Variant Type 56 Assault Rifle Series Bes Accuracy

The Type 56 Assault Rifle is essentially the Chinese equivalent of the AK-47, modified to suit local manufacturing methods, with slightly looser tolerances for its parts (mostly from being built sometimes in crude shops early in its Chinese manufacturing history), and designed to work with parts made from a lesser quality of steel (again, only at first). The original versions of the Type 56 were essentially almost exact copies of the AK-47, but with a permanently-mounted spike-type bayonet which folds under the barrel, instead of the cleaning rod normally carried under the barrel of the AK-47.

Type 56 Assault rifle

Later versions were built with better manufacturing methods and were even closer copies of the AKM, though they still had the folding bayonet instead of the cleaning rod. (These versions were still referred to by the Chinese as “Type 56 Assault Rifle ,” though the West sometimes called them “Type 56-1Assault Rifle,” and that is how I will refer to it to avoid confusion.) The furniture of both was always rather poor-quality wood; a version referred to in the West as “Type 56-2 Assault Rifle” is the Chinese equivalent of the AKMS, with a folding metal stock what folds sideways instead of under the weapon as does the folding stock of the AKMS. (Some Type 56-2s built in the late-1970s have a folding stock similar to that of the Belgian FNC, however.)

A short version was also designed in the late 1980s, known as the Type 56C; what the West referred to as the “Type 56C Assault Rifle” used a plastic stock and fore-end and a wooden pistol grip, while what the West referred to as the “Type 56C-1 Assault Rifle” has the same folding stock as the Type 56-2 Assault Rifle (though not the FNC-type folding stock of later Type 56-2s). Both have a much shorter 13.65-inch barrel (as opposed to the 16.3-inch barrel of a standard Type 56), tipped with a small muzzle brake. A version designed only for semiautomatic fire and normally sold only on the export market (most commonly in the US) are sometimes called the “Type 56-5.” And just to add even more to the confusion, the entire series (particularly those built after 1973) are called by some the “M-22,” due to some of the markings on the weapons.

Type 56-1 Assault rifle

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the Chinese also began flooding the world civilian market with a semiautomatic version of the Type 56-2 Assault Rifle, called the Type 56S by the Chinese (and about a zillion different names in the different countries to which it is exported); this version is available with the folding stock of the Type 56-2 or the wood stock of the Type 56, and can also be found with a plethora of Chinese-made and aftermarket modifications. The Type 56S Assault Rifle has, especially in the US, become the scourge of police forces, since it is cheap, easily found both on the black market and legally, and is easily converted to automatic fire.

Though quality got better over the years, the Type 56 was always worse than the AK-47/AKM. In particular, chroming of the bore and chamber was nonexistent in early manufacture and often poorly-applied later on, leading to rapid corrosion. The gas system was also often poorly-built, leading to quick fouling. Albanian examples are usually better than Chinese ones, though those made in Vietnam during the Vietnam War were even worse than Chinese-built ones. The only other license-producer is Bangladesh.

Type 56-2 Assault Rifle

The Type 56 Assault Rifle series is no longer used by regular Chinese forces, though they have been kept for reserve forces. In addition, they are some of the most commonly found variants of the AK series in the world, and can be found in almost any country. Albania still manufactures the Type 56, though they call theirs the AK-47. The Type 56C saw almost no use by Chinese troops, because it was designed in the late 1980s largely for export. None of these rifles should be confused with the Chinese version of the SKS, which the Chinese called the Type 56 Carbine.