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FIREARM
REVIEW,
April -
May 2002:
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Type: Gas Operated Self Loading Rifle Chambering: 7.62x39mm Capacity: 10 round fixed magazine Sights, front: Post, adjustable for elevation and windage Sights, rear: Tangent type U-notch adjustable for windage Length: 40.2"" Barrel length: 20.5", 4 groove, right hand twist Weight (unloaded): 8.5 lbs Suggested Retail Price: $229.00 |
Enver Hoxha (pronounced "Ho-HA")
was born on October 16, 1908, in Gjirokastar, Albania, and was the first
postwar communist ruler of Albania. After the war, Hoxha inherited
an Albania plagued by a host of ills: pervasive poverty, overwhelming illiteracy,
blood feuds, epidemics of disease, and gross subjugation of women.
In order to eradicate these problems, the communists drafted a radical
modernization program intended to bring social and economic liberation
to Albania, thus completing the political liberation won in 1912. The government's
first major act to "build socialism" was swift, uncompromising agrarian
reform, which broke up the large landed estates of the southern beys (the
remnant of an Ottoman landed nobility) and distributed the parcels to landless
and other peasants. This destroyed the powerful bey class. The government
also moved to nationalize industry, banks, and all commercial and foreign
properties. Shortly after the agrarian reform, the Albanian government
started to collectivize
agriculture, completing
this task in 1967. As a result, peasants lost title to their land. In addition,
the Hoxha leadership extended the new socialist order (at bayonet point)
to the more rugged and isolated northern highlands, bringing down the age
old institution of the blood feud and the patriarchal structure of the
family and clans, thus destroying the semifeudal class of bajraktars. The
traditional role of women--namely, confinement to the home and farm--changed
radically as they gained legal equality with men and became active participants
in all areas of society. In order to obtain the economic aid needed for
modernization, as well as the political and military support to enhance
its security, Albania turned to the communist world: first to Yugoslavia
(1944-48), then the Soviet Union (1948-61), and finally China (1961-78).
Economically, Albania benefited greatly from these alliances: with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and credits, and with the assistance of a large number of technicians and specialists sent by its allies, Albania was able to build the foundations of a modern industry and defense infrastructure and to introduce mechanization into agriculture. As a result, for the first time in modern history, the Albanian populace began to emerge from eons of backwardness and, for a while, enjoyed a higher standard of living. However, all was not well within the Albanian communist world. Politically, Hoxha was disillusioned with his communist allies and patrons and broke with each one, charging that they had abandoned Marxism-Leninism and the cause of the proletariat for the sake of rapprochement with the capitalist West. Alienated from both East and West, Albania adopted a "go-it-alone" policy and became notorious as an isolated bastion of Maoism/Stalinism. Hoxha's program for modernization aimed at transforming Albania from a backward agrarian country into a modern industrial society, and, indeed, within four decades Albania had made respectable--in some cases historic--strides in the development of industry, agriculture, education, the arts, and culture. A notable achievement was the drainage of coastal swamplands--until then breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes--and the reclamation of land for agricultural and industrial uses. Also symbolic of the change was a historic language reform that fused elements of the Geg and Tosk dialects into a unified literary language. Political oppression, however, offset gains made on the material and cultural planes. Contrary to provisions in the constitution, during Hoxha's reign Albania was ruled, in effect, by the Directorate of State Security, known as the Sigurimi. To eliminate dissent, the government resorted periodically to purges, in which opponents were subjected to public criticism, dismissed from their jobs, imprisoned in forced labor camps, or executed. Travel abroad was forbidden to all but those on official business. In 1967 the religious establishment, which party leaders and other atheistic Albanians viewed as a backward medieval institution that hampered national unity and progress, was officially banned, and all Christian and Muslim houses of worship were closed.
The resulting nation and society were wracked by what is best described as a case of national paranoid schizophrenia. Cut off from the rest of the world, Albania began to spiral into a slow madness. The countryside was dotted with pillboxes designed to defend against invasions from, alternatively, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States. Orwellian enigmas and contradictions seemed to rule Albania. Not the least of these is why the Albanian defense industry, in an era dominated by cheap, mass produced, stamped sheet metal assault rifles opted to produce a resource intensive, obsolescent, heavy, semiautomatic rifle that was tactically hampered by a fixed ten round magazine. Specifically, why, during the primacy of the various Kalashnikov designs (AK-47, AKM, etc.) did the Albanians choose to produce a large number of SKS type rifles?
The SKS in Brief
| Designed by renowned Soviet small arms designer Sergei Simonov, the Samozariadniya karabina sistemy Simonova, or SKS, was the first Soviet weapon chambered for the 7.62x39mm M1943 cartridge to reach series production. Produced by traditional forging and milling methods, the SKS is a gas operated semiautomatic arm with a ten round fixed box magazine. The operating system is thought to be a scaled down version of that of the PTRS antitank rifle, using a tipping bolt cammed into and out of engagement with a locking recess in the receiver by action of the bolt carrier on the bolt. When a round is fired, the bullet moves down the barrel and, approximately halfway to the muzzle, passes the |
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The SKS features a permanently attached folding bayonet and a one piece wooden stock. Fire controls are simple and effective; a large lever alongside the triggerguard pivots forward to block the trigger's rearward motion. Sights are a tangent u-notch rear and a windage and elevation adjustable front post. The bolt carrier is milled to accept stripper clips, which make loading almost as fast as a detachable magazine. Unloading is also quite rapid as the magazine body hinges down to allow for removal of unfired cartridges.
Disassembly is begun by clearing the rifle and placing it on "safe." A lever on the right rear of the receiver is raised to the vertical and drawn to the right. This frees the receiver dust cover (a heavy hemicylindrical piece) to move to the rear and be removed from the gun. The recoil spring can now be drawn out to the rear. Next the bolt carrier can be pulled to the rear and then up and out of the receiver, taking the bolt with it. The bolt is easily separated from the carrier. The lever on the rear sight block is raised to the vertical. This rotates the flat on the handguard retaining bolt to a vertical position, freeing the handguard to be raised up from the rear and removed. The primary piston can then be slid out of the handguard. As the handguard is freed, the spring loaded secondary piston will also free itself. Finally, the rifle can be inverted for removal of the trigger group. The rear of the trigger group has what appears to be a dimple. This is actually a retaining tang that is part of the receiver. With the safety on, a quick rap on a brass punch will move the retaining tang just enough to free the trigger group, which can then be pulled out of the receiver. Once this is done, the magazine group can also be worked from the receiver. Finally, the barreled receiver group can be separated from the stock ( the stock is sandwiched between the trigger group and the receiver, much like an M1 Garand). Reassembly is the reverse.
DISASSEMBLY
(Ensure that rifle is properly
cleared and unloaded prior to beginning!)
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A note on disassembly. Once the trigger group is clean, it is tempting to cock the hammer and pull the trigger so as to get a "feel" for the trigger/sear interaction. We can tell you from experience that this is an extremely frustrating experience. In fact, you can probably pull the trigger all day with no movement on the hammer's part. This is not due to any failing on the mechanism's part; quite the reverse in fact. Upon examination, the trigger mechanism will be seen to possess a long bar that begins near the hammer pivot point, and extends upward and forward. This is the disconnector bar, and in the assembled rifle, it extends through a very precisely milled slot in the receiver. It is the interaction with this slot and the bolt/carrier that allows the disconnector to be positioned for proper operation of the fire control mechanism. Outside the rifle, attaining just the right |
The SKS is known to have been made in several communist nations, including the Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, the People's Republic of China, Romania, North Korea, and East Germany. While it was speculated to have been made in Albania, that nation's self imposed isolation coupled with a healthy dose of xenophobia made this impossible to verify. That is, until recently. When Bryan Flanagan of Springboro, Ohio based AIM Surplus called us to tell us about "something very special," our curiosity was aroused. Ok, maybe more than aroused - perked up enough for us to place an order just so we could see what was so special. . . . About a week later, the BBT arrived bearing the tell tale long, thin box. . . .
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PRODUCT REVIEW
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Then again, all the care
in packaging may have been superfluous. The SKS was packaged in what
must have been enough cosmoline to affect the prices on the CCM (that's
the worldwide Cosmoline Commodity Market. . . .). Indeed, removing
the cosmoline from the rifle required the better part of three hours, a
detail disassembly, large numbers of clean rags, two rolls of paper towels,
a can of mineral spirits, half a bottle of Windex, most of a bottle of
bore cleaner, about forty patches, and the unending patience of family
members, of both the biped and quadruped variety. The bolt and carrier
were in the white and polished bright, while the remaining metal was polished
to a satin finish and deeply blued. While there were some tiny blemishes
on the bolt carrier, and one or two small scratches on the blued portions
of the gun, the metal was easily in ninety seven percent condition, with
a strong claim toward ninety eight or ninety nine percent. The visual
effect of the contrast between the blued metal and the bright bolt carrier
was both striking and attractive. The receiver was marked on the
left side with a year marking indicating manufacture in 1977 and a four
digit serial number. Once cleaned of cosmoline and properly lubricated,
the Albanian SKS's bolt operation was exceedingly smooth. The
fire control mechanism, including the trigger and safety were similarly
smooth. The trigger broke crisply and cleanly each time. The
bore was perfect and mirror shiny.
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A headspace check yielded no surprises, with the bolt closing easily on a Clymer 7.62x39mm GO headspace gauge (1.2713"), and failing to close on a NO-GO gauge (1.2773"). Note that these are CIP standards for the 7.62x39mm, and not necessarily those that the Albanian military or defense industry used when manufacturing the rifle.
Shooting the Albanian
Simonov Type Carbine
The SKS has a reputation
for being an extremely pleasant rifle to shoot. This in large part
stems from the combination of relatively high weight (almost nine pounds
for a twenty inch barreled carbine) and a relatively low powered cartridge.
The 7.62x39mm is a true intermediate cartridge that develops nowhere near
the recoil energies of full power rounds such as the 7.62mm NATO, the 7.9x57mm
Mauser, the .303 British or the .30-06. It also has a reputation
for reliability that rivals that of the Kalashnikov series of assault rifles.
What it did not have a reputation for was gilt edged accuracy. Given
that its always fun to shoot a reliable rifle with a mild recoil, we were
quite happy to pack our range bags and head out to the NRA
range in Fairfax, Virginia.
Ammunition
We brought along several
types of 7.62x39mm ammunition to run through the Albanian Simonov.
The selection included:
Barnaul 123 grain FMJ
Wolf 123 grain FMJ
Wolf 123 grain JHP
IMI 123 grain FMJ
Accuracy
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As expected, accuracy was not the Simonov's strong point. In part this stems from the nature of the sights; the rear sight is of the tangent u-notch type and is not adjustable for windage. It is positioned relatively far from the shooting eye, above the chamber. The foresight is a hooded post that is adjustable for both windage and elevation with the aid of a special tool. The combination is very reliable and rugged, and well suited for the vagaries of the battlefield, but it does not make for the best showing on the target range. The combination of a shorter sight radius, thick front sight, and our meager abilities did nothing to showcase the rifle's capabilities. Targets were 3" black centers with 1" orange dots set at the range's maximum of 50 yards. Group sizes ranged from 1.25" to 2.9" with the larger groups being more the norm than the exception. The best groups of the day were turned in by the IMI ammunition. Accuracy results are indicated below, and represent slow fire from a bench rest position: |
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| IMI 123 grain FMJ | 1.25" | 2.5 MOA |
| Barnaul 123 grain FMJ | 2.20" | 4.4 MOA |
| Wolf 123 grain JHP | 2.40" | 4.8 MOA |
| Wolf 123 grain FMJ | 2.90" | 5.8 MOA |
Accuracy, as can be seen, was, well, a bit on the lackluster side. While it can be argued that four to six minute of angle groups are perfectly adequate for a weapon that will generally not be used at ranges beyond 200 meters, we do not believe this to be the case. The Simonov's contemporaries, such as the Model 1944 Mosin Nagant, the StG44, the M1 Garand, the and the MAS 44 will all turn in significantly better accuracy results. It's not for want of manufacturing quality either; the Albanian SKS is a forged and milled affair made from the best materials and with a fit and finish second to none. The matter bears further analysis, and it is possible that the basic system, once divorced from the antediluvian sights may prove capable of significantly greater accuracy.
Recoil and Ergonomics
Recoil was minimal at most.
This isn't surprising - the rifle is heavy and the cartridge is light.
Combine this with a stock that is almost ideally proportioned and you have
a rifle that you can shoot all day with no ill effect. The only thing
we wished to change was the position of the rear sling swivel. It
is positioned on the wrist of the stock just in front of where the shooter's
face sits. If the swivel isn't consciously pushed forward, one's
face sits against the swivel, which is decidedly uncomfortable.
While reasonably well balanced, the rifle feels very heavy, and is not well suited for offhand or snap shooting. In this respect it stands in marked contrast to rifles of similar weight such as the M1 Garand or the M14. Both of those are heavier than the Albanian Simonov, but are far better balanced, come to the shoulder and point more naturally.
Fire control surfaces were positive and easy to manipulate. The positioning of the safety on the trigger group enabled it to be taken "off" without disturbing the firing position. Trigger pull was a very nice two stage type with almost no slop or overtravel.
Reliability
We fired approximately 800
rounds through the Albanian SKS without a hitch. It fed, fired, extracted
and ejected every round we put through it. It never failed to lock
back on the last round, and accepted both loose cartridges and strippers
with equal ease. Attempts to engender failures by holding the rifle
loosely or in unconventional angles or positions were not successful.
Reliability was 100%.
Conclusion
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Albanian SKS satisfies two niches very nicely. It is excellently
suited for informal target shooting or "plinking", being both wonderfully
reliable and chambered for a plentiful and inexpensive cartridge.
However, there are both less expensive and more accurate plinkers.
There are few, on the other hand, that possess the same air of history,
intrigue and nostalgia. These rifles are artifacts of a regime, a
political system and an economic philosophy that no longer exists.
They are relics of the Cold War, of a fifty year period during which the
world was poised to rip itself to shreds. They are, in effect, pieces
of history; clues, as noted above to the enigma that was communist Albania.
In other words, one doesn't
purchase an Albanian Simonov simply because one wants to kick tin cans
around on a Saturday afternoon. One purchases this rifle because
it is that rare combination of mechanically interesting, technically capable,
and historically fascinating. In a larger sense, the Albanian Simonov
represents an opportunity for the average American to own and, more importantly,
to preserve, a piece of history. . . . and all for less than $300.00.
Moreover, with its fixed ten round magazine and lack of protruding pistol
grip, the Albanian SKS is available in many jurisdictions that have banned
military style self loading rifles with a number of "evil" features.
The Albanian Simonovs are a rare and interesting example of Balkan intrigue
and Cold War history, and traditional European craftsmanship that should
not be passed up.
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And now, our Buy-O-Meter
rating for the Albanian Simonov Carbine:
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