[bigsplash1]

I am thinking of getting one of these rifles due to its inexpensive cost and inexpensive ammo (7.62x39). Mostly I just want this gun for plinking and some small game, but I may take it white tail deer hunting. How would this rifle perform on the deer?

[yesterdaysyouth]

the 7.62x39 is constantly compared to the 30-30, and we all know the 30-30 has no problem with whitetail... so i don't see the problem...

wolf makes a 154 gr. sp that's cheap and works well in the sks...

[Delmar]

One of my kids bagged a deer about a hundred yards away with an SKS loaded with 125 grain soft points. That was several years ago and as I understand it, the factory loads are a bit better for the stopping power. I sold that SKS a while back-not a bad rifle but my 30-30 was more accurate. The SKS was printing 4 inch groups at 100 yards with open sights. I tried scoping it and got the same result. As it was a beater rifle, I wasn't going to sink a whole lot into it, and took the scope off.

[MeekandMild]

The guy who introduced me to the NRA a couple of decades ago had an SKS which he used to hunt swamp whitetails. He was very proud of it, really liked its ability to put in four shots in the time it would take a bolt action to put in two. He never shot more than about 125 yards with it.

[Art Eatman]

If you develop the skill to regularly hit beer cans, offhand, out to around 100 yards, you can hit the kill-spot on a deer. If you limit your usual distance to roughly 100 yards, you'll be reasonably effective.

A 150-ish-grain bullet at 2,200 or 2,300 ft/sec isn't the world's greatest for a quick clean kill when you start trying to reach out beyond its effective distance. If the bullet has slowed down to where it doesn't expand, you have the great potential for a wounded and lost deer...

Art