Sks

[CanAm500]

Anyone ever hunt with a SKS (7.62x39)?

If so, is it a good hunting rifle? How hard is it to find the rounds?

[lip_ripper00]

quanity not quality. I would pick one up for plinking but not for hunting. check www.leverarms.com (http://www.leverarms.com) 1100 rounds 169.00:biggrin:

[CanAm500]

I was looking at them at the Duncan gun show today, like holy crap....talk about cheap made. But hey for $200 it should be a good plinking gun.

[brotherjack]

They are by no means a 'quality' firearm, but my little brother had one, and it served him very well as a plinking rifle (he wasn't a hunter). He went through a couple thousand rounds, and never had much trouble out of it.

Though that said, for hunting purposes, I'd say the 7.62x39 is a bit on the underpowered side for anything bigger than deer; coming in with less thump than a 30-30, or even a .243 in similar bullet weight. If you're careful about your shot selection on moose/elk, I think it could be done pretty efficiently; I'd just rather have a bigger cannon to do it with, if it was me.

:)

[CanAm500]

Yeah, thats true jack.

[rollingrock]

I've hunted with an SKS and would say it's an excellent semi-auto for anything within 100 to 150 yards. I've been practicing it with open sight at 200 metres and able to 10 holes on the target with a bear or deer size out of 10 shots with a good group size. The bullet might sound a little underpowered, but the actual effect of this bullet (123gr) on a deer or a fair-sized bear is better than anyone of you imagine. Believe me :)

[lakelander]

For 200 bucks you can't go wrong. I replaced the crappy stock with a synthetic one and it looks pretty nice. Put a scope on it and you can get good groups out to 200 yds.

I've fired thousands of rounds in mine without any problems. The ammo is very cheap but don't buy the corrosive kind.

[CanAm500]

The ammo is very cheap but don't buy the corrosive kind.

That is the only kind I am finding on the net at the moment.

[todbartell]

under 100 yards it can be used on normal sized deer with soft point 125 grain loads

for cheap plinking, it is hard to beat with the milsurp FMJ bullets

[Gateholio]

A few years back I picked up 5 SKS rifles for the pricely sum of $70 each at Lever Arms.

One I decided to do a torture test on..

I shot it (plinking and general babababababbabam!!!) every few days.

I shot almost a whole crate (1500 rounds) without cleaning it (maybe a wipe down and swabbed out the bore once) but no take down.

While the gun wasnt' terribly accurate to begin with (3" at 100 yards from a bench) it wasn't INNACCURATE, either. More accurate than the Mini 14 that I had at the time,for sure. And the Mini was closer to $600, IRC.

Anyways, after torturing it, it still had similar accuracy (3-4 inch groups at 100) It still went bang whenever the trigger was fired.

I did try handloading for one and worked up some loads for it, that were prety accurate at 100 yards. (It was scoped) and found that I could easily keep 10 rounds in a kill zone sized area from the bench, at 200 yards. I doubt I woudl want to shoot it at 200 yards at game, ina hunting situation, though.

With soft point ammo, out to 150, I'd shoot it at a deer. Not my pick of hunting rifles, but a hell of alot of fun to plink with, and it's actually a great gun to start people into shooting with.

Low recoil, cheap ammo, accurate enough to blow up beer cans at 50 yards, milk jugs at 100, and also helps new shooters get the BANGBANGBANBANG experience out of thier system!:lol: :cool:

[CanAm500]

Sounds like fun gatehouse!!

[rollingrock]

In China and Russia where there's no hunting sp ammo available, hunters sometimes would shoot through a mid-sized tree to get a deer which is standing right behind the tree at certain range using mil surplus fmj ammo, if they can't get a clear shot. SKS is like a dream gun to them. Hard to believe, eh?

[jamiedouglas]

I will be using my SKS with scope for hunting this year, we are reloading are own sp ammo. .skype_tb_injection { font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: bold; font-weight: bold; border: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align:top; text-indent:0; color:#333333; cursor:hand; background:transparent none no-repeat scroll 0px 0px; height:15px; white-space: nowrap; }.skype_tb_injectionIn { font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: bold; font-weight: bold; border: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align:middle; text-indent:0; color:#333333; cursor:hand; background:transparent url(F:\Program Files\Skype\toolbars\Skype for Internet Explorer\inactive_m.compat.gif) repeat-x scroll 0px 0px; height:15px; position: relative; top: -1px;}.skype_tb_injectionInAct { font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: bold; font-weight: bold; border: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align:middle; text-indent:0; border-width:normal; color:#333333; cursor:hand; background:transparent url(F:\Program Files\Skype\toolbars\Skype for Internet Explorer\active_m.compat.gif) repeat-x scroll 0px 0px; height:15px; position: relative; top: -1px;}.skype_tb_table { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; border: 0; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top; background-position: 0 0; text-indent:0; border-width:thin; cursor:hand; background-repeat:no-repeat;}.skype_tb_tr { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; background:background-image; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top; border: 0; line-height: normal; vertical-align: middle; border-width:thin; text-indent:0; cursor:hand; background-repeat:no-repeat;}.skype_tb_td { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: bold; font-weight: bold; background:background-image; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: middle; border: 0; background-position: 0 0; text-indent:0; border-width:thin; color:black; cursor:hand; background-repeat:no-repeat;}.skype_tb_link,.skype_tb_link:link,.skype_ tb_link:visited { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; color: #003366; text-decoration: underline; background:background-image;}.skype_tb_link:hover,.skype_tb_link:active { color: #FF0000; background:background-image; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px;}.skype_tb_img { border:0; margin:0px 0px 0px 0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 0px; line-height:normal; position:relative; top:2px; }.skype_tb_hidimg { visibility:hidden;position:absolute;left:0px;top:0 px; }var skype_curid=0,skype_active=false,skype_showseed=0, skype_ctm=0;function HideSkype() { if(!skype_active) HideSkypeFull(); else setTimeout("HideSkype()",2000);}function HideSkype2() { skype_showseed=0; if(!skype_active) HideSkypeFull(); else { skype_active=false; setTimeout("HideSkype()",6000); }}function HideSkypeFull() { skype_active=false; document.all.skype_menu.style.visibility="hidden"; document.all.skype_tb_hideframe.style.display = "none";}function CheckSkype() { skype_active=true;}function ShowSkype(obj,id,sadd,skypeout,name,title,stat) { skype_active=true; if(document.all.skype_menu.style.visibility!="hidden" && skype_curid==id) return; skype_showseed=Math.random(); clearTimeout(skype_ctm); var brd=obj.getBoundingClientRect(); var pcx=brd.left-2, pcy=brd.top-22; skype_ctm= setTimeout('DoShowSkype('+skype_showseed+','+id+', '+sadd+','+skypeout+',"'+name+'","'+title+'",'+stat+','+event.clientY+','+event.clientX+','+pc x+','+pcy+')',200);}function DoShowSkype(seed,id,sadd,skypeout,name,title,stat, cY,cX,pcx,pcy) { if(seed!=skype_showseed) return; skype_showseed=0; skype_curid=id; var menu=document.all.skype_menu; menu.style.visibility="visible"; var fname=prepareText("Call %s","Call",name); var oname=document.all.name_text; setSkypeTextWithCut(oname,fname,170); bNew=(navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 6.")>=0 && document.compatMode!="BackCompat"); var docelem = (bNew) ? 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[FullDraw]

I had a sks with the ak mag style one of the best guns I have every owned. only paid 90 bucks for it.Wish I never sold it either. I shot many cases of ammo threw it and it never gave one bit of trouble, and I never had one dud with the cheap ammo either. I bought a tool to adjust the front sight at a gun show, was worth every penny! That gun would out shoot any mini 14 or 30 by far only thing I ever did was clean and oil the gun, The trick is to keep the gas tube clean and it will always fire well. They are fit so sloppy that they will never jam up! I never hunted with it but i guess it would be a good varmit gun or a deer rifle but i wouldn't use the cheap ammo for hunting. Anybody have one they want to sell?;)

FullDraw

[geno]

Ive never used my SKS for hunting but as far as hunting ammo goes Wincester make a 123gr super-X sofe point, you could also make your own using the hornady 123gr spire point both are good, but i have found that using good quality ammunition in an SKS can cause it to slam fire. which i find pretty groovy.
the ammo isn't as cheap as the surplus stuff but its still not to bad..
alot cheaper then the ammo for my 30-06.

[dirtyharry]

I bought my sks from lever arms years ago for $75. Thats about what they are worth. They are great for plinking since the surplus ammo is dirt cheap. However the comunist ammo has a steel core instead of lead. You cannot use it on some ranges (indoor) and it can't be used for hunting since it's FMJ. The round has a very small charge and a heavy bullet. It bleeds off energy fast. It is comparable to a 30/30 I guess. $200 is kinda crazy to me. I bought an M-1 Garand for $200 a couple of years ago.
I would save your money and put it towards a good multipurpose gun. Something in .308 is good cause surplus ammo is cheap but their is good comercial ammo available. Same for 30/06. Check out P+D Enterprises online they are a good company to deal with. Same with Milarm, both carry a lot of hard to find stuff. Great deals too.

Rob

[jharhod]

can someone pm me if they have put a russian sks through a deadly torture test like dirt and water i have one and im abit hesatant to try this but if anyone has id really like to know the outcome. also if anyone knows where i can get high cap. magazines for a sks pinned to five rounds let me know 2 this has been an ongoing battle for me

[FullDraw]

I have had a few of them and not once did I ever have on fail from being dirty or wet or do to any mis-use such as lack of cleaning and they still function when they are over heated. For a junk gun i'm impressed with the SKS. As for bigger mag's pin'd at 5 good luck if any one has one they won't get ride of it.

[leadpillproductions]

they would be fun to take the range and plink

[Vanguard]

If you want good quality SKS's, get a Russian SKS. Super accurate, good quality medal, nice dark wood, blade bayonet. Its much better than the Norinco, and it was accurate straight out of the box. It even sound different. I was able to hit a 24x24 target out to 300 yards, you wont even get a norinco to touch it, especially if your not gonna raise the barrel, there was no need for the Russian, just put the sight right on the target, its quite a flat shooter, almost as good as my M14.

[338 whisper]

I had one a while back bought it for $90 and sold for $350 with a 30 round mag and 150 rounds of soft point ammo I had thre guys just bout fighting over witch one was going to buy it. Best investment I made.