Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov
Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov was born on April 9, 1894 and died on May 6, 1986. He is best known for creating the SKS and PTRS-41 rifles.
History
Sergei was born on February 9, 1894 in Fedotovo, in the Russian Empire. He started his early work in small arms design in the 1920s at the Tula Arsenal. At Tula he designed various firearms, including the SKS.
After the Russian Revolution, Simonov continued further at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute where he graduated in 1924 to work at the Russian giant, Tula Arsenal. In 1926 Simonov had become a quality-control inspector at Tula, and by 1927 he had been promoted into the Soviet Design and Development Department where he worked directly under Fyodorov. The Simonov AVS-36 would enter service in the 1930s would later see service in the early part of World War II. It was used up to about 1940 or so where it was replaced by other semi-automatic rifles.
During World War II Simonov would design some firearms of his own. One of his designs was a submachine gun which never left the prototype stages and a semi automatic anti-tank rifle, the PTRS-41, which later went on to form the basis for the SKS.
By 1943 it was determined that engagements took place between 100 meters to 300 meters. So the development of a shorter and less powerful round was to be created. The end results was the 7.62x39 M1943. It is sometimes called the 7.62 Soviet or 7.62 Short. In 1944 a pre-pre-production version of the SKS wen tto the Belorussian Offensive for battlefield trials. After some tweaking it was officially adopted the 7.62 Samozaryadnyi Karabin Sistemy Simonova Obrazets 1945 (7.62 Self-loading Carbine System Simonov model year 1945) or SKS-45 and was chosen as the replacement for the SVT-40
Awards
- Hero of Socialist Labour (1954)
- Three Orders of Lenin
- Order of the October Revolution
- Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class
- Order of the Red Star
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice
- Honoured Inventor of the RSFSR (1964)
- Medal "In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
- Stalin Prize, twice (1942 and 1949)
Small Arms Works
AVS-36
- Pronunciation
- Russian: Автоматическая винтовка Симонова образца 1936 (ABC-36)
- Romanized: Avtomaticheskaya vintovka Simonova obraztsa 1936 (AVS-36)
- English: Automatic rifle Simonov model 1936 (AVS-36)
- Development: It was one of the first rifles adopted by the Red Army that was capable of both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire.
- Usage: Although the AVS-36 was innovative for its time, it suffered from mechanical reliability issues and was quickly overshadowed by the SVT-40 designed by Simonov’s contemporary, Fedor Tokarev.
PTRS-41
- Pronunciation
- Russian: Противотанковое самозарядное ружьё образца 1941 года системы Симонова (ПтрС-41)
- Romanized: Protivotankovoye samozaryadnoye ruzhyo obraztsa 1941 goda sistemy Simonova (PTRS-41)
- English: Anti-tank self-loading rifle model 1941 of the Simonov system (PTRS-41)
- Development: During World War II, Simonov designed the PTRS-41, a semi-automatic anti-tank rifle chambered for the 14.5×114mm cartridge. It was used by Soviet forces to combat light tanks and armored vehicles during the early stages of the war.
- Significance: The PTRS-41, along with the PTRD-41, formed the core of the Soviet Union’s anti-tank rifle arsenal. It was notable for its semi-automatic operation, a relatively advanced feature for anti-tank rifles of the era.
SKS-45
- Pronunciation
- Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова (СкС-45)
- Romanized: Samozaryadny karabin sistemy Simonova (SKS-45)
- English: Self-loading carbine of the Simonov system (SKS-45)
- Development: Simonov’s most famous design is the SKS, a semi-automatic carbine designed in 1943 and adopted by the Soviet Union in 1945. The SKS was chambered for the new 7.62×39mm intermediate cartridge, developed for its balance of power and recoil, making it suitable for automatic weapons as well as semi-automatic carbines.
- Service and Legacy: Although the SKS was quickly replaced by the AK-47 as the Soviet Union’s standard infantry rifle, it remained in service with Soviet-aligned nations and was widely exported. Millions of SKS rifles were produced, making it one of the most iconic firearms of the 20th century.
