Who reloads for the SKS . . .?

suprathepeg

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I have a D and I wanna reload for hunting I have a few questions.

-What bullet diameter is best?
-can brass be had?
-what have you found to be the best loading specs?
 
Bullet diameter would be .311 or .312. Yes brass can be had. I don't load any yet and the info should be in one of your manuals. I'm not sure if the brass life would be very long though. They tend to be quite hard on brass.
 
Yea thats what I thought, .311. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of .311 bullet options out there (I konw I reload for my Mosin) Seira makes some nice ones but I would really really like to use v-max. Where does one get the brass?
 
You could buy some of the brass cased, boxer primed Igman sp ammo, then you'd have cases.

Finding them after the SKS ejects them 25' up then 20' right might be a problem though :runaway:

Craig
 
Craig67 said:
You could buy some of the brass cased, boxer primed Igman sp ammo, then you'd have cases.

Finding them after the SKS ejects them 25' up then 20' right might be a problem though :runaway:

Craig

Where can you find Ingman rounds? Last I looked SIR didn't have any. I'm gonna fab up a shell deflector so the rounds land down if I can.
 
Hornady, and Speer make SKS hunting bullets.
I almost bought a box the other day.

Also some local guys are using 150 grain .311 loads from their Enfield hunting ammo.
 
For $10/box you can also get winchester, remington or federal 762x39 ammo. Or, for ~$30/100 you can sometimes find once-fired brass at shows and such.


I had an SKS, and found that RL-7 was the powder to use. If you remove the op-rod while working up loads and operate the gun as a straight-pull bolt action, it's easier to recover the brass
 
Stick with RL7 and Hornady 123gr. I never change my recipe cuz this one has produced a lot meat for me. I've got 1000 brand new winchester brasses....so, that'll last quite a while for me. :D

But with op-rod removed I saw lower muzzle velocity and some decline in accuracy. Probably each gun is different?
 
most likely. And I developed my loads with the op rod removed. Had I done load work with it installed I'd probably have found a different load which behaves as you describe
 
And, on the subject of which bullet to use - with a muzzle velocity of 2500fps or less, there's no need for an ultra whizbang-bonded-ballistic-whichamazit. What works in the 30-30 should work in the SKS; i.e. 150gr (or less) soft-nose cup-n-core bullets. The various SP bullets available in .311 should work fine for you, in either 123/5 or 150 weights. Avoid the 170+ bullets designed for the Enfield, you won't get enough velocity from them to get a decent trajectory or terminal performance, and I suspect they wouldn't be good for you gas system either (like the m14 with 180's and heavier. Not healthy for the rifle)
 
Good points about the heavier thumpers and the effect on the gas system parts.

Yah I wouldn't go beyond 150 grain bullets, and even then one would have to work ones loads up.

When I get into it, I'll be using pretty much the same load as rollingrock.
But maybe shave it down to 26.0 grains of RL7 instead of 26.5.

Then again I'm a belt and suspenders man. :D
 
depends. They make .308 and .310/.311 bullets. Any will work in the SKS, but the .310/.311 will work better. To know exactly which ones to use, you'd have to get your barrel slugged and measured; but it's not really worth it for the SKS. Just load up something in the .310 - .312 range and you'll be fine.
 
Man I wish .308 would work. I was really impressed with the results of acurizing my m44 (sub MOA) with bedding the action, floating the barrel and working up a good load.

I bedded the action on the SKS and if I work up a good load I hope to get it under 3" if I can. I just wish I could use V-MAX bullets too.
 
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