It is essentially the semi-automatic carbine version of the AK-47 that can take either magazines or stripper clips, similar to a Mosin-Nagant. The SKS is known for being cheap and reliable. At one point, there was a buying rush for the SKS in the United States with many cheap Russian and Chinese SKS rifles flowing rapidly onto the market for prices of around $200. The Norinco-made Chinese copy of the Russian SKS was seen in Tremors franchise used by Burt Gummer.