Hunting SKS's

mshootnit said:

This thread For those of you who have hunted with the SKS or are wanting to do so. Please share your setups, and pics too if you have em! What variants of SKS work best, and ammo

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I haven't hunted in many, many years. However, my Chinese Norinco with screw in barrel did go hunting with me a few times in the early 1990s. I used some steel case soft point ammo that was not uncommon at the time. Back then with my young eyes and standard SKS sights, I never really felt confident shooting anything at 100 yards. My SKS sorely needed a better trigger.

Here it is as it was used back in the day, except I had a cheap painted 5 round magazine in use at the time.

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if that's all you got...otherwise a good bolt action is the way to go.

I understand that if pressed into the role, heavy grain soft points are preferred. I have a box laying around somewhere. It is nowhere near as cheap as bulk steel case.



For true hunting, I would probably use something else. But if you are talking about pest/hog control, that's a whole different conversation that favors the gun much more IMO.

seems to me the last time i took out my old sks for a hunt i used federal fusion ammo. dropped the little two point blacktail like a rock, but i was less than 60 yards from him. front quartering shot with the factory sight on my old norinco, with an orange plastic front sight post. i even was using the standard sks sling that day. one shot equals one deer to take home. I really miss that rifle...

..otherwise a good bolt action is the way to go.

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I wasn't aware there were any bolt-action variants of the SKS rifle.

Now, I'd love to give hunting with my recently-acquired Chinese a try. Maybe I'll get to someday soon. I'll probably go hog first; they're easier down here to get close to, and I'd be sticking with iron sights.

Heck, I'd like to try it with my 91/30, too.

My brother has taken quite a few deer with his SKS . Hunted thick woods behind his house. All at close range, 30-50 yards. Most dropped fairly quickly. Not sure what brand loads, but know they were 123 gr SP. I plan to use my old SKS on deer one of these days. Will dig it out and snap a pic or 2 later!

Be well

drilled a hole in the bottom of the magazine. screwed a small block of wood in so it would only take 5 rounds. 123gr sp. still not the rifle that i would take often but its there.

Thought about deer hunting ala SKS about 10 years ago. For the thick woods in some of the rifle zones with no need for long distance shots or big scopes. But then I got a Marlin 30-30 which has a lot of ballistic similarities to the 7.62x39. But had still worked up a 7.62x39 handload with a Hornady 123 gr. SP and was thinking about how to make a magazine block to limit it to 5 rds.. Started to get real attached to the Marlin 30-30 and never got back to the SKS hunting rifle project although now that I'm retired it could be considered. Other than the wooden block method are there any other ways to limit an SKS to a 5 round capacity to make it legal for hunting?

22250Rem said:

Other than the wooden block method are there any other ways to limit an SKS to a 5 round capacity to make it legal for hunting?

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I have a flush mount 5-round SKS magazine made aftermarket in China. I got my 5-round mag in the early '90s. You may have to do some filing to make it fit in place of the original 10-round magazine.

Below is what it looks like. I'm not sure how common they are these days.
http://www.armslist.com/posts/16871...5-round-fixed-magazine--fits-russian--chinese

Depending on the rifle, an SKS may or may not be accurate enough for hunting. You have to shoot the thing with commercial hunting ammo first.
"...how to make a magazine block..." Depends on local rules. If they say it doesn't have to be permanent your simple block of wood will do. Same idea as a shotgun. Up here, a 10 round cf rifle mag will turn you into a raging homicidal maniac so a permanent solution is required. A simple pop rivet in the right spot on the back of the mag does it.
There's really no comparing the .30-30 to a 7.62 x 39. The .30-30 typically uses a 170 or 150 grain bullet. Not the 123 or 125 of the 7.62 x 39.

There used to be quite alot of people around here that hunted with them back when they were $150 or whatever. My father in law had one he bought off a truck for like $80 or something. He and a buddy bought a sardine can of surplus ammo, pulled all the bullets with an impact puller, dumped the powder back in and seated new soft point bullets in them. He said it shot quite well with the side mounted scope and I know he shot one deer with it. He gave it to his brother who hunted deer with it for many years with success before putting it away in favor of a 243.

I often wonder where they all went because they sold huge numbers of them out of just about every gun shop around here but I rarely every see them around anymore. I suppose they are all leaned up everyone's closets.

Sunray said:

Depending on the rifle, an SKS may or may not be accurate enough for hunting. You have to shoot the thing with commercial hunting ammo first.
"...how to make a magazine block..." Depends on local rules. If they say it doesn't have to be permanent your simple block of wood will do. Same idea as a shotgun. Up here, a 10 round cf rifle mag will turn you into a raging homicidal maniac so a permanent solution is required. A simple pop rivet in the right spot on the back of the mag does it.
There's really no comparing the .30-30 to a 7.62 x 39. The .30-30 typically uses a 170 or 150 grain bullet. Not the 123 or 125 of the 7.62 x 39.

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People have for many years hunted deer with smooth bore shotguns and slugs and continue to do so. My father in law shot his first three deer with a single shot .410 shotgun with slugs which is considerably less powerful and less accurate. Same goes for a muzzle loader with round balls. It would not be my first choice but I don't see how an SKS is a worse choice than many popular alternatives. As with any other weapon you need to know your gun and its range limitations.

I've always loaned mine out for first time hunters. Yugo model with Tech Sights and Wolf Military Classic HPs.

It works well for under 100 yards and was there to witness it drop a doe at 10 yards... but they are crude and inaccurate when compared to a nice bolt action with a scope.

HB

22250Rem said:

Other than the wooden block method are there any other ways to limit an SKS to a 5 round capacity to make it legal for hunting?

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I remember reading somewhere on a message board about someone using a certain combination of Lego™ blocks down in the fixed mag in order to achieve this.

I shot a few deer with an SKS and also a couple AK's. I like a lever 30-30 a lot better. They don't kick much at all making them ok for girls. Kinda long and heavy for some kids. They are pretty short range due to lack of accuracy and power, but they will do the job with soft points and good shot placement. They should be good on hogs too.

someguy2800 said:

As with any other weapon you need to know your gun and its range limitations

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..... I agree; and did some ballistic homework 10 years ago when I was considering using an SKS on deer. The area I was planning on hunting would only offer a 100 yd. shot at the most. The normal range is no more than 50 yards and sometimes a lot less. Worked up a handload with RL-7 powder and a 123 gr. Hornady SP which chrono'd at about 2330 fps ( a bit slower than the steel case FMJ ammo but it hit what I aimed at) . Ran all the data through the old Load From A Disc program on the computer and based on my muzzle velocity with that bullet here's what type of energy was predicted: 50 yards = 1280 ft. lbs. 75 yards= 1188 ft. lbs. 100 yards= 1101 ft. lbs. Energy doesn't fall below 1000 ft. lbs. until almost 150 yards. At 150 it's down to 945 ft. lbs. but I'd never get a shot at that range where I was planning to use it. After following this thread I was almost tempted to take up that project again but now I'm so fond of 30-30 lever guns for that type of hunting environment that I think I'll stick to the 30-30 for a woods rifle during deer season. But it's always nice to have an idea of what that SKS could do and what ranges it could do it at. Plus; as an ethical hunter the goal should be to harvest an animal cleanly and knowing your limitations as to range and power should factor into it.

I use my cheap, cheap.. did i mention cheap? SKS with a cracked stock and its 100% non modified to take a deer every year...

Typically I use surplus lead tipped rounds from TULammo (7.62x39mm), way more than enough to drop a deer within 100 yards.
- Exit wound is like a pop can sized hole, just aim for the shoulder.

tubeshooter said:

I remember reading somewhere on a message board about someone using a certain combination of Lego™ blocks down in the fixed mag in order to achieve this.

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Just unscrew the mag (pop the pin out holding the cover) and put a flat plate on it, thats what I did.. 1 round at a time.
- if you cant hit it with one, you should be out there anyways...

mshootnit said:

what about those rear sight scope mounts for a scout or extended eye relief scope. Are those for real hunting use.
https://scoutscopes.com/t/sks-systems

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That short one looks good for a small red dot, IF the gas tube can still be removed for cleaning.

Ive never had an SKS, but one guy I know hunted with one all thru high school and did just fine with a dust cover 4x scope....shot about 4" at 100 yds with winchester whitebox ammo. One of these days if i can find a cheap one ill probably get one, i really do like the little guns.

As to the rear sight mount rails. Ive never used them for the SKS, but ive used them for a few other guns...mosins mostly.
If you get one made from decent materials, that has good tensioning screws, then they do work pretty well. I would limit the use to a micro red dot tho, as Ive had zeros wander with in as few as 20 shots, even with the good mounts and relatively small scopes.

My SKS is stock except for one of those one inch black rubber butt plate extensions I needed to keep my nose off the rear of the dust cover.

I have not hunted with it.

Many is the time I have looked at it however and thought it might not be so scary to other folks or such an embarrassment to carry in woods someone who knows me might be in and thought about the $75 Ramline stock or the $120-ish Timberline laminate. I suspect either might be set up for scope mounting with higher combs than the SKS's iron sights would need.

Like a certain Texan here a bouts I bought a five shot mag in the 90s with hunting in mind. I feel the five rounder makes the gun look slightly less dorky and much sleeker. I got lucky and my mag just slips right in. I would have sworn mine was US made and of lighter construction. I do like the idea of drilling and taping the base of the magazine for a screw to control round count and am tempted to brake into my son's old Lego Supply thanks to you guys just to see how that works.

I keep thinking about Tech Sites and wondering if it might be possible to have the rear sight L cut so that rather than having a second long range option I could have a much larger aperature for woods use set for the same range as my "range toy" broad daylight aperature. Maybe even get that there ghost ring effect going that a way.

If I had a spare SKS (knew I should have bought at least one of any number offered to me right up to about and just after Y2K at around $100) I think I might try to bondo up a stock and paint it, maybe camo, cut off the bayonet and cleaning rod catch a matics, pull the rear sights, stick a Tech Site on it, install the five rounder (but keep the original 10 rounder handy and darn it I knew I should have bought one of those Chinese fixed 20 rounders when they came in just for the coming Zombie Pork-a-Lips, and no, I do not trust any duck bills) and call it Bubba's Hunting Loaner.

I have a couple of boxes of some Eastern block HP and Soft point and some brand or another of US "good stuff" actually may have a round or two of the old Midway case stamped 123 grain SP floating around. I rather like the idea of the "Mexican Match" type ammo someone mentioned above of pulling bullets Milsurp ammo and replacing them with decent SP hunting bullets.

I noted for a while that some eastern European ammo was offered with 150 and even 200 grain SP supposedly for hunting with. Anyone ever use any of that?

LAst question on this topic......anyone know where I can get a butt plate "shoe" for an East German stock? They were like the butt plate on the K98k rifles of WWII.

-kBob