VanIsleCam
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Violent agreement mate.
Has the SKS become the Canadian shooter's equivalent of the Ford 150?
- Thread starter steelgray
- Start date
Violent agreement mate.
You must have one with the 1 mark on the front sight post designating it a sniper!With ya 100%.
The numbers 1,2,or 3 on the sks front sight post arent accuracy designations.
The numbers indicate minute variations in barrel diameter in order to pair front sight assemblies with barrels during initial assembly.
Do you think before you write ?
Here is what I'm getting from this thread so far. The SKS and the Ford F150 are owned very widely - including by people who don't actually need them. Both have a solid following of fans and some who for various reasons wouldn't have one.
HOWEVER there are many who say that the F150 has design flaws (plastic cam chain tensioners that fail and are a PITA to change - as they are located on the back of the engine - etc.). No one says that the SKS has any real design flaws. One tough, reliable, affordable, hassle-free NR semi-auto that anyone - other than an ardent gun snob - can fully enjoy.
If you are an ardent gun snob, just don't buy one.
HOWEVER there are many who say that the F150 has design flaws (plastic cam chain tensioners that fail and are a PITA to change - as they are located on the back of the engine - etc.). No one says that the SKS has any real design flaws. One tough, reliable, affordable, hassle-free NR semi-auto that anyone - other than an ardent gun snob - can fully enjoy.
If you are an ardent gun snob, just don't buy one.
LOL....yup, great summary.
- Location
- West Quebec
Won't be an emergency situation I guess LOL
VanIsleCam
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
All good - here if you follow your sentence with a
- it means the comment is tongue in cheek, taking the piss or being sarcastic.
Mumbles Marble Mouth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland
Your SKS must be enchanted by the nuclear radiation of Chernobyl because I have never seen an SKS shoot better than 4MOA.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I’m regularly getting 3”-3.25” @ 100y and 4.5” @ 200y with a Russian with irons, all I’ve done to it is shim the action tight into the stock. Bulk white box non corrosive Norinco ammo.
Travis Bickle
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Upper Lower Middle Alberta
Yes exactly! lol
If the SKS was a pickup truck that's the one I'd be driving!
Now if I could just find me a 90s Ford with the 300 I6 4x4 with a 5 speed stand trans that wasn't rotted out.....
The SKS is the 90s F150 with a 4.9L 300 in her
These threads are the only reason CGN is still the best forum on the net some days!
The SKS has issues with the gas tube mucking up barrel harmonics during firing. AK47 has similar issues.
Still, I find that when they are fed consistent ammo, they will hold 2 inches or less at 100 yds. The Speer soft point .310 diameter 125 grn bullets at close to max velocities will definitely keep the groups under 2 inches.
I have three very accurate SKS rifles in my safe. One is Chinese, one is Russian and one is Yugoslavian. Each has a specific handload it likes. All three really like the South African surplus and usually shoot the Czech surplus between two and three inches, depending on how clean the bores are.
These rifles are perfectly suitable for their intended purpose with milspec ammo and fine for hunting small to medium game with handloads tuned to the rifle, out to two hundred yards.
I recently saw an SKS that had been rebarreled with a 22 inch by 1 inch barrel. It had a .308 bore and the handloads used .308 bullets. The rifle's owner picked it up from a builder in Ontario.
Yes, it was still a functioning semi auto. The gas port had been drilled and the gas tube modified to fit over it. That rifle really shot well with the heavy barrel.
Mumbles Marble Mouth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland
So your SKS changes MOA from 3moa to 2.25moa from 100 to 200? You should buy a geiger counter and test your SKS.
Half a dozen year's ago I used one of those RCBS bullet pulling dies to remove the boolits from Norinco factory hard point ammo (silver box) and weighted the powder charges to come-up with an average. I then re-threw the same Norinco powder charge into the same steel cases and re-seated the same Norinco hard point boolits to the same OAL. The groups were cut in half.
The SKS rifles suffer from the same issues most mass produced military rifles do.
Depending on where they're manufactured, tolerances are all over the spectrum. I've checked the bores on Russian units and find that bore diameters can vary from .3095 inch to .313 inch. On the other hand, the bullet diameters I've measured are extremely consistent with around .0005 in variance between lots. Most is dead on at .310 in. The next issue with surplus ammo and even some of the new made stuff is the inconsistency of the bullet jacket thickness. Sometimes it verges on extreme IMHO and may likely be the reason that particular batch of ammo was deemed surplus.
That being said, bullet weights were also very consistent.
I've weighed the powder charges from hundreds of rounds and the consistency is poor at best if you're planning on using it for accurate shooting. I've had lots where there is up to 2 grains variance in charges. The primers are anyone's guess.
What it boils down to is the SKS can shoot acceptably for hunting purposes if it's fed ammo it likes. If you have one with a worn or on max diameter bore, like any other firearm, it won't shoot acceptably.
I was bitten by the accuracy bug a long time ago. Do I like the SKS? YES. I've used it under stressful conditions and it's a very capable piece of equipment that goes bang every time and is accurate enough to get the bullet in the area it needs to be at the time.
Would I hunt with one? Not if I have a rifle purpose built for the task at hand.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Last time I was out shooting steel I shot 4.5” 5 shot groups at 200y, the time before that it was the 3.25” at 100y, the gun is capable of decent accuracy. I’m the determining factor of how it actually groups lol.
Hornady sst, PPU and the Norc fmj all shoot similar size groups if I do my part. Groups open up a bit more with Mfs and Romanian surplus but only by 1/2” or so, it was shooting double the size groups before I shimmed the action in the stock.
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- Location
- Markham/ GTA
total NooB here, some of the content is helpful as I was thinking to get an SKS...I'm still on the fence but this has been helpful.
Cameron SS
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ground Zero
Don't let this thread influence your decision to get an SKS. Most of this thread is just decades of bottled up emotional baggage, both for and against.
At the end of the day, its just a gun. If it can do everything you need your gun to do, than its a good gun.
