Mini 30 vs sks

[saskcop]

I laughed when I read this as I had just come back from the range working up some loads for my Mini 30, and waited to reply till I could upload the picture of the target.

I own both - a mid 90's Norinco SKS (back when they cost $99 new) which I have put in a "draganov (sp?)" style stock. A few summers back, my daughter and I ran 22 different reloads and factory loads through it with a 4 power bushnell scope. All in all - averaged 3 - 4" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. I wrote it up and posted the results here, but they are probably long gone now ....

A picture from that shoot (now she's 17 - I am getting old)

Now Today - I had mounted a Lepould clone scope on my Mini 30 as it was the only 30 mm scope I had kicking around to match the rings on the rifle. I inherited this a couple of years ago when a close buddy passed away and it is completely stock - no trigger work or anything like that - also from the mid - late 90's. I shot this target sighting in at 100 yards with the scope at 4 power.

Using 123 gr Winchester Power Point bullets, 28.5 grains of WC 735 powder (first time I have used it), CCI small rifle primers and Greek brass casings - I got a 1.22 and 1.39" groupings with 2 three shot groups.

Target:

Interesting side note - I also shot some groups with the same load in Remington cases. Everything the same but the casings - and the bullets clustered into 1.10" group - but 4 inches high and 2.5" left of the centre of the target - amazing what changing one component can do!

I am not a target precision shooter by any means but I wanted to show you what my experiences have been with both rifles. YMMV.

All said and done - I would hunt with either - again looking at keeping shots within 150 yards for deer sized and smaller game.

PM me if you have chronied that load. I would be very interested in the results as I have a lot of that powder and usually use it for .223.

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[blueflash]

My 1950 Russian sks has never had a single feed or fire problem, ever, and we are talking about 2000 rounds through it since I bought it as a refurb. If I was bushwacking alot then I would'nt mind a couple less lbs, but it really is worth it when you figure how bulletproof of a gun your getting. When you figure in the price, and your heart was stuck on a Mini-30 then just get both. Really if your already going to be spending a thousand bucks on a Ruger, you might as well thow in a couple hundred extra for the SKS, and get both. Just use the SKS for target shooting and use the Mini-30 when your at the hunt camp, if you think you will get strange looks if you had the SKS. However if you take off the Bayonet, and get a Laminate stock, and refinish it, a SKS does'nt look to Military. One Big Plus of the SKS is, CHROME lined Barrel on almost all Refurbs. Big plus if your shooting surplus ammo. And yes, a Mini-30 looks just as military as a SKS or even more. Ever see the A team.

Anyways heres a pic of my SKS, Too make it look like a hunting rifle, I take the Bayonet Off, when I go deer hunting at the hunt camp, were there are usually 10 plus hunters for a week. Usually about 5 Mini-30s, 2-3 lever actions, 1-2 bolts and my SKS, and it does'nt look like a Military rifle at all. I always get a couple compliments, and I dont cry if I bang it into something, or if it starts raining.

Heres my Poor Mans Mini-30

When you figure I paid $260 for this SKS, spent one night getting to know the rifle, stripping down the stock, cleaning out the gunk, and then refinishing it. It was kind of fun actually. I spent another night stripping the Bolt from Black to silver. All in all definetely worth it. Best of all I wont cry if I Bang into something, I will just sand it down and refinish it again after a week of bushwacking while deer hunting. I have open sights as you can see, because I use a Bolt Action rifle with a scope while in a treestand, however with open sights on my SKS I can hit a Basketball Sized Steel Gong that we have set up at our Hunt camp "Free standing" in real world hunting conditions from about 150 yards 8 out of 10 times, and 10 out of 10 when resting on a tree, just as I would do while hunting. A kill every time!!!

And who needs to spend $20 on one of those recoil pad extension, just find a extra one and grind and sand some material off the bottom, just look at the recoil pad that I had left over from a Remington Model 700, it looks like a factory pad for a SKS now. I may be biased but the SKS rocks