Sergei Simonov (firearms designer)

Sergei Simonov
Born
Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov

(1894-10-04)4 October 1894
Died6 May 1986(1986-05-06) (aged 91)
NationalityRussian
OccupationFirearms designer
Known forDesigner of the AVS-36, PTRS-41, and SKS
AwardsHero of Socialist Labour

Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov (Russian: Серге́й Гаври́лович Си́монов; 4 October 1894 – 6 May 1986) was a Soviet weapons designer who is considered one of the fathers of the modern assault rifle.

Mostly known for the Samozaryadnyi karabin Simonova (Russian: Самозарядный карабин Симонова), 1945 (self-loading carbine of Simonov, 1945), or SKS carbine, he also pioneered the assault and semi-automatic rifle field in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly under the supervision of both Vladimir Fyodorov and Fedor Tokarev. His early work preceded both the M1 Garand (of 1933), and the later M1 Carbine, AK-47, and M16 series.