AK-47 vs SKS rifles: Why the USSR adopted the AK and sold SKS technologies to China

Both weapons became the weapon-of-choice for guerrilla warfare and are still being used in conflicts around the globe, even 70 years after their conception.

In the late 1940s, the Soviet army was searching for a new generation weapon that would make its soldiers invincible in combat.

Engineers came up with a number of projects to replace outdated Mosin Nagants in the military. The trials began in 1947 and the most prominent candidates to become the main weapons of Soviet soldiers for decades ahead were the latest modification of the SKS carbine and the AK-47 assault rifle. 

“Both were meant to become the main weapon of the Soviet soldiers right after World War II. But the military command liked more the idea of arming its soldiers with the first fully-automatic weapons, chambered with rifle ammo, rather than continue using carbines,” says Vadim Kozulin, professor at the Academy of Military Science.