SKS? perfect rifle for anything?

Excellent value for the $$ spent.

I can think of better rifles for hunting and for varmits, but none of those will also do all the other things an SKS will do.

It is a perfect $100 rifle. It is much better than the price would indicate.

Sure... it's perfect for my budget.

Really, they're amazing rifles. All kinds of widgets and doodads.

Wes

The Russian Mini-14, Except the Russin version WORKS!

The Russian Mini-14, Except the Russin version WORKS!

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With honorable mentions going to the Chineese, Romanians, and Yugoslavians.





Oh yeah I guess the Albanians too.

For a design that's a miniaturized antitank rifle, it does pretty much everything fairly well.

I would prefer a higher capacity for combat use (as the Soviets found) but it does a pretty decent job as is.

There is no contest if value per dollar is a main criteria. They do a lot of things well.

However, I have always found the SKS breed unecessarily long and heavy feeling, especially when compared to it's generational offspring ... the AK (SAR-1, AKM).

I believe that there could be times when the more convential appearance of the SKS would be desireable. But if I'll ever NEED a semiauto 7.62X39 for anything besides hunting or varmints, I take a fast handling, stamped AK type every time.

In fact, it's not very good at much of anything that requires real preciison or range.

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Ah, but we could probably say this about most rounds and rifles, yet somehow they manage to do their jobs just fine.

I can get 2-3" groups at 100 yards out of my Norinco SKS, and do it with a round that (especially with the excellent Barnaul softpoints @ $2.50/20) gives me the same performance as a 150gr 30-30. This places the SKS about on par with the traditional lever-action brush gun and round.

No, not the ideal varmint solution and not the ideal long-range big game solution. But *anything* within 150 yards (remember, most deer are harvested within 80 yards) is gonna get a whalloping if you choose to use your SKS with some decent ammo on it. And that's worthy of some acknowledgment.

The SKS is an excellent Truck gun, one that can be carried about while in the field without too much worry about damage. Given that many are so expensive (for a while, Chinese SKS's were $250 here), even the lower cost ones tend to be $150 or more not counting C&R FFL, a good Marlin 336 or Winchester 94 become worthy contenders however. In other words, the Marlin I bought for $175 in excellent condition is more accurate and less "assault rifle" than the SKS, but equally important, about the same price as one. Now, the SKS is much cheaper to feed, is utterly rugged, has better sights than the Marlin, and carries more ammo. If I were on the farm still, I would probably carry the SKS as a tractor gun for rabid racoons and the like, and the Marlin in the sling behind the back seat on the truck.

Ash

The 7.62X39mm round, like most assault-rifle-type medium powered rounds is made for realistic combat distances, 0 to 300-350m. More like 200m in most cases. So 0-150m is perfectly fine for what it was designed for.

And I can handle such shots rather easily with an alloy framed Commander .45.

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That's great. Me? I'd rather use a long gun than a pistol for just about anything beyond 10 yards. And the ground from 10 yards to 150 yards is ruled by light, fast carbines such as the SKS and the lever-action, especially if follow-up shots might be required (and if you're trying to humanely kill some four-legged critter rather than just perforate it with a lot of little itty bitty pieces of copper-n-lead).

I expect considerably more of a rifle than mere 150m types of shots. I want it to have the potential for 400m+ hits on men. ... I want it to take the GI rifle round. I want it to also have a .22lr capabiltity...

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Well, I doubt that you're gonna be killing many deer with the 5.56 GI round, but that's just me. If you're referring to the 7.62 NATO round, that's a different story (but that takes us back to the 'the 7.62x39 doesn't do real well on varmints' complaint you raised earlier).

Somehow, I feel like we're having two conversations here. Your first objection was that the SKS (and, by reference, the 7.62x39 round) wasn't powerful enough for, among other things, taking down bear. Now, we're talking about taking down men at 400+ yards and having a 22LR capability.

From all of this, I presume that you're a fan of the AR. That's great - so am I. But I also am a fan of the SKS, and truth be told I'm more likely to reach for my SKS if I need a truck gun or other medium range long weapon than I am to reach for an AR15 or AR10.

What am I missing here?

While I currently dont own one (that will be my first purchase when my C&R gets back) I have witnessed some impressive shooting with one.

Granted my firends has had trigger work, stock work and was resting on a harris, I saw him poping 8/10 milk jugs at 300 w/ stock sights and mil-surp ammo. Very impressive shooting skills!

As for over prnetration, well, pick right round for the job. Don't use AP FMJ rounds for deer/yote hunting. Pretty darn simple concept.

For an affordable, quick snap shooting carbine with enough power to get the job done, it rivals my mod 94 in every regard and quicker to reload.

The SKS was not designed to be a "hunting" rifle, although it has served that purpose. It was designed for peasants to hold off invading hordes until the regular army showed up. It is easy to operate, requires little maintenance and uses a deadly intermediate range round. For us, it is inexpensive, practically indestructable, and cheap to shoot. Plus it is fun, and you can use the bayo to cook meat over an open fire. It is accurate enough for "minute of torso" shots against anything that could be a threat within a couple of hundred yards. See www.simonov.net for more information.

Please take no offence by this but...

"A proper bullet and load, such as the 60 gr Nosler Partition, lets the 223 take deer to any range at which the sks can readily do so, count on that."

You must be from the east. Try that with a 180lb western muley and you will be standing there wondering why he ran off so fast and far.

Most of us try for one shot knock-down. That is why I hunt w/ a 300WM if in the open and a 170gr 30-30 in the brush. But, all of this is for a differrent topic.

If I had to choose between a AR or an SKS for a "do it all, you can only only have one rifle" situation, it would be an SKS hands down.

user2 - in this thread you have described experiences with:

1) killing deer with 22LR head shots at 50 yards
2) taking down game animals with an alloy Combat Commander from 10-150 yards
3) engaging and neutralizing men at 400+ yards
4) dropping deer out at 150 yards with .223 60gr Nosler Partitions

Somebody's trolling, and I'm tired of biting.

:banghead:

It's not accepted at indoor ranges,

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The indoor range I go to accepts it no problem.

user2

No offense man, but you just made one of the goofiest arguements I've ever read. If Hi Points cost $1200, and Kimbers cost $120, would anyone own a Hi Point?

Now most of my deer hunting has been in Oklahoma, in the brush. I've never used the SKS for this, but I've handed enough of them to know they'd make a dandy Whitetail gun within their range limits, especially with a good fitting , light after market stock. I also know, from way too much experience with the .243, that the .223 is not an adaquate brush round for deer. The only thing I've ever shot with SKS was coyote and skunk and even on a 200yrd coyote it performed just fine. Sure their are better rifles out there for 'yotes, the AR is one of them. But the AR isn't as good for the task as say a nice bolt action .220 is.

For an "all-around, kill everything from mice to deer, throw in the back of the pick-up, and maybe get yourself out of a bad situation" rifle, you could do alot worse than an SKS.

Good luck Okie,

The aruments were so far fetched I just quit trying.

Almost like debating with John Kerry.

It appears he is gone.

Perhaps he was just a figment of our imagination.

Still, I miss my old SKS. Might have to replace it soon.

Perfect rifle for anything?

No.
It is not the perfect rifle for anything.
It is a fine rifle. I have been very impressed with them. I have nothing against the SKS at all in fact I speak quite highly of them. But, name any application for a rifle and the SKS is not the perfect choice. Sorry, that is what you asked.

I just bought two SKS. One I'm gonna Bubba. Have a Choate Monte Carlo stock. A after market fireing pin with spring to keep the pin from being free floating and gonna get some trigger work done to it. Also (Don't flame me) getting the bayonet lug cut off, smoothed out and reblued. Should be a nice little all purpose rifle when I finish. The other is gonna get cleaned up real good and placed back in safe in original condition.

Just a forwarning, Daniel, but you will be flamed, if not here somewhere else.

That being said,................I did the same thing myself as a matter of fact. One is a pristine beauty, warmly tucked in the back reaches of the safe.

The other one is my truck gun. I did the work myself. I also added Williams Firesite front and peep rear sight. HUGE improvement!

On the stock.....you might regret the Monte Carlo style. I tried 'em, didn't like 'em. They're more for use with scopes. I have the standard Choate Sporter.

Good luck.

I want to get an "I *heart* my SKS" bumper sticker.

I want to get an "I *heart* my SKS" bumper sticker.

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I love my SKS's for what they are. I'll never pretend that any of 'em are a 1000-yard, sub-MOA rifle. But the SKS *is* the perfect rifle if you need a simple, anvil-reliable all-arounder that you can afford to shoot a lot and which you can use to excellent effect on most any target from 3 to 300 lbs inside of 150 yards.

It's a faster coyote rifle than any boltie, is as handy in the brush as my old Marlin (except for the Yugos, with their grenade launcher), and I have some friends that think the SKS's is just dandy for hunting hogs. The fact that I can load up three 30 round mags and pop 'em all off for less than ten dollars is mo' perfect than any other round I can think of.

The SKS is as close to a 'one-rifle' solution for farm or ranch or suth'n brush hunting as there is these days.