolt ceases. The bolt carrier still has a 
short distance to travel, and as it does, cams the rear of the bolt 
down into its seat in the receiver; the bolt, as it scats, forces the 
disconnector down. All forward movement terminates when the 
bolt carrier strikes the receiver. 
d. The SKS has a complicated trigger mechanism (fig 9 ). 
The hammer is cocked by the recoiling bolt and is held cocked by 
a sliding sear. The sear is disengaged from the hammer by a 
spring-loaded trigger bar pivoted to the top of the trigger. The 
vertical alignment of the trigger bar is controlled by the 
disconnector; this, when depressed by the locking of the bolt, 
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