OP, don't want to get a bad SKS??????? Go to a shop that sells them and LOOK before you PURCHASE.
I am not trying to be rude here but it sounds like you really need to get some hands/eyeballs on experience. Here is something else to consider. PRICE of AMMUNITION. If you can't afford the rifle, believe me you can't afford to be in the sport and do any amount of shooting to become proficient enough to hunt.
Start with something smaller and cheaper to shoot. For instance a 22lr of your choice. There are several new off the shelf out there, taxes in, delivered to you under $300. Same goes for the low end offerings from some of the major dealers, such as Remington/Savage bolt action rifles chambered in excellent hunting cartridges, complete with scopes in the $400 range.
SKS rifles are great. As far as a hunting rifle, they will work fine but IMHO are awkward and scopes don't really increase the accuracy appreciably at the ranges the rifle's cartridge is effective at.
If you're looking for a fun plinker that will double as a pressed into service hunting rifle then an SKS will do that.
DO YOU HAVE any IDEA of how to break one down to clean it properly after shooting corrosive ammo????? It isn't difficult by any means but some folks just can't get the hang of it and others refuse to believe the ammo can be corrosive.
A newbie came to me just after New Years with an SKS he was given as a Christmas present. He left most of the cosmoline in the action and under the wood but had at least cleaned it out of the barrel.
He took it out with his Uncle and shot it on Boxing Day with some shiny brass cased surplus ammo. When they were done, he put the rifle away and forgot about it for a week. He was very upset. The LGS his Uncle had picked the rifle up from wouldn't take it back because there was NOTHING WRONG with it, other than HE had shot fifty rounds of corrosive ammo out of it BUT FAILED TO CLEAN IT afterwards. The newbie was POSITIVE there was something wrong with the rifle. NOPE. It wasn't the rifle.
He wanted me to FIX it.
Even though it had only been a week, what had once been a mirror bright bore in a refurbed to as new SKS, now had a FROSTY BORE. Still very shootable but there was no longer that lovely sheen to the bore.
He got a quick lesson in how to break down the rifle for cleaning, schooled in the use of CMP lubricants and appropriate cleaners. Not a big deal for most of us. For him, it was a total game changer. He just wanted the rifle GONE. He didn't want the hassle of corrosive ammo even though he had been informed that commercial non corrosive was definitely available but about 3-5 times the cost. Nothing would persuade him to keep the rifle. He asked me to give him $100 for it and the remaining 60 rounds he had. OK, are you sure???? I bought that rifle because he would have sold it to someone else at that price.
OP, you likely know all about this so please bear with me. I'm just trying to make you aware of some of the pitfalls when shooting surplus firearms with perceived CHEAP surplus ammo.
