SKS for deer
- Thread starter FLYBYU44
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I expected a response like this. It's the easiest way to respond- don't actually answer!
It's hard to commit to answering this question honestly, of course. Makes people look themselves in the mirror and that can get uncomfortable for some.
Question is still on the table for anyone who actually wants to answer honestly.
I'm gonna answer your question but with a bit of a twist off the topic...... I hunt with a chopped down to 18.5 lee enfield on my quad. I don't shoot much past 150 yards with it.
last year I saw the buck of a lifetime, 5x6 mulie plus outside drop tines...... simply a HUGE buck, at about 200 yards and heading away.
I absolutely know my rifle and could have done the quick calculation and aimed high and lobbed one into the boiler room...... maybe
I didn't take that shot. the rifle in my hand wasn't the tool for the job. this year I'm still after that buck, he'll be around in a few weeks and i'll be ready
my week in the pemberton mountains is coming fast, maybe I should trade the enfield for an sks and put some of the naysayers in there place hehehe
no one is touting the sks as a be all hunting tool, but it is one, when used on the right game and in the right hands there is no arguing that
Actually it's more then that..
God forbid that a beginner hunter who doesn't have a lot of $$ get an SKS and start hunting.. he'd be shamed for not having the "proper equipment".
God forbid that every hunter does not have the $$ that every else on here has to just go out and drop 2K on a top magnum rifle.
God forbid any hunter who is tired of dropping 30+ deer with a 300 winmag and 24x scope, and wants to try something different.
God forbid any hunter who knows that he can hit something with his SKS at 100 yards.. cause everyone knows that the 7.62x39 drop 99% if it's energy between 99.5 and 100 yards.. it drop 6 feet in that last 6 inches
God forbid that someone should use a round that is "good enough " but not "man enough" for the rest of the hunters here..
God forbid that the 7.62x39 has taken more lives then it has deer...
Cause it will never be enough for a hunting round...
How many novice hunters can actually tell the difference between 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200?...... I bet you would be surprised
God forbid a poor guy that wants to hunt picks up a bubbad lee enfield in 303 brit on the cheap.....
Agreed.... and apologize if I came out as displaying animosity.... but.... given that an sks is plus or minus 3 inches at 100.... and a shaky novice like the op is plus or minus god knows what and typically will have a hard time truly judging yardage (especially important on a round that drops fast) ..... sounds like a bad recipe to me....
I expected a response like this. It's the easiest way to respond- don't actually answer!
It's hard to commit to answering this question honestly, of course. Makes people look themselves in the mirror and that can get uncomfortable for some.
Question is still on the table for anyone who actually wants to answer honestly.
Ok... fair enough.... to answer your question..... maybe.... and j can honestly say that because I have passed on lots of big deer while bowhunting.... if I was completely confident and knew the yardage 100 percent and the wind and other conditions were right then yes, I would likely take the shot.... but I would sure be wishing I had my trusty aught six with me.....
Great chart. Shows the 7.62x39 round at 175 yards is about 4" low. Well within the kill zone of a deer. Treat it like a 30-30 and go kill deer out to about 150 yards, and still have a margin for error.
I read that the sks was meant to be shot with a bayonet and was balanced that way.... the one I had sure felt like this was the case.... my feeling is that I have two weeks to hunt whitetail with a rifle a year.... it is very important to me and I grew up on it.... it is so important to me that I am raising my kids on it as well (they get pulled out of school opening week and run camp with my dad for now until they are old enough)..... I take this "hobby" very seriously..... I would hate to see my kids first experience deer hunting be a negative one because he was undergunned.... or he tried to stretch the yardage not knowing...
When I see op who has zero bug game experience and took the time to create the thread I see two scenarios.... either he is a t4oll or he is as inexperienced as my kids.... I dont want to set him up for failure....
Take the 4 inches and add user error.... what do you get?
A dead deer, just like using a 30-30
Would you shoot a deer at 250/300 yards with a 30-06? I know I would.
With a 30-06 zeroed at 200 yards (+2" @ 100 yards) the bullet has dropped almost 4" at 250 and 9" at 300.
All bullets drop, it's just where they drop that you need to start limiting or compensating. The OP already mentioned 100 yards. If the deer is 90 or 140 yards it really won't make much difference. Thousands of first time hunters have taken to the woods with a 30-30......
Agreed clark... but based on range experience does op really know where 100 yards is?.... an aught six would give him 2 inches at 100 yards ..... and would be zero at 200... most hunters cant even tell 100 from 150 or 150 from 200.... especially novices.... you are talking knowing drop.... do you really think the average "sks hunter" knows this and is capable of compensating for it?
BeaverMeat
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No problem if the average "sks hunter" learns his rifle properly...
Hey! I'm on to you. I get it now. I see what's going on here. You guys are stereotyping the "average" SKS owners as undesirable first-timer sloppy shooters that only shoot at junk for the purposes of fun. Cheap bang-bang noise maker shooters. Or just an unexpired shooter
FFS.
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I don't think that the average hunter using a 30-06 has a clue where his bullet drops to past 200 yards. The average hunter using any rifle can't judge distance past 150 yards.
But guys have been shooting deer for many years with many different guns and it seems to work.
If the prime concern is a new hunter judging distance, the most constructive suggestion would be to buy or borrow a LRF. Even cheap ones work fine to 300 yards
Long range shooter here
6.5 x 55 good out to 1000
7 mm mag tikka heavy build
308 famae
3006 styer
sks
honestly the Sks is a great little rifle ,
i personaly would keep it a a close quarter deer gun and for me
it's perfect for deep timber 50-70 yards all day
6.5 x 55 good out to 1000
7 mm mag tikka heavy build
308 famae
3006 styer
sks
honestly the Sks is a great little rifle ,
i personaly would keep it a a close quarter deer gun and for me
it's perfect for deep timber 50-70 yards all day
No problem if the average "sks hunter" learns his rifle properly...
Hey! I'm on to you. I get it now. I see what's going on here. You guys are stereotyping the "average" SKS owners as undesirable first-timer sloppy shooters that only shoot at junk for the purposes of fun. Cheap bang-bang noise maker shooters. Or just an unexpired shooter
FFS.
Yes, what is the "average" SKS shooter? I've had several over the years. I own custom rifles and high end optics including a Leica LRF.
Am I average?
Or is it this guy?
Also, some pretty heavy optics in pic 1..... looks like he coukd have afforded a better rifle to make those optics worth purchasing.... unless, of course, a quarter moa optic on a 2 plus moa rifle is his thing.....
Like I said, I'm not a new shooter, I have thousands of rounds put through various SKS rifles, in addition to thousands of rounds through other rifles as well. I hunt small game regularly in the fall, and think I'm pretty decent at judging distances. Anyway I have to laugh at the fellow telling me what I originally posted, I know what I posted due to the fact that I wrote it. I specifically asked for personal experience using a SKS rifle for whitetail and suggestions for good hunting ammunition. So far all anyone has done was bash the SKS as a rifle for hunting. I know it isn't the perfect deer rifle, but people have used milsurps for years to hunt, hell my dad put down many deer with a Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine.
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