Type 63 assault rifle

Type 63 assault rifle
Production information
Country of origin	China
Manufacturer(s)	Chongqing Air Compressor Factories Jialing Factories Jian She
Designer(s)	Weapons Technology Department of the Chongqing University of Technology
Year(s) designed	1959 – 1963
Production began	1969
Production ended	1978
Number built	c.6,000,000
Technical specifications
Weapon type	Assault rifle
Caliber	7.62×39mm
Length	40.7 in (103.3 cm)
Barrel length	20.9 in (53.1 cm)
Weight	8.4 lbs (3.8 kg)
Feed system	20-round detachable box magazine 30-round AK-47 detachable box magazine 40-round RPK detachable box magazine 75 or 100-round detachable drum magazine
Cyclic rate	750 rpm
Usage
Notable users	Afghanistan Albania Bangladesh Cambodia China Guyana Madagascar North Korea Togo Vietnam
Other information
Other name(s)	K63 (Vietnam)

The Type 63 (Chinese: 63式自動步槍 63 shì zìdòng bùqiāng, lit. "Type 63 automatic rifle") is a Chinese assault rifle heavily resembling the SKS, but moreso based on the Type 56 assault rifle.

History

The Type 63 was born of the Chinese military in the 1960s both valuing their version of the SKS, the Type 56 carbine, and recognizing the modernity of their AK47 copy, the Type 56 assault rifle. This was an effort to combine the two. It was officially adopted in 1968, and it was fronted to replace both Type 56 rifles, but was seen as an abysmal failure. It was retired in 1978, ironically living short of the Type 56 carbine by two years.

Design Details

The Chinese government combined both the Type 56 Carbine and Assault Rifle by adding a detachable magazine and a two-stage system to the gas port, as well as a fire selector near the trigger guard on the right side of the receiver. While it could be fitted with AK magazines, this was something that required minor modification, which of course often led to feed failures. However, it did borrow the AK's rotating bolt system, but coupled with an SKS-esque short recoil system, it proved to be unreliable. The overall design was much more complicated than either rifle, which becomes immediately obvious upon removing the top cover and examining the part makeup underneath.

Trivia

• There is also a Type 63 carbine from North Korea, however this is a true to form SKS that just happened to have the same designation.
• In the late 80s, while the Chinese arms industry began adapting their older SKS designs to be sold to American markets, they released a series of "Sporter" SKS rifles. The first of which was the SKS-63.
  • While it was labeled with the "63", internally it was not at all like the real Type 63. However, it was similar in appearance and the concept was the same, minus the select fire and with the addition of a thumbhole stock.
  • The "Sporter" SKS rifles get their name from the SKS Sporter, the most famous of the civilian marketed AK magazine compatible SKS imports.
  • The SKS-63 is seen as the spiritual successor to the Type 63 AR due to their similar manual of arms and capability.
  • Sporter SKS (and any other model for that matter) import was entirely halted upon the 1994 Clinton Assault Weapons Ban. While most of the imported models did fit within the ban's specifications, imports were halted too, even after the expiration of the titular ban.