$$$ for a ruger mini 30, or $ for a SKS?

WoodchuckAssassin said:

Lots of back and forth on many different forums on these two guns, but I always enjoy the 1st hand experience of TheHighRoad.

To be clear, the Ruger in question would be the newer NON-pencil barrel (and if I had my choice, one with a shorter 16" barrel).

I've never shot the Ruger mini 30, but have enjoyed the honest SKS on an occasion or two

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If the Ruger has the hybrid .308 barrel, that's the one!

300 Blackout AR-15.

You can get that side charging lower easily.

Had a mini14 and and liked it. I got rid of it a few years ago (it was one of the newer thicker ones too) and I’m kicking myself for ever getting rid of it. If you can get a mini at $500 like I did, go with a mini. I wouldn’t pay the $800 they’re coming in at these days.

Only think I disliked about the mini was how high the receiver was compared with the top (comb) of the stock. My cheek weld is such that I needed to raise the comb up just to see through the irons.

I hate when folks chime in on a "this or that thread" and say "neither." But sometimes I need to do it myself.

I have an SKS, it was my first centerfire rifle that wasn't an inherited hunting rifle. I have thousands of rounds through it, it has had Choate stocks, removable mags, and everything else a young 'un can stick on a rifle. And now it is back in it's original form. I would sell it except it was a wedding gift (from my father-in-law..?) It is fun to blast cheap Wolf downrange, but it has never been "good". Too short, too inaccurate, sights are not great (too far forward), and in short, just a mediocre rifle. I blamed the round until I got a Ruger American in 7.62x39....wow. It throws Wolf and whatever else in smaller holes than it should.

Now I love Garand actions. I have Garands, M-14, Mini-14, M1 carbine (a stretch I know.) I really wanted to buy a Mini 30. Then I researched it. It is expensive, Ruger flat out says don't shoot steel case ammo in it, and many users cannot shoot steel case. It is the luck of the draw. That is too expensive of a luck of the draw. The whole appeal of 7.62x39 is cheap .30 ammo.

So I built a 7.62 AR. Not as accurate as the Ruger, but it will put Wolf in a 2.5" group regularly, and 1.5 if I am having a good (lucky?) day. I like it more than my 5.56 ARs. It is just a better fit for what I want to shoot.

So if you want to shoot 7.62x39 Accurately, buy a Ruger American Ranch. I dare you to find a bad review.
If you want to shoot it pretty accurately semi-auto, ger a 7.62x39 AR.
If you want to have a cool M-14 derived rifle that may or may not shoot, Mini 30 (but buy a new Mini 14....they are better than the Internet says.)
If you want to have a rifle that goes "bang" every time but may not be able to put 10 rounds in the same 8 inches at 100, SKS. Some will do 3 MOA. Most I have seen will not.

As an 'iron sight only' guy (never owned a rifle scope or red dot), my rifle targets are just 30-50 yards.
If a prospective SKS has a decent trigger, typical sights and is very reliable (make sure it has the original 10rd. mag., for reliability), comparing these aspects with those of a new Mini 30 can help.

Are you looking to hit plastic bottles, clay pigeons etc, or hoping to get a tight group on 'reactive paper' at 100 (+) yards?

Keep in mind that specific models of TechSights (I once had to Tell a guy that yes, they have a website...) are easily installed on any SKS, AKM, Ruger 10-22, Marlin, and several other types.

If you are an A-team fan and want to shoot 7.62x39, then mini-30. If you want a gun to march around with in full dress uniform while Cold War reenacting as a com bloc soldier then get the sks.

Otherwise, just get an AK or AR in 7.62 x 39. Both are cheaper and better!

We have to stop thinking about SKS's as $100 rifles. That was 30 years ago.

Think in terms of what other milsurp semi auto battle proven rifle with a chrome lined bore is going for it's current price?

I have both a Ruger Mini and an SKS. Want a lighter carbine with detach mags, go for the Mini.

Want a sturdy war horse that will keep going forever with almost no care, choose the SKS.

I have two SKS’s .. I have owned a couple a dozen in the past .. I like’em. .. I have own two older Ruger Mini-30’s ... never warmed up to them .. extraction problems with most cheap steel cased ammo and questionable accuracy.... I hear they run better now

I have a Ruger American Ranch in 7.62x39
Great rifle ...
My SKS’s are great running carbines

I tested the stabilizer (Mo-Rod) on my mini 30 today. It worked. Cut my groupings by at least half. 8" to about 3 or 4 inches. I also noticed that heat seemed to dissipate more quickly. I was using Wolf Steel FMJ 124 grain, so nothing fancy at all. Shooting groups of three. I made sure that the barrel was hot when i took the three shots each time. That's why the results were so satisfying. Without that stabilizer the grouping would really spread out as the barrel heated.

I don't have before pictures, but here are the after. Shooting at 100 yards from a folding table. The stabilizer is worth it on these rifles in my opinion.

I went SKS.

Greg

I recently bought an SKS. I played with a Mini fairly extensively last year, though never have owned one.

To me, the appeal of the 7.62x39 is twofold. If you handload (which I don’t, yet) there’s the theoretical potential to load very accurate 30-30 style hunting or target loads out of a modern gun that can use spitzer bullets. I have a CZ-527 and that gun is accurate, with a detachable box mag and set trigger. There’s also the appeal of very cheap steel case plinking ammo (or even hunting ammo.) In other words, great if you handload, and “good enough” for almost everything, and very affordable, if you don’t.

The Mini-30 is expensive, not a tackdriver by any means, and can’t use the cheap ammo. So to me, it’s very hard to see why anyone wants one unless it’s just for nostalgia. (Which is fine, if that’s what you like.) I’ll grant they’re better looking than an AR, so I might be more tempted by the Mini-14, particularly as brass case 5.56 is readily available and cheap.

The SKS is a sweet gun. Fun to shoot, low recoil, not so heavy as to make it impractical to carry afield, fairly accurate even with Wolf ammo (the design is inherently more accurate than an AK, and Wolf is probably better ammo than the surplus of yesteryear.) A 10 round fixed mag makes it inherently less “tactical” than a 30 round AK or AR, but... in the civilian world there’s very little that takes more than 10 rounds, and stripper clips do make for a very fast reload too. And the fixed mag is arguably more reliable/one less thing to lose.

The SKS is also, as the icing on the cake, about 1/2 the cost of the Mini, in many places. A new Mini will probably set you back 800. A nice SKS can usually be found for $400 or even less with a bit of patience.

MySuomi said:

I tested the stabilizer (Mo-Rod) on my mini 30 today. It worked. Cut my groupings by at least half. 8" to about 3 or 4 inches. I also noticed that heat seemed to dissipate more quickly. I was using Wolf Steel FMJ 124 grain, so nothing fancy at all. Shooting groups of three. I made sure that the barrel was hot when i took the three shots each time. That's why the results were so satisfying. Without that stabilizer the grouping would really spread out as the barrel heated.

View attachment 915454 View attachment 915455 I don't have before pictures, but here are the after. Shooting at 100 yards from a folding table. The stabilizer is worth it on these rifles in my opinion.
View attachment 915453

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3-4" AFTER the stabilizer install? That's pretty bad.

A lot depends on what the OP is planning on doing with the rifle.

Something cheap to leave in the back of a truck? SKS.

Something to do shoot and move with, or mount n optic to get faster hits? Mini-30.

If the OP isn’t ever going to want to mount optics or do faster reloads than strippers will support, the SKS is the obvious choice. If he wants to have a couple spare mags handy, the Mini wins.

Don’t buy the SKS with the intention of upgrading it to optics and detachable mags. That never works well.

BSW

What? Over 30 posts and no one mentions that the SKS has a BAYONET!!!.

Obviously, that makes all the difference in the world--Ruger Mini Thirties have a faulty design lacking any way to put a bayonet on it.

As Corporal Jones says in Dad's Army, "They don't like it up em!!

too bad they didn't come with a 16inch heavy barrel option.

No one has mentioned the Yugoslavian model. Very solid, well built. Mine was accurate, too. Someone had trimmed off some of the non-essential parts that made it a bit more streamlined. Had nice wood too.

M

The bayonet charge is at 3:26.
This funny guy (from a Slavic country-Not Russia) lives in the US and is a very good shot, free stance with the Makarov handgun--other video--and SKS.

http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php : separate forums for Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Albanian, "Yugo".
So many people curious about the SKS somehow don't seem to know about this website with its very seasoned and knowledgeable SKS groupies and roadies. Hope somebody can learn from it.

I love old war horses, even Easter Block ones. But for practicality the SKS's have very short stocks that do not fit me very well. Add to that I believe that the Mini 30 is a lot easier when it comes to mounting a scope or red dot. I know a lot of people like to trick out their SKS's but I am really not a fan of trying to make an old military rifle into something that it was never meant to be.

You can always buy a second dust cover with a rail for the SKS, to mount an optic. I’ve never done it so I can’t testify to the ergos, but a lot of them were sold this way in the early 90s when the Chinese could export them to the USA as utility rifles.

silicosys4 said:

3-4" AFTER the stabilizer install? That's pretty bad.

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Yeah, I hear you. But, the gun is now shootable where it was not before. It's pretty funny what you will consider good when your starting point was really bad.

Maybe with what is going on in the country right now we should all be buying made in the USA products right now. If it is more money spent,well some of our citizens are taking home a paycheck.

Ignition Override said:

The bayonet charge is at 3:26.
This funny guy (from a Slavic country-Not Russia) lives in the US and is a very good shot, free stance with the Makarov handgun--other video--and SKS.

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Wow. My Norinco SKS has never been able to achieve anywhere near that kind of accuracy. Even when I've tried aperture sights on it.

Some friends and I purchased a case os SKSs for $59ea and cases ammo for $69 so I think of them as cheap blasting not necessarily for accuracy, I still have 2 soaked in cosmoline and 2+ cases of ammo. I've not shot the mini 30 just the mini 14 and found its accuracy about the same as my sks with less recoil. I do like the looks of the mini a lot more.

Mosin77 said:

You can always buy a second dust cover with a rail for the SKS, to mount an optic. I’ve never done it so I can’t testify to the ergos, but a lot of them were sold this way in the early 90s when the Chinese could export them to the USA as utility rifles.

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Yes those were quite popular and inexpensive. Two major problems with them -- 1 they move, even one with set screws, so zero will never hold; and 2 they are really tall and far back so sight picture stinks and getting popped in the eye with any optic is common.

Stick with irons or add tech sights.

You can add optics to an SKS that actually work. These guys have the side rails, you then need a mount for the scope. You still need to drill and tap or rivet the rail on, as well as relieving the stock.

https://kalinkaoptics.com/rifle-type/mosin-mauser-other/side-rails.html

In short, if you want an optic get the Ruger.

BSW