Yugoslav M59 & M59/66 SKS

What this entry covers

ATF lists "Yugoslavian manufactured rifles M59 and M59/66, cal. 7.62 x 39mm, all semiautomatic variations having a fixed magazine, manufactured from 1947-1992."¹. The entry covers both the plain M59 and the grenade-launching M59/66, and its limits include Yugoslavian manufacture, semiautomatic operation, a fixed magazine and the stated date range¹. The manufacture, magazine and date limits appear among the conditions this site shows for the entry¹.

SKS carbines made in the Soviet Union fall under a separate entry, "of Soviet manufacture"⁶. The Romanian Model 56 and the Albanian SKS have entries of their own as well^7,8.

Identifying it

• M59. A close copy of the Soviet SKS, made without a chrome-lined barrel, with a beech stock and matching serial numbers on most parts. The battle-sight setting on the rear sight is marked with the letter I^2,3.
• M59/66. Adds a permanently fitted 22 mm spigot grenade launcher at the muzzle, a gas cut-off and a fold-up grenade sight. The launcher lengthens the rifle by about 95 mm². Raising the grenade sight shuts off the gas, so the action has to be cycled by hand^3,4.
• M59/66A1. Fitted with luminous night sights that fold up^2,3,4.
• Para-sniper. A rare version of both models carried a 4x telescopic sight⁴.

The Small Arms Survey identification sheet uses the grenade-launching muzzle to tell the M59/66 apart from other SKS-pattern rifles⁵. The rifle was made by Zastava at Kragujevac^3,4.

Common confusions

• Production dates. Sources differ. Small Arms Review gives 1959 for the first M59 and 1966 to 1970 for the M59/66². Modern Firearms dates the M59 to 1960–1967 and says M59/66 production ran until about 1986⁴. Athlon Outdoors puts the M59/66's adoption in 1967 and the M59/66A1's in 1970³. ATF's "1947-1992" is broader than any of these, and the entry's dates are ATF's¹.
• Chrome lining. Small Arms Review says no Yugoslavian SKS has a chrome-lined barrel². Athlon Outdoors says the M59/66A1 had a chrome-plated bore³. The references disagree on this point.
• Magazines. The SKS family has a ten-round internal magazine⁵. The entry's words are "having a fixed magazine"¹.

History

Postwar Yugoslavia adopted Soviet-pattern weapons, and its Kragujevac arsenal, renamed Zavodi Crvena Zastava, produced the SKS as the M59³. Troops called the rifle Papovka, from the abbreviation PAP for semi-automatic rifle^3,4. The M59/66 reflected the Yugoslav army's emphasis on rifle grenades, and the M70 assault rifle later partly replaced it^3,4. Large numbers of surplus rifles reached the U.S. and other civilian markets from the early 1990s⁴.

Further reading

• Paul Scarlata's Athlon Outdoors article³ covers Yugoslav adoption, the grenade sight and service use.
• Maxim Popenker's Modern Firearms entry⁴ gives a technical description of the M59/66 and its variants.
• Frank Iannamico's The SKS Rifle in Small Arms Review² sets the Yugoslavian rifles beside the other national SKS versions.