Am I A Fool For Sticking With An SKS Only?? AR-15??

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The gun world is full of misconceptions and prejudices on every kind of gun products. THe SKS is an idiot proof design overshadowed only by the coming of the AK in its time. But it proved itself in combat in the jungles of Nam.

I wouldnt feel undergunned as I know how it works and shoot good with it. First is know your weapon and master it. It will serve you well in the field of no return, either live or die. LOL
 
I love the SKS. Nothing beats Russian ingenuity and its definetly carved its niche into the gun world. I would not buy an AR just because of the hype that they will be banned. I would say dont buy a gun you dont have a use for, but that would make me an enormous hypocrite.
 
If I had to choose between the SKS and AR15 right now to carry that weapon into the wilderness not battle I'd take an SKS for a combat situation give me the AR15 please. Not saying the SKS can't hold its own in a combat situation I just feel for the sake of mag changes you have to go AR.
 
Opinions of what SHTF means

The U.S. is still the biggest and baddest dog on the block as far as shear military firepower. The odds of a true nuclear nightmare is unlikley here in the U.S. The U.S. is not nearly as self reliant as we once were say after WWII. We have out sourced so many jobs that we a high tech country now. The old factories are still there but the U.S. infrastructure along with the obsolete factories are almost at the point of obsolesence or structurally past the point of being refurbed. The U.S. is quite vunerable economically to what happens around us or even to a bad natural or terroist disaster here in the continental 48 states. Our worst nightmare would be if the oil supply was to be cut of or a dirty nuclear weapon was set off, for example the Houston Ship channel. Refineries out of commision and the ship channel could not be used for upwards of 30 years depending on radiation contamination. That in itself would just about bring the U.S. to it's knees economically for probably 10 years or longer. This would create massive job layoffs and gas would probably be $10 a gallon, since a majority of our refineries are right there. Also destabilizing the whole world's economy. Believe me our enemies want to do as much damage to us as possible.

This is the situation, that would create close to SHTF scenario, especially if you lived in a metro area. If you depend on the Federal Govt. to come the rescue...well we've already seen how fast they react to disasters. My point is there are many situations that could develop into a SHTF scenarios here in the U.S.. Almost every new President is tested in some manner by our enemies and Obama hasn't been tested yet. Just prepare to defend yourself the best your budget will allow. You can have the high dollar weapons but the guy with several SKS's and AK's and one of each type of specific use weapons, for hunting and protection, i.e. a 12 ga. shot gun, 9mm/45 cal pistol and a 22 rifle and a ****load of ammo is better than a high dollar high tech weapon w/ all the bells and whistles and not have a big stash of ammo!:eek: That's all I have to say about that!
 
Back in the late 1980s bought a couple SKS and three 1200 rd wooden crates of 7.62x39, all were got at the time for less than $100.00 each.

After playing around and testing the piece, concluded the SKS is a very capable and dependable weapon. I found that a light oiling of inside the 10 rnd. stripper clips makes a huge difference for ease of recharging rifle.

Only changes made was to chuck the attached pig stickers and recently installed Williams aperture rear and their Firesight front sights. I could not believe the improvement this made for my three score and ten eyes when it came to vastly improved sight picture and getting onto target fast.

Wife, other women and young kids really liked the SKS due to it's low recoil and ease of handling. Still have two unopened 1200 rnd. crates and they will stay that way for a just in case SHTF scenario. I would not hesitate to recommend the SKS as a low cost weapon that works each and every time, for the Russians as usual, designed it as a simple but very effective tool.

As an aside, it is my understanding the SKS is merely a scaled down version of the 14.5 mm PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle invented by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov.
 
I'd rather have 3-4 SKS's than 1 AR because you can teach your family or neighbors how to use them but I'd wait to pass them out until I deemed necessary. If you just have to have to have an AR any other rifles would need to shoot .223 rnds mainly for economics of building up a stash of ammo of the same caliber. I believe you need a couple rifles, 2-12 ga shotguns, a couple pistols at least 9mm or larger caliber and a couple of 22 caliber rifles. That rounds out a fairly decent group of weapons that cover specific uses and functions. If I could only afford 1 weapon it would be a 12 ga shotgun.
 
I'm always amused by these "SHTF" AR vs SKS/AK debates. I wish everyone involved would read "To Hell And Back" and "No Name On The Bullet".
Both of these books cover the life of the greatest small arms mankiller of modern times: Audie Murphy.
Nobody, including Murphy himself, is quite sure of his final body count, but 250 seems to be a workable figure.
His day in and day out weapon was his "lucky" M1 Carbine.
That's right. The puny, underpowered, universally despised M1 Carbine.
How can a full-metal jacketed .30 carbine round possibly kill anybody? Everybody on internet gun boards knows it can't! :rolleyes:
I've got the feeling that if you've got enough killer instinct when TSHTF, a semi-auto SKS (or any other firearm that you are willing to kill humans with) will serve you well.
 
If your woodstock SKS gets dropped and dinged up, no problem. But if it happens to an expensive firearm, it doesnt feel good at all.
 
I tell ya, a good SKS is a dream to shoot. I had one(Yugo) that was a tack driver at 100 yards with iron sites. I shot 3/4 inch groups regularly using mil-surp ammo. Not withstanding the added knock down power of the 7.62 bullet over the .223? I'm sure the AR has higher velocities, but I'd rather sacrifice a bit of velocity for the hard hit of the SKS.
 
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The SKS needs only one mod - the $50 Techsight that mounts on the receiver. This almost doubles the sight radius, and gives you a nice GI-style peep sight. That will increase your accuracy, which is always a good thing.

You become proficient with your SKS, and it will do 99% of what you would want any rifle to do.
 
JTEX53:
Interesting "big picture" description of our vulnerability.
It is easy for me to imagine smaller incidents which could spike our car fuel to about $6.00/gallon.

roscoe:
Thanks for the reminder. Will order one of those peep sights for my SKS.
Glad that my LE #4 and #5s already have them.
 
The AR-15 is my favorite rifle, and would be what I would grab in any emergency requiring a rifle. However, the SKS is much cheaper. For years mine served me fine. Add a Tech Sights rear aperture and you have the sight picture of an AR-15 with a very long sight radius. The 10 round mag should be plenty for almost any realistic situation, but with practice, loading from strippers is very easy and quick. There are some very respectable 7.62x39 loads for SD. I can't see any reason to give up on the SKS unless you just have to have an AR or AK.


para.jpg
 
Fake Name said:
No AK's allowed in my state
Click to expand...
How about a Saiga? They banned from your state too? They're AKs that have been neutered and modified to remove features that put gun banners' panties in a twist.

If you can get one, you could stick with the 7.62x39 ammo and have two guns available to you if the SHTF. The Saiga advantage is that they accept removable magazines. As issued they won't take milsurp AK magazines, but they will after a couple of simple mods.

Right now a new Saiga can be had for around $320. That's not much more than a good SKS.
 
How in the heck can you participate in the never ending internet debates as to "which weapons platform is better- SKS or AR or AK" unless you own the weapons in question? Go forth and buy the AR15 and 2 boxes of ammo (so you can perform at least one magazine change) so you can shoot it and become a Webspert. It's easy and fun! Rinse and repeat with the AK!

It worked for me! :)
 
I, too, am glad this is a zombie thread brought back to life. Brother In Arms' post to this thread is some incredibly valuable info and has given me a parts list I need to work on.

DMK's photo of his SKS is very similar to my Norinco, except I kept the wood trim and I have a "D" model so I can use AK mags. I do have to ask .... how did you mount that rear sight? I've never seen that before and it definately sparked some curiousity.


My introduction into OPFOR weapons began when I was an armory custodian (additional duty) while I was stationed with 3d FSSG in Okinawa. They brought back quite a few weapons that were used for "TRT", or Tactical Readiness Training, because very few people had seen an actual AK with the go-fast switch. As I do own both an AR and an SKS, I love them both but not equally. I know I'm good with both but for those longer range shots I'm much better with my AR than I am with my SKS. I guess Mother Green can be thanked for that.

I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm turning my AR (A2 style) into a DM style (A3 with optics) weapon and will continue to use my SKS as my camping rifle and GP "Go To" rifle.

And of course I'm a fan of having the right tool for the right job.
 
DMK's photo of his SKS is very similar to my Norinco, except I kept the wood trim and I have a "D" model so I can use AK mags. I do have to ask .... how did you mount that rear sight? I've never seen that before and it definately sparked some curiousity.
Click to expand...
That is a Norinco actually. It's a 16" barreled Norinco Para with a Chinese fiberglass "Jungle Stock".

The rear sight is a Tech Sights rear aperture. I highly recommend this for any SKS that you don't mind slightly modifying from original condition. It's well made and makes a huge improvement in the sight picture, sight radius and relative accuracy of the carbine.

http://www.tech-sights.com/

I also have this Norinco "SKS Sporter" (very similar to the "D" model) with the same stock and sight. Fun little carbines with the AK mags aren't they?

sporter.jpg
 
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