Talk:Type 56 assault rifle

Future work
Hi, I just wanted to say...thank you to all who have contributed to this article on one of my favorite Kalashnikov variants. I have done much work on it this year, but the additional contributions made by others (including the new photographs) have been invaluable.

Anyway, I would also like to discuss additional information to be added...for instance, does anyone think we should compile a list of countries known to use the Type 56 besides China? I would also suggest adding information the civilian variants of the Type-56 (in the States, we call them the Type 56S and Type 56-1S, respectively, "S" for semi-auto. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.134.227.49 (talk) 23:44, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Picture discrepancy
i've just spotted a discrepancy. the picture caption for the 56-1 and the 56-2 does not match the text. Which rifle designation is the one with the sideways folding stock and which is the downwards folding one? Hellfire83 19:05, 30 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I believe the rifle with the metal stock is sideways-folding. The middle rifle has the downward folding stock. I will try to find a clearer picture.--Kevin Hanse  (talk) 17:25, 31 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I found that the middle rifle is a Type 56 as well as the right rifle. I have added a link to a website with a picture of a Type 56-1.


 * Actually, the middle rifle is a Type-84, which is essentially a Type-56 re-chambered for the U.S. 5.56x45-mm round. Note that it has a magazine with less of a curve, similar to the AK-74.

I heard the chinese copy was not has reliable as the original AK-47


 * Well, in the 1980s both Norinco and Poly Tech (China's state armaments plants) started exporting semi-auto AKs to the U.S. and that gave us a good look at the difference in quality. My experience (and common agreement) is that Poly Techs have better fit and finish than the Norincos and thus tend to be closer in reliability to the Russian AKs.  The Norincos are still good guns for the money, however; they just aren't quite as sturdy.


 * Certainly, quality hasn't hurt sales, because it's well-known that Chinese AKs are by far the most mass-produced and widely distributed AKs on the planet, moreso than even the Russian guns. Also note that the Chinese AKs are the variant favored by the U.S. Navy Seals and other elite units for deep cover operations.

User:Lahiru insists on inserting an inapplicable data table to this article. A Type 56 has very different firing characteristics than a Type 81, of which many firearms experts such as Max Popenker and Anthony Williams can attest. If the user continues to insist on adding irrelevant data it will be removed. --Aldi90

MAK-90?
MAK-90 redirects here, but there is no mention of the variant. 66.191.19.217 (talk) 01:25, 17 August 2008 (UTC) MAC-90 redirects to the AK-47 page with also no mention of it. 67.176.160.47 (talk) 05:40, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Finland
Finland uses this rifle. It should be added to the list 66.191.19.217 (talk) 16:18, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

India
Current and past political and territorial conflicts make it it highly unlikely that India had acquired type-56 assault rifles. Any rifles in the Indian armed forces inventory may be captured samples from the 1962 border war ,1965 and 1971 Indo-pak wars or they are samples retrieved form terrorist caches or weapons surrendered by terrorists. as such i have taken the liberty to subtract India form the list of operators if I have erred i sincerely apologize for the mistake. But i am pretty certain that if the arm is used it has been remarked and reissued to troops by the logistics department of the armed forces. As such most ak-47's and derivatives in India are either the ordnance factory board made ak-7's or they are of Bulgarian or east German origin. As a side not i would like to add that small numbers of ak type derivatives were obtained form most Warsaw pact nations during the cold war and after the cold war the surplus stock of some countries were bought up those stocks who's caliber had not been changer to either 5.45x39mm or 5.56x45mm.

QBZ-56C
I wrote an article on the QBZ-56C and after being deleted I would like to discuss what constitutes what. Nukes4Tots states that is a 'minor variant' when weapons even though there are nore than half a dozen Zastava articles around all of which are EXTREMELY minor in difference, the MISR and other minor AK variants that have even less differences from the original AK as the QBZ-56C has a number of improvements over the original AKM based design. On top of that if we look at another weapon, the M-16. We have an M-16 article AND and an M4 article, which is its carbine variant of the M4. On top of that we even have an article on the Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine! Which is exactly the same as the regular M4A1 but fires only in semi-automatic. I believe this matter should be discussed. Semi-Lobster (talk) 03:08, 3 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Additionally the 'Variants' in the Wikiprojects Firearms, variants of a firearm, if the weapons development history is signifcantly different from the parent weapon then it gets an article. The development history of the QBZ-56C was significantly different than the conventional AK clone and a great deal of research was invested into it, especially considering that the QBZ-56C only started to go into development 30 years after China introduced the Type 56. Semi-Lobster (talk) 09:49, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Who produced it from 1973-1980?
"It was produced by state factory 66 from 1956-73, then by Norinco from 1973 onwards." but Norinco states that that corporation was founded in 1980, 7 years later. Who produced the rifle in the interim? 86.26.9.106 (talk) 23:49, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Really?
"In the United States and the United Kingdom, the Type 56 and its' derivatives are frequently used in the filming of movies and television shows, standing in for Russian-made AK-47's due to the rarity of genuine AK-47 rifles"

Umm, I dont think the Russian AK-47 is rare by any means. Can someone find a source for that? I'd say its just cheaper to use type 56s —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.239.157.147 (talk) 20:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Albanian Use & Manufacture
Albania also uses the Type 56 and manufactures copies that include a Designated Marksman Rifle set to fire semi-auto only and another version with a rifle grenade launcher, I tried to find pictures of the Albanian copy, but they are hard for me to find, and we should also put Albania as a user of the Type 56. Right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by UncleMikhail (talk • contribs) 20:16, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I found and added a source for that information. Your previous addition was reverted because you need to cite a reliable source when you make additions to the user lists. ROG5728 (talk) 20:50, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Croatian Use
I believe Croatia also used the Type 56, in addition they also used East German Kalashnikov variants, I don't know if we should also list Croatia as a user of the Type 56 and if we should write an article for the East German AK variants? The Russian Wikipedia page has that article, but the English one doesn't. UncleMikhail (talk) 11:10, 24 April 2010 (UTC)
 * If you can cite a reliable source that states Croatia uses the weapon, it can be added to the article. ROG5728 (talk) 23:44, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Bosnia as user
I also read that Bosnia & Herzegovina used the Type 56. They were given to Bosnia by Iran during the Bosnian War. Should we also include Bosnia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by UncleMikhail (talk • contribs) 20:07, 20 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Again, you need to cite a reliable source that says they have the weapon. ROG5728 (talk) 21:27, 20 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I cited a source for Bosnia-Herzegovina, it was the only good source I could find. I hope it meets standards. —Preceding unsigned comment added by UncleMikhail (talk • contribs) 01:00, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 April 2017
Its Harpreet Sandhu, i usually translate defense related equipment in Punjabi Language ... i have started the translation of A.K 56 last week but today it has locked kindly unlocked this page just for translation purpose Harpreet Sandhu (talk) 08:52, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: this is not the right page to request additional user rights. You may reopen this request with the specific changes to be made and someone will add them for you, or if you have an account, you can wait until you are autoconfirmed and edit the page yourself. You need to make 5 more helpful edits in order to be automatically granted WP:Autoconfirmed access in order to edit this page. —   IVORK  Discuss 11:26, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

License status
The following statement is removed from the article as the source does not mention Type 56. -Mys_721tx (talk) 22:19, 8 July 2017 (UTC) [Type 56 is an] unlicensed

Type 88 AK74
Curious as to if anyone has considered adding the Norinco Type 88-1 as a variant to this page, they're a limited production/prototype, but do appear in some places in Europe and I believe there are a few semi auto variants in the US. Ajacklee4 (talk) 03:40, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

56S-I Variant
There is no mention of the 56S-I variant. Should it be added or is it considered a subvariant of the 56S or 56-I? — Preceding unsigned comment added by NuclearpotatoX (talk • contribs) 00:13, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

AK-47 “Variant” vs “Derivative”
This article opens with identifying the Type 56 as a “variant” of the AK-47. I would argue that it should be considered a “derivative.”

“Variant” — in my opinion — implies that it is an “official” model of the Kalashnikov line; this is obviously not the case. Further, “variant” implies that *something* about the design was changed; However, the article itself later states that the Type 56 was (originally) a “direct copy” of the “final iteration of the AK-47.” This is not a variation. This is a weapon that was derived from another.

Anyways, thoughts? MWFwiki (talk) 05:22, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

Type 56-3/-4/-5 ?
Any source about them?

--Hello from China K0u74kuSuwako (talk) 15:20, 16 June 2024 (UTC)