I cand seem to decide weather my next purchase should be an sks or SVT40, i want both eventually but cannot decide the up side to the ska is ammo both surp and new availability but the upside to the svt is it share ammunition with my m91/30 just looking for guidance.
Ok my next rifle???
- Thread starter JACKSONLEWISOFCANADA
- Start date
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
I will go over the advantages and disadvantages of both as I see it.
SKS- extremely reliable, never had a issue with it, not too accurate but if you aiming for a man sized target could be the one for you, easy to clean, and less expensive for the gun but since you would have to buy more ammo, more expensive (in the immediate term) for the ammo, decent amount of history but very unlikely to have been used in a war, my SKS is my SHIF rifle for the simple reason it doesn't fail (I managed to convince a person that thought all soviet manufactured firearms were junk to buy one for themselves as they liked the reliability and the ease of use).
SVT-40- fairly reliable once set up properly, difficult to clean (at least in comparison to other firearms), extremely rough on brass (could make a difference if you ever go into reloading), ammo is more expensive in the long term (compared to the SKS), it might not work very well with the ammo you have now for your Mosin meaning you may have to buy another crate of ammo/experiment (I had to try 3 different type of ammo before I found one it liked), lots of history (i.e. one of the first semi-autos ever adapted, used in WWII etc.), the bayonet for the rifle is as expensive as the rifle (but it does look pretty awesome with it).
Overall both are pretty awesome rifles, with good history. I personally would go SVT-40 as I find when shooting my SKS it is more just banging off ammo as opposed to well aimed shots, but I did get very frustrated for a while trying to find ammo that would work in the SVT-40 (took me a year as I wasn't too serious about it).
Best of luck
SKS- extremely reliable, never had a issue with it, not too accurate but if you aiming for a man sized target could be the one for you, easy to clean, and less expensive for the gun but since you would have to buy more ammo, more expensive (in the immediate term) for the ammo, decent amount of history but very unlikely to have been used in a war, my SKS is my SHIF rifle for the simple reason it doesn't fail (I managed to convince a person that thought all soviet manufactured firearms were junk to buy one for themselves as they liked the reliability and the ease of use).
SVT-40- fairly reliable once set up properly, difficult to clean (at least in comparison to other firearms), extremely rough on brass (could make a difference if you ever go into reloading), ammo is more expensive in the long term (compared to the SKS), it might not work very well with the ammo you have now for your Mosin meaning you may have to buy another crate of ammo/experiment (I had to try 3 different type of ammo before I found one it liked), lots of history (i.e. one of the first semi-autos ever adapted, used in WWII etc.), the bayonet for the rifle is as expensive as the rifle (but it does look pretty awesome with it).
Overall both are pretty awesome rifles, with good history. I personally would go SVT-40 as I find when shooting my SKS it is more just banging off ammo as opposed to well aimed shots, but I did get very frustrated for a while trying to find ammo that would work in the SVT-40 (took me a year as I wasn't too serious about it).
Best of luck
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
For example for surplus I have tried Chinese, Czechoslovakian, and Russian through my SVT-40. Only the Russian stuff worked well (it would strike the Chinese, and Czechoslovakian stuff hard on the primer but the ammo wouldn't fire every time).
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
I have never tried Bulgarian ammo in my SVT-40 so I can't say. Just letting you know that the SVT-40 is not a you can feed it anything gun (like how the Mosin or SKS is).
safehunter
Regular
- Location
- South Western Onterrible
Sks is a great gun. Cheap to have and cheap to feed. I get a fist sized group at 100 yards with surplus ammo. Low recoil, easy disassembly.
I don't own the svt40 and I doubt I ever will. If I wanted a large caliber semi I'd get an m305.
I don't own the svt40 and I doubt I ever will. If I wanted a large caliber semi I'd get an m305.
- Location
- Algoma, ON
I had this same problem a couple months ago. I went with the SVT-40, simply because it has more history, is big enough to take down a moose, and I think there are less of them around and I'm hoping their value will eventually go up. With respect to the SKS, while I don't own one (yet) but it is a good reliable easy to clean semi auto, and when the Ukraine calms down, the Russian ones will be even more abundant than they are now. As to ammo, SKS ammo is quite a bit cheaper than SVT ammo, but since you already have a mosin, you're most likely going to be buying 54R anyways to feed the mosin, so you'll just need to buy more to feed the SVT.
I've tried the Bulgarian in my SVT, went through about 100 rounds and never really had a problem once I got the gas system adjusted. With that said, my SVT hates the Chinese Surplus, at least half my ammo fails to fire. I can't wait to get rid of the rest of it...
I've tried the Bulgarian in my SVT, went through about 100 rounds and never really had a problem once I got the gas system adjusted. With that said, my SVT hates the Chinese Surplus, at least half my ammo fails to fire. I can't wait to get rid of the rest of it...
+1 ^^^
I owe all 3. Love them all! Feed the Bulgarian ammo to SVT 40 and Mosin with no problems at all. Mosin is my latest gun so I am still hyper about it - the novelty hasn't worn out yet.... And I do like the action of the bolt rifle...
If you have to ask, the answer is the SKS!!!
Ridiculously easy to shoot and clean, the ammo doesn't have harsh recoil (as the SVT does, yes I have both so I know of what I speak), and the surplus ammo for the SKS is dirt cheap. There's also all kinds of hunting ammo out there for the SKS.
It's also a decent deer rifle within about 150 yards, whereas the SVT is a decent rifle (with hunting ammo of course
) farther than 150 yards, IF (and that's a big IF) your shooting skills can make the shot.
I'd take my SKS out for deer long before I'd take my SVT-40 out, but I hunt in the mountains of Alberta. YMMV
Ridiculously easy to shoot and clean, the ammo doesn't have harsh recoil (as the SVT does, yes I have both so I know of what I speak), and the surplus ammo for the SKS is dirt cheap. There's also all kinds of hunting ammo out there for the SKS.
It's also a decent deer rifle within about 150 yards, whereas the SVT is a decent rifle (with hunting ammo of course
) farther than 150 yards, IF (and that's a big IF) your shooting skills can make the shot.I'd take my SKS out for deer long before I'd take my SVT-40 out, but I hunt in the mountains of Alberta. YMMV
This is a question I keep asking myself. Both are fairly cheap and I plan on owning both but I think my next purchase will be the SKS. You see I also want a norc 1911. Which is the same price as the svt. So I figured I'd get the SKS first then figure out what I want more. My first rifle was the m305. I guess I should have got an SKS and svt for what I paid for it but I was in love at the time.
