Is SKS still a good buy?

:I thought the new( post wwII) main battle rifles slowly morphed into the mid range/power cartridges, like Ak/sks/ar15, etc. either way the sks is inexpensive, cheap to buy, doesn't cost much money and won't empty your wallet, and for now the ammo is cheap so stack it deep. A ton of fun, will always run, robust gun, so go get one!
:rockOn::cheers:Laugh2
 
I guess the SKS is being discussed here because the OP opening the thread by comparing and mentioning the .308 /M14 for a possible next purchase.
 
The SKS is possibly the best value in a center-fire rifle you will ever experience. I have a couple and enjoy them a lot. Before the days of optically equipped tacticool typical,.. Battle rifles,..the SKS with it's semi auto fire, Russian robust, the 762X39 cartridge low recoil, good penetration, and it's stripper feed 10 round magazine, along with decent accuracy,... was a very hard act to beat. In fact give me something better as described?

There were more accurate, more powerful, more beautiful rifles in the day...but considering an average grunt with minimum to moderate rifle marksmanship training thus equaling <300meters, and talking absolute practical here,...was there a more practical battle Rifle??

P.S I have AR's and M-14's and milsurps and so on and so forth, the SKS is just a jewel of practicality. And how bout that corrosive ammo cheaper than some two-two ammo, so come on,..everyone should have at least one, and that's one crate of them.;)

Here's one for ya as well. Buy it, get a crate of ammo, and forget trying to turn it into a perverted looking space gun,..just run it right out of the crate.

Set your rear sight to 200 meters, adjust the front for windage and elevation till you have a point of aim zero at 200 meters, and then check it out at one hundred with the sight at 100 and then at 300 with the sight set in the battle sight position(300meters) and see it holding point of aim. Amazing to see a rifle/cartridge/sight system developed together in action.
Now start shooting off your elbows at 200 and 300, looking for 8-10 inch groups at 200 and try putting 5 for 5 into an 8 inch circle standing at 100meters. You have the cheap ammo to practice with, make good use of it. After a couple of crates and you get use to the trigger and you are starting to approach the accuracy goals not using a rest, you will be surprised how easily you will shoot tight groups with your more accurate, scope equipped rifles again from field positions.
What a waste of a great economical and practical center fire marksmanship training aid to see the scoped and tacticooled up SKS being burned round after round into a 50 or 100 meter backstop from a bench rest.
 
For the price ya they are fun

personally id take a mosin or svt 40 over an sks (and I did) but there is nothing wrong with the sks and everytime someones let me play with theirs it has been a blast to shoot.

I'm sure ill pick one of them up at some point
 
Love my sks. For the price it is a fantastic plinker... Actually it would be a good at $500. Make sure it is Russian though. I've got a norinco M305-S at home that jams like crazy even after having a gunsmith work it over. Now it may have just been bad luck on my side to get a lemon, but if "it" ever hit the fan, i woukd be grabbing my sks over the m14 no questions asked.
 
'55-'56 Russian refurb for $170-$200 is still an awesome deal. Buy em now as someday they won't be available at all.
 
You need a commie collection. Buy an SKS, svt-40, mosin nagant and a tokarev tt-33 pistol.
 
SKS was my first semi. Two years ago. Awesome bit of kit. I have m14 also and would strongly recommend both. SKS would be for anything shy of 300m and m14 for anything after 300. Cheap ammo, reliable like an old zaporozhets and can be made to look real purdy. Just take care to clean it properly after using corrosive ammo.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Mini 14 (or was it the Mini30?) was originally the Ruger XGI. That firearm had some significant problems (cycling I believe) and Bill Ruger re-designed it and Ruger re-branded it.
 
I have one and added a Choate dragunov stock to it as the original stock is to short. The SKS will shoot just about any ammo, has loose tolerances so it can get mud/dirt in it and will still go off. Its a good deer gun, basically the same ballistics as the 30-30 ( that has taken more deer than any other cartridge) out to 100 to 125 yards for the average shooter. I drilled and tapped mine for a rock solid scope mount. Most of the aftermarket scope mounts are junk, a loose fit on the reciever. It is more accurate than an AK47 but just as dependable. Wolf ammo is cheap, the SKS eats it up for practice but use good factory soft point to hunt with.
 
Chartermain said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Mini 14 (or was it the Mini30?) was originally the Ruger XGI. That firearm had some significant problems (cycling I believe) and Bill Ruger re-designed it and Ruger re-branded it.
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Other way around. In the early 80's, Ruger scaled the Mini-14 back "up" to take .308 or .243 Win. Kind of a weird move, because the Mini-14 was (largely) a scaled down M-14 (which was a .308).

Anyway, the experiment failed, and the XGI never hit the market.
 
Jestersage said:
No, I am not talking about its performance, which will always be lacking compared to m14.
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What in the :-O ????

And whether you should get an SKS or an M14... they are different and for different things. Well for shooting yes but...

If you had to have only one, if it was EITHER and not both, and if ammo cost was no issue, the M14 will do everything the SKS and a bit more. It can be used as a boat anchor in a pinch. It might give you the odd malfunction.
It might even do a few GOOD things that the SKS doesn't do like reach out and snipe a person at a thousand yards. As well. But the M-14 doesn't reach out as well as a .300winmag either ...which is no .338 on and on and on..

The SKS will be CHEAP. You can get the SKS and probably 4000-ish rounds for the price of an M14. It'll be cheaper to shoot but you can get some pretty cheap 7.62x51 too though..relatively.

So...you want a centerfire semi auto that's cheap to shoot at stuff? SKS without a doubt.
You want to reach out and touch things, well an M-14 isn't your best choice there either I don't think.
I have both. I like both. If I could keep only one... I guess it would have to be the SKS cause I cant really afford to shoot the 14 TOO much.

WoahGeezus...I just noticed how many pages there are to this thread.
NEVERMIND. I know this will all have been said EXACTLY already.
 
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