SKS Accuracy

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

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Is the rifle itself accurate? Or is the round it shoots isn't inherently accurate? I was thinking of the SVT 40 and 7.62x54r round and the SKS and the 7.62x39. Both guns are tilting blocks, short stroke piston. The 7.62x54r has a better BC than the x39, so is it the rifle or the bullet that causes accuracy difference?
 
mosinmaster said:
Is the rifle itself accurate? Or is the round it shoots isn't inherently accurate? I was thinking of the SVT 40 and 7.62x54r round and the SKS and the 7.62x39. Both guns are tilting blocks, short stroke piston. The 7.62x54r has a better BC than the x39, so is it the rifle or the bullet that causes accuracy difference?
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its a combination of rifle (proper bedding, good barrel) Bullet (consistency is accuracy) and shooter (the worlds most accurate rifle is only as accurate as the nut behind the trigger) I've had bone stock SKS's shoot 3" @ 100m with surplus and irons, others have had even tighter groups, especially with a scope and better ammo. I think alot of the 8+ MOA SKS's you hear about were inexperienced shooters who bought a cheap gun and cheap ammo, rattled off some half assed groups and decided it was an innaccurate rifle. There are a few bolt guns in x39 out there, and handloaders can squeeze some serious accuracy from them. I bought one of the AIA M10A1s that Wolverine brought in, but sold it to another member who tells me it shoots 1" @ 100m with anything he feeds it. So the round is not inherintly innaccurate no matter what the internet says.
 
Depends on what the idea of accuracy is.

If you think 2 inch groups are acceptable at 100 yards from a military rifle with open sights and military ammo... yes, I would agree its quite accurate and I would take that rifle to bed with me.;)

On average the sks falls short of accurate,... no matter what the internet says.:)
 
mosinmaster said:
What is the best group possible with a stock SKS at 100m?
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There are number of factors, but for me 4 inches at 100yards with irons (surplus projectiles replaced with hornady v-max)

I only manage 3 inches at 100 yards with my m305 so 4 inch at 100 for a rifle i paid $100 is good for me.
 
I had a Bell refurb sks that would not shoot at any distance. One of the worst problems with these old rifles is that they have been sitting around in depots for most of their life, all the while the wood has been drying out. My sks before I experimentally bedded it with gasket paper and brass shim stock would not shoot into 12 " at 100 m. Here is another thing: you hear people who say that if you take out the piston and use the rifle as a straight bolt action, it will be more accurate. I found this to be true, however, you will most likely require a hardwood shop club to open the action, by beating on the charging handle. My refurb sks will shoot around 3-4" at 100 m now from a bench. However, part of that is me. I use the regular iron sights though. I have a jungle stock I am going to epoxy bed perhaps over the winter and I will try it out sometime next year when I get the time.

Merry Christmas fellow CGNer's. :)
 
mosinmaster said:
What is the best group possible with a stock SKS at 100m?
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The average is about 4 inches plus or minus at 100 yards/ meters with mil surp ammo.. unless you get very lucky.

The front sight needs a large black image on white paper to place the large front pin sight to shoot paper accurately at that range, and can be dificult to hold in the same place consistently, therefore larger groups.

If you care to tapper the top of the front sight to a point, you would see greater accuracy.
 
I can usually get around 4-5 inch groupings @ 100 yards with Chinese Type 56 SKS ,with practice (what i am doing in my avatar...lol) i am sure i could improve that and as others have said a Military Rifle with open sights i would consider that pretty good.
 
4 inches is pretty good at 100 yards. Some commercial ammo shoots better than surplus.


A not-so-nice shooting rifle does shoot 12 or 14 inch groups, regardless of the shooter. Lots of refurbs have bad crowns or poor bedding to account for this, but as one poster suggested, it can be poor shots because of poor shooting skills. having that said, i've shot SKS rifles that had groups of 2 1/2 inches, out to 20inches at 100 yards.
 
IMG_2306.jpg
 
My 1952 Tula SKS does 3 inches at 100 yards with me and has done better with other shooters, all stock, the stock hasn't even been oiled. Other than keeping it clean and adjusting the sights, there's nothing put in to it.
 
I have been fooling around with my military chinese sks for a while, and previously posted some results/pics of the gun. I have a choate scope mount and a vortex 4-12 diamondback scope on it. The single best thing my gun likes for accuracy is a muzzle brake. If I take it off, the accuracy falls off to half. It has to be snugly fitted.
I have had similar results with Choate and the cheapo chinese ones (only if they are tight). Right now, I'm using the Choate one.

I have been playing around with buffers (both blackjack and buffer technologies are in the gun).

I will be posting my results when I'm done testing.
I have found huge differences in the weight (wgt is approx 150 grains +/- 2 grains) and diameter (bullet diameter is .309" +/- .002) of the milsurp ammo. Frankly, I'm amazed you can still get groups around 2" with this stuff. So, I'd say the cartridge is very accurate. However, I thought I'd share this for now, since it is up for discussion.

At 100yds, earlier this week at the range, here is my off hand shooting 5 shots/target.
I used unsorted milsurp ammo.

DSC07696.jpg



DSC07695.jpg


Since I was able to hit the paper, I thought I'd rattle off a group just resting the gun on the table top (sandbags were all put away). I think with a better rest and warmer me, I can get into sub 2" groups with milsurp. The gun has already shown it will shoot close to 1" groups with factory hunting ammo.

this is a 2 1/8" group

DSC07694.jpg


Needless to say, I was very happy with the gun, and it was a fine ending to a pretty cold 3 hrs at the range. It was also my nephew's first time shooting handguns, etc and he loved it.
 
LarryG said:
I have been fooling around with my military chinese sks for a while, and previously posted some results/pics of the gun. I have a choate scope mount and a vortex 4-12 diamondback scope on it. The single best thing my gun likes for accuracy is a muzzle brake. If I take it off, the accuracy falls off to half. It has to be snugly fitted.
I have had similar results with Choate and the cheapo chinese ones (only if they are tight). Right now, I'm using the Choate one.

I have been playing around with buffers (both blackjack and buffer technologies are in the gun).

I will be posting my results when I'm done testing.
I have found huge differences in the weight (wgt is approx 150 grains +/- 2 grains) and diameter (bullet diameter is .309" +/- .002) of the milsurp ammo. Frankly, I'm amazed you can still get groups around 2" with this stuff. So, I'd say the cartridge is very accurate. However, I thought I'd share this for now, since it is up for discussion.

At 100yds, earlier this week at the range, here is my off hand shooting 5 shots/target.
I used unsorted milsurp ammo.

DSC07696.jpg



DSC07695.jpg


Since I was able to hit the paper, I thought I'd rattle off a group just resting the gun on the table top (sandbags were all put away). I think with a better rest and warmer me, I can get into sub 2" groups with milsurp. The gun has already shown it will shoot close to 1" groups with factory hunting ammo.

this is a 2 1/8" group

DSC07694.jpg


Needless to say, I was very happy with the gun, and it was a fine ending to a pretty cold 3 hrs at the range. It was also my nephew's first time shooting handguns, etc and he loved it.
Click to expand...

Wow that is very impressive!! I have been thinking about putting a scope on one of my SKS's.
 
I haven't made any real attempt to adjust my front sight as of yet, so at 100 yards I'm not even hitting paper. At 50 yards however, on a fresh clean barrel my shoots are hitting 6-8 inches high and right. Once I have about 20 rounds through it the groups are tightening up and are hitting about 3 inches right of center. After about 40, I'm usually on center and doing 3 inch groups.
 
Power Pill said:
I can hit a human silhouette, free hand at 100m. that's good enough for me :p
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+1

I regularly get 3-4 inch groups with my 1953 Tula and surplus ammo. Plenty accurate for a rifle designed to be used by a bunch of uneducated conscripts. I get a kick that the sights can actually be adjusted to 1000m. At that range the rifle is more mini-artillery then actual rifle fire.
 
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