I noticed that when Pres Obama passed in review that the parade guard were all holding SKS rifles. I found that interesting. Nothing wrong with the guns as I own one too. But It was something of a surprise though. I would have figured that they would have upgraded by now to something else though. Of course I think that the SKS rifles look better than AK47's for parades though.
As far as a parade rifle goes for old Warsaw pact stuff they are a fairly natural choice. The AK with magazine and bayonet is a clumsy oaf for drill, and the old Mosin Nagants look like a throwback to the Napoleonic era with the bayonet mounted.
Speaking of odd ducks for drill, I found an old CF drill manual years ago, had the parade drills for the Sterling SMG, rather unorthodox piece to work with by the look of it.
- Darren 1 PL West Nova Scotia Regiment 2000-2003
1 BN Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 2003-2013
I having been in the USMC and I am still in awe at the USMC Silent Drill Team doing their displays. They use M1's for it of course. I was stationed at Quantico for a while and loved going to Wash DC to watch the drill shows at the USMC Headquarters.
Last edited by earlwb; 09-07-2016 at 08:34 AM.
Reason: typo correction
They've been as perpetual as the M1 for parade use.
The US Army Drill Team and the JROTC both still use the M1903 and variants for Drill/Parade. The SKS is more advanced than that. It's really all about what looks sharp when doing the manual of arms - and the SKS can play that role as well as most guns.
Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!