Type 68 Rifle

About the Type 68 Rifle

The Type 68 is a Chinese gas-operated, select-fire rifle chambered in 7.62x39mm. An indigenous design developed after the Sino-Soviet split, it merged the rotating bolt of the AK-47 with a fixed-magazine layout and integral folding bayonet reminiscent of the SKS, originally cleared for service as the Type 63 before formal adoption in 1968. It served as a general-issue infantry rifle for the People's Liberation Army and was widely exported throughout Asia.

Created in the wake of the Sino-Soviet split, the Type 63/68 was China's attempt to field a fully domestic infantry rifle combining the SKS handling familiar to its troops with the firepower of the AK-47's rotating-bolt action.

Type 68 Rifle specifications

Frequently labeled 'Type 68' after its 1968 operational adoption, though the design was accepted as the Type 63 in 1963. Standard feed was a 20-round detachable box magazine, but the action could accept 30-round AK-pattern magazines with modification.