Romanian Model 56 carbine (SKS)

What this entry covers

This is the most detailed of the SKS entries on the list^1,5,6,7. ATF lists the "Romanian, Model 56 semiautomatic carbine (SKS), cal. 7.62 x 39mm" only "in original configuration as manufactured at Uzina Mechanica Cugir, Romania, from 1956 through 1962"¹. It adds a serial-number test, "two letters followed by up to four digits", and a marking test: the right side of the receiver carries "the year of production and the manufacturer’s trademark consisting of an unfletched arrow within a triangle"¹. Each of those phrases appears among the conditions this site shows for the entry¹.

Other SKS-pattern carbines are not described by this wording. The Soviet SKS has a separate entry limited to rifles "of Soviet manufacture"⁵, and the Albanian and Yugoslavian SKS-pattern rifles have entries of their own elsewhere in Section II^6,7. Chinese Type 56 carbines are not named in this entry¹.

Identifying it

• Serial number. Small Arms Review describes M56 serials as two letters, then a sequence number, then the year of manufacture². A dealer listing shows an example numbered BC2746 and dated 1958⁴.
• Factory mark. The Cugir mark is a triangle around an upright arrow with no fletching, which matches ATF's description^1,2.
• Other details. The 300-metre battle-sight setting on the rear sight is marked with the letter I, the bayonet is a blade with a dull chrome finish, and the stock is beech with a sling swivel underneath².
• Numbered parts. Major parts carry the full serial number, while the bolt, bolt carrier, receiver and barrel carry a shorter matching number of one to three digits².

The dealer listing's example carries an import mark on the barrel, a magazine that does not match the serial, and a replacement bayonet⁴. How changes like these relate to "original configuration" is a question of the ATF wording¹.

Common confusions

• Izhevsk-made Soviet SKS. The Izhevsk mark is also an arrow in a triangle, but set inside a circle; the Cugir arrow has no fletching².
• Dates. ATF and Small Arms Review both give 1956 to 1962^1,2, while the dealer listing gives 1957 to 1960⁴. Sources differ, and the entry's own dates are ATF's.
• Fixed magazine. The SKS was designed with a ten-round internal magazine³. The dealer listing's example is also offered with a detachable magazine⁴.

History

The SKS was a Soviet design of the Second World War: a gas-operated self-loader with a tubular receiver and a bayonet attached to the barrel³. Romania produced it as the Model 56 at the Uzina Mecanica Cugir plant in Transylvania, and some M56 carbines were later imported into the United States².

Further reading

• Frank Iannamico's The SKS Rifle in Small Arms Review² compares the national variants and their factory marks side by side.
• The Small Arms Survey identification sheet³, prepared with the Royal Armouries' National Firearms Centre, shows the features shared by the SKS family.
• The Collectors Firearms listing⁴ is a single photographed example, useful for seeing where the serial and import marks fall.