SKS a good starter rifle - or is it?

Greetings and welcome to a great hobby
I am a fellow newbie starting late in life ish
im 44 and have had my pal for aprox 3 months
the SKS was on my radar from day 1 however
after doing my research and talking with experienced
shooters at the range i went with a 22bolt action.
My choice was a marlin xt in 22lr
I was explained that first you learn to shoot get your basics
work on getting some skill breathing etc.
And a bolt action is just the way to go for accuracy especially
at any distance.
I have to say that for me this course really worked
Then for a second gun i picked up the marlin795 semi
again learn the basics of a semi the differences
without breaking the bank 500 rounds for a average of 20.00
just cant be beat.
Now my sights are on adding a russian sks as i feel im ready
to appreciate it and can shoot off 40 rounds and then fall back to my 22s.
Also as someone mentioned the milsurp bulk 762x39 is cheap but can really only be used if you have your own outdoor space or outdoor range
most indoor will not allow metal core or milsurp.
And at a optomistic .80 cents a round for commercial 762x39
i for one cant shoot that all day
Just as a kick off or a ending rush .

cheers welcome and enjoy
 
My first purchase was a ruger 10-22. Great gun, fun to shoot, and lots of after market accessories. My second purchase was a Chinese SKS. Again great gun, fun to shoot, and lots of after market junk. The tapco stock defiantly makes the SKS fit better. As for the steel core ammo, you can always get into re-loading and do the old Mexican match ammo bullet swap.
 
There is no right or wrong answer here. Ask yourself what you will be using the rifle for. If you will be hunting, choose the appropriate caliber for the size of your game. Find a rifle that is well built, feels good in your hands and fits your budget. If you will be mainly plinking or using at the range then more options are available to you. The SKS is fun but not accurate. As chadeech said above, perhaps for your first gun choose something that shoots accurately and allows you to practice your shooting technique. Your good aim will be rewarded with a good tight group. A .22 is versatile and cheap to feed. (everyone has a .22)

Don't over think this too much. Your first gun will not be your last. Good luck to you. Safe shooting.
 
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I'll add my 2 cents worth in here. I have 3 SKSs and they are fun. A good cheap carbine that for it's price has no bad points. As ,mentioned by several others, get a 22 to hone your skills. There is nothing cheaper (excluding a pellet gun) to practice with. I own a lot of those too.
 
I think a semi is a very bad idea for any beginner. In my opinion you should start off with a small calibre bolt action for the obvious reasons.
 
Canuck525 said:
I think a semi is a very bad idea for any beginner. In my opinion you should start off with a small calibre bolt action for the obvious reasons.
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I'd call myself a "beginner" and all (3!) of my guns are semis.

If you have your head screwed on tight, a semi won't cause a beginner any problems. If you get excited easily and forget your ACTS and PROVE... maybe. But that'll cause you problems no matter what action you choose.

Personally I think a .22LR (any action) is a good choice for a first rifle (period). Cheap, minimum recoil. etc.
An SKS is a good first centrefire rifle.
No reason why you can't buy both first rifles at the same time if you want to, or go centrefire first! :)

Canuck525 said:
I think a semi is a very FUN idea for any beginner.
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Fixed! :)
 
Everyone should have an SKS. Cheap, fun to shoot, cool factor of a bayonet, and we need to have MILLIONS of these things around the next time the Liberals want to ban semi-autos so that they have MILLIONS of votes to lose.

That being said, your PRIMARY learning rifle should be a .22 LR.
 
It should be noted that most militaries use 22s as a basic training rifle. Even when one is proficient in shooting, a 22 is a good practice round. I have been shooting for 50 years with everything up to 50 cal and still enjoy plinking with a 22.
 
I own a few and think that notwithstanding a few shortcomings, that they can be very good guns for beginnners.

While I think that everyone should have a .22 and use it extensively to hone their shooting skills, the SKS lets you practice at further distances (say about 100-200 yards). While a .22 can be good for 100yd range practice on a calm day, even at that distance they could be greatly effected by the wind.

I would recommend doing lots of practice in various shooting postions at 100yards (if you take your time, you should be able to get all shots on a target from a standing, unsupported position). I also like to try shooting at a gong or targets from the bench at 200yards, and thusfar do well with the generous gong but miss some shots out of every group on the smaller paper targets but at least that leaves me something to work on. Most centrefire rifles are just too expensive to do much practice in the sitting, kneeling standing postions at any range, and yet I think that's perhaps the most important thing for a future hunter to work on.

While I'm not a fan of throwing accessories onto these rifles, I've seen a slip on butt pad for those who need extra length on the butt. One thing I may do is get a Williams Peep Sight to see if that helps with shooting at longer ranges (it would also be good for faster sight acquisition when hunting game at closer distances), though most scope mounting systems leave much to be desired and are probably more trouble than they are worth. The Williams site is available at hicalibre.ca

Just keep her clean, take your time shooting and the SKS will make you a better marksman while providing you a decent deer rifle for wooded terrain. Make sure to get at least a case or two of ammo (plus a few soft points to sight in if you plan to hunt with it soon) and you'll be ready for lots of shooting fun.
 
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I'm confused? Unless your the Jolly Green Giant, I'm pretty sure the SKS's size will be more than adequate. Lol! Who told you that? That's nuts. My AR's are way smaller than that and any "big guy" can use them. I've had Chinese and Russian SKS's and all of them worked awsome. I used the he'll out of the surplus stuff and never had an issue. If you want a rifle that's big, I hear there is some .50 M2's on a tripod that are Semi somewhere. Lol!
 
I was very new to guns when I got my first rifle. My first rifle was a Norinco Type 56 SKS made in the mid 60's. I still have it. Lets look at your issues:

1 - Semi-automatic rifles are inherently more complex than bolt action.
The SKS is a very easy firearm to deal with. Disassembly takes all of one minute and re-assembly is easy.

2- They made gazillions of those, in numerous countries and factories. The quality varies.
Indeed, but here in Canada we basically have four SKS rifles that you'll be able to find easily: Russian, Chinese Military, Chinese Commercial and the Occasional Yugoslavian. Chinese commercial are the worst quality of all of these, and they're harder to find nowadays. Pretty much every Chinese SKS you'll buy from a dealer will be an unissued rifle made for their military and it will function flawlessly. The Russian will probably have the best finish, the Yugo will come second, the Chinese Military third. All function the exact same and accuracy will not be noticeably different. The differences are miniscule in terms of actual performance.

3- Because of this and packing grease, you pretty much have to give it a pretty thorough inspection/cleaning before shooting it the first time.
You should do this with every firearm. I won't shoot a new rifle unless I've stripped it, cleaned and oiled it to my standards and checked to make sure everything looks on the up and up. Before I got my first rifle (the aforementioned SKS) I had never fired or broke down a rifle in my life. I managed to strip my SKS, get every bit of cosmoline out of it, and reassemble it within an evening, using a video from YouTube. It's not hard.

4- Depending on the type of firing pin and also how well the gun was cleaned/maintained, the gun *can* be prone to slam fire. Properly fixing the pin needs someone who's quite competent.
Untrue. I took the firing pin out when I cleaned the rifle the first time I stripped it, using a press and a punch. I cleaned the cosmoline off the pin and the channel and reassembled it properly. Again, I was not only new to guns, but I was a 19 year old kid. Finding out how to properly do this using the internet is not hard. You can prevent your firing pin from getting stuck forward by making sure you clean your bolt face well every time you shoot it. If you're really worried about this happening, you can take the firing pin out and clean the channel and pin once every, let's say, ten shooting sessions. I usually do it about once every 20 and it's never been an issue. Also, don't oil your firing pin or the channel.

5-That cheap ammo is military surplus, which is corrosive, which requires more cleaning and can cause issue with the slam fire.- The Chinese models are a bit small for men of average or larger stature.
Corrosive ammo requires literally one more step which takes all of five minutes. Pouring hot water down the bore and gas system then wiping off the excess that doesn't evaporate (most of it does.) Again, this is not hard. I am 6'4, all SKS rifles are quite large, but the length of pull is less than adequate for me. You can get a recoil pad for that, or just make your own. I can shoot the rifle without just fine and I'm sure you can too.

6- The military look can be off-putting to some bystanders.
So? That's their bloody problem, not yours. Plus, if you're keeping your SKS bone stock (I do,) it doesn't look particularly menacing compared to let's say, a Tavor.

Get an SKS, you won't regret it. I have three and love them.
 
An SKS is a perfect gun to start out with. Unless you want a bolt action in which a M44 Nagant carbine is perfect. Also a m44 nagant is fairly cheap as is the sks.
 
plinker 777 said:
You're over thinking things OP. Buy a Russian (Izzy if you can find one), 2-3 crates of surplus and practice, practice, practice, for the love of all things holy the Zombie Apocalypse is almost upon us...gird your loins :D
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Well ya!
Everybody is eating everyone else's face anymore! I knew the Zombie Apocalypse was coming! Lol!
 
SKS is a super fun gun to shoot. For two hundred and change you won't be sorry. Buy two and a case of ammo, then go shooting in the woods. Just don't put it on youtube if you're having fun. :D
 
gmctech said:
6. Piss of a "Lie"beral :)
Just buy it and you'll never look back, or if you do look back you'll always smile! :rockOn:
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I'm a liberal (Card carrying NDP actually) and I love the SKS, I'm getting 2 as soon as my license comes in (1 Russian, keeping it stock, 1 to dress up mall ninja style). I love seeing people shoot their SKSs and would love it if we could overturn the AK ban, get on that conservatives (stop taking our taxes and pissing them away on the F35 and take the Valmet 76 wedge and extend to all AK variants so I can get a Saiga)!

Also you may want to try getting the whole taking ###'s rights away and teaching creationism in science class thing under control, it makes all of you look bad. Oh and stop fighting the war on women too, that ain't cool.

=) Your friendly neighborhood commie red menace (don't worry I'll care for you when you're old and rickety).

:rockOn:
 
advantages to it being a beginner rifle: cheap to buy and shoot, easy to disassemble, low recoil (for most men), you can treat it rough, the cosmoline is actually more forgiving than getting a dry rifle and has the added benefit of teaching you about your gun, offers a great platform to build on.

disadvantages: you must clean it constantly as the ammo is usually corrosive, but the fact that its like 20-25 cents a shot makes it beyond worth it.

my advice- Don't worry about the cleaning part. buy a steam cleaner (shark 70$) and after you shoot, throw all the pieces into a rubbermaid tub. steam clean the balls out of everything, all the parts will be scalding hot and therefore self dry and self strip themselves of the ####. then WITH GLOVES take them out, oil em, wipe em, and re assemble. so easy!
 
plinker 777 said:
You're over thinking things OP. Buy a Russian (Izzy if you can find one), 2-3 crates of surplus and practice, practice, practice, for the love of all things holy the Zombie Apocalypse is almost upon us...gird your loins :D
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This. Good lord this. Curse 5rd mag limits, we'll all be sorry when the zombies come, mark my words.
 
oh ya, and its also surprisingly accurate. This varies from rifle to rifle, but a can at 50-75 yards with the sights on battle setting, and a full 5 rounds in the mag, and i promise you you'll smoke it.
 
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