(Many have seen this post before, I used to have it up on sksboards but I've added new info I've been able to track down.)
The Egyptian Rasheed (also spelled Rashid) isn't too common these days as everything I've read states there were only ~8k made and maybe ~2k imported in the US, but I was able to trade a very nice '54 Russian Tula SKS45 for one back in October, 2013 (you should be able to click on any of these photos to see them in the original higher resolution):
It's basically a little carbine version of an Egyptian Hakim (which I’ve read was itself built on Ag m/42 Ljungman machinery sold to Egypt by Sweden in 1965) in 7.62x39 whose design also drew heavily from our favorite SKS. My Rasheed has:
- a 10 round removable magazine, yet also has stripper clip slots on the receiver cover to load from the top
- a direct impingement gas system with easily accessible adjustable valve and a stainless steel gas tube
- a buttplate with an SKS/AK style cleaning kit hole in it similar to the SKS. This is not the original buttplate, the originals are solid w/o the trapdoor and S/N'd to match the rifle
- a permanent, undermounted, swivel-style bayonet with a ring that locks over the muzzle of the gun when deployed similar to the SKS
- an upper handguard with three vented slots on each side, similar to the SKS
- a tipping bolt system to lock the bolt in battery, similar to the SKS
- a unique charging handle to cycle the action and load the first cartridge into the chamber, similar to the SKS, but it is not a solid part of the bolt carrier
- a bolt hold open feature that activates after the last round in the magazine is fired
Here is the Rahseed compared to a 2 million series Chinese Type 56 Sino-banian. As you can see, they are remarkably similar:
When I took it apart, the first thing I noticed is how insubstantial the bolt seemed compared to the SKS. Where the SKS has a solid square bolt with a large extractor, the Rasheed bolt is a small cylinder with a relatively petite extractor. The machining on the bolt is very rough, the quality of this Egyptian made gun is not as high as Russian I traded it for or even the Sino-Banian I pulled out to compare it to. The firing pin is a two-piece design with a spring loaded pin vs. the single free floating design found on the SKS. It's very interesting to see the solution that Simonov came up with compared to the solution Eklund did:
The bolt, bolt carrier, receiver cover, and return springs are intricate and all fit together in a complicated and somewhat convoluted way. It is actually somewhat tricky to get everything all lined up and back together. I suspect that without the needle-tipped guide pin in the receiver cover to keep the return springs aligned properly, it would be darn near impossible:
The Rasheed bayonet on this one is almost an exact copy off the SKS. The blade itself may very well be off an SKS since it seems the buttplate is off an SKS as well. The latching collar, however, is clearly different as the loop that fits over the muzzle thread protector at the tip of the barrel is clearly larger than one of a standard SKS. Additionally, the front sight block (FSB) is clearly different from an SKS FSB, and not just a modified SKS replacement. There is no cleaning rod holder on the Rasheed FSB, though the swivel mount with the locking ears does have a cleaning rod clearance hole in it just like the SKS. The front sight windage adjustment is controlled by a screw that moves the entire sight within a dovetail. Elevation is controlled by a threaded post which appears to be identical to that used in an SKS or AK.
The rear sight and stripper clip guide slots both perform the same functions as they do on an SKS, but they are clearly different designs carried over from the Ljungman/Hakim. It's interesting to note that the stripper clip slots are stationary on the receiver cover instead of moving along with the bolt carrier like they do on the SKS.
The bolt charging handle is a unique design that has no relation to either the SKS or the Hakim/Ljungman. It is a simple metal bar that rides in a rectangular slot in the receiver. The bar can pull on the bolt carrier to retract it, but it cannot be pushed forward to 'help' the rifle load a round like can be done with the SKS. Even so, I think it's a vast improvement over the charging system found on the Hakim and Ljungman where the receiver cover has to be pushed forward, locked into the bolt carrier, and the whole thing then pulled back again to charge the first round.
The safety is located at the rear of the receiver and is operated by the thumb. From what I've been able to see, it physically prevents the trigger from being pulled, but like the SKS does not physically constrain the hammer back. As a result, users need to be very careful about overreliance on this safety with a live round in the chamber. The safety block keeps the receiver cover in place and is the first thing removed when breaking down the rifle for cleaning.
One thing to check into if you are thinking about a Rasheed is to check for proper operation of the disconnector, trigger bar extension, and sear. Broken trigger bar extensions in these rifles are apparently very common, likely due to substandard steel combined with a poor job by the Egyptians in transitioning the original Hakim design over to the smaller rifle. The easiest way to tell is to pull the charging handle back on the
empty, unloaded rifle, and with the trigger pulled, ease the bolt back into battery. Release and then re-pull the trigger to dry fire the gun and if you hear the telltale 'click', everything is working as it should. If the trigger is slack, the hammer has followed the bolt home, and there is something wrong inside the rifle, most likely a broken trigger bar extension.
When you remove the receiver cover, bolt carrier, and bolt, you should be able to look into the action to check for the small 'foot' of the trigger bar as shown here:
If the foot is missing, you have a problem
(note that this picture is taken from the opposite side of the trigger assembly than the first one, the foot is missing from the side farthest from you):
There is a guy on gunboards that sells Hakim and Rasheed parts and indeed some of them are interchangeable between the two as well as with a Ljungman Ag m/42. Unfortunately, the Rasheed trigger bar is not interchangeable with either of its brethren.
He has a stash of parts that he must have gotten a long while ago and is selling off piece by piece. His trigger bars aren't cheap, unfortunately, but replacing it sure does beat having a gun where the hammer can follow the bolt into battery!! I took a photo of the broken part alongside its replacement:
The components of the trigger group are all held in place by pins with peened ends. Getting them out can be tricky w/o the right tools. A solid punch set, a stable base and lots of patience are needed to get to this point. Note that I had to take the trigger and trigger return spring out to get the trigger bar extension out. It was actually a relatively tight fit in there and reassembly took a little time while I figured out exactly how to orient things to enable them to slide back into place.
Special thanks to Blicero who dumped this broken,
ugly, junky POS rifle on me! It's actually grown to be one of my favorites and has found a very good home in my collection!
As a final note, I'll say that the Egyptians weren't the only ones to produce the Rasheed. The Iraqis produced the "
Baghdad". Look familiar? (images courtesy of Shannon “smzeigler“ @ gunboards)
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