are sks rifle any good? because i was looken at some and u can get them for dirt cheap. would the be any good for hunting cyotes? and r they acerit? and whats the better round 223 or 308?

I had one years ago (90-91) that I paid 180 dollars for. I think it was a norinco? It was ok. Fun and fairly cheap to shoot. It was not real accurate, but wasn't horrible either. I killed a few jack rabbits with it under 100 yards.

Some are better than others. I think it is sort of a crap shoot when you buy them. I also owned a siaga sporter not to long ago. That thing was a complete POS. It functioned alright, but you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from inside the barn!

SKS in .223 or .308? All of them I have seen are 7.62x39. Simular in ballistics to a 30-30, with the 30-30 being the better round.

I think for around the same money you could get a H&R handi rifle or lever gun that would work better. SKS and AK's were designed to injure people at close to medium ranges and that is pretty much it. They function pretty reliably, but are not known to be the most accurate weapons. I have met some peole that had pretty accurate samples of each though.

Now the siaga's you can get in 7.62x39, 308, 223, .410, 20 and 12 gauges. The triggers are HORRID though.

My opinions any way.

I could point you to a few boards that cater to these weapons if you want.

If you have the money an AR variant is much better from what I understand.

Paul

Hillbilly, I bought a Yugo 59/66 SKS last year for $120, but haven't used it for hunting. I will probably try it out this year. My treestand is in an area where the longest shot is probably 50 yards. I took it to the range on Monday and the accuracy is acceptable for my purposes. If you really want to know more about the SKS, I suggest you go over to Survivor's SKS Boards. There's a forum for discussing hunting with an SKS.

The biggest issues to hunting with an SKS are that it wasn't designed as a hunting weapon, so accuracy isn't real good at 100 yards (3-5" groups depending on the individual rifle) and finding suitable ammo. The 7.62x39 cartridge is suitable for deer with ballistics slightly better than the .30-30 at longer ranges, but there's not a lot of ammo choices for deer. Remington makes some 123 gr soft point ammo in 7.62x39 and I've got some Wolf ammo that is soft-point with a 154 gr bullet. However, some think that the 154gr ammo isn't the best to use because the rate of twist in the SKS barrel is designed for ammo of the 123 gr variety.

I suggest you also browse around for articles on "slam-fires" with the SKS. While I haven't ever had one with my SKS, you should be aware of this safety issue, particularly if you are going to use American brand ammo which tends to have softer primers than the Russian-made or other surplus military ammo.

If you surf on over to the SKS Boards, you'll find plenty of info on the SKS.

the chinesse SKSs with the pinned barrels are pretty nice and shoot pretty good for the 160-180 they go for around here. Now i had a norico i sold for 200 with ammo and 30rd mags but is didnt shoot worth acrap and was only fun to shoot not good to shoot.

They're cheap and fun, but they're heavy--close to ten pounds, loaded (but without a scope), I think.

I'd rather have a Marlin lever action in 30-30.

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The 223.&308 are both good.
An so are the sks,s i have(and the 762.x39)& for what i payed for them are a bargin.

I have hunted yots(once) with them - but i(my son) ussally justplink around with them/ paper targets etc .my mate even likes to shoot the sks,s but she dont like the otherrifles much/ theones with more kick much.

Ijust mounted a red dot sight on the one& may in the future a regular type scope on the other as it seems to shoot "decent to me"-

That caution on slam fires good idea. Good thing to check into& be aware of as a possibility.

The rifleman(chuck conners ) never had that problem


Russki 762.39 20 rounds for about $2.00

30/30,s?I dont know.....Anything you could hunt with a 30/30 could pretty much be hunted with a sks .30 cal also if someone wanted too id think- deer/black bear on down.But there are better choices.

I have other firearms i use mostly for hunting myself. But id check your local laws on whats legal to use -hunting witha semi auto rifles etc( some stateswouldnt allow it im sure.....

The SKS is a good BATTLE RIFLE. It is reasonable accurate at 100-150 meters. It is reliabl and robust. It used to be cheap. A couple of years before Bill Clinton introduced the executive order banning certain arms and ammo from China (This was not the crime bill but was about a year before), I saw them going for 50 bucks at Gun shows.
I would not consider it a great hunting rifle. For 180 bucksyou could get a marlin or winchester in 30-30 that would be a bit better and probably more accurate.
Stiil, it is used in Russia and surrounding countries to bring most of the big game they have there. Maybe because they believe in the quality or the cartridge, or maybe because they are cheap there.
I am sure you could bring down a deer or hog with one if you got within 100 yards and you hit the vital zone. But as far as I know there is no good way to scope an sks. The scope mounts that attatches to to the back spring cover never stay zeroed. So you would be shooting at game with open sights. But it can be done
Put a paper plate up at the 50 yard target at the range. When you can consistently hit it offhand, move it to 75 yards. Then 100 yards. If you can hit it at 100 yards4 out of 5 times, you can probably out shoot most of the guys in your deer camp.
good luck

what you said a about slam fires it has happened to me .my firring pin was a little dirty and i was shooting reloads ,the primers that i was using were a bit on the soft side ,i did clean the pin and changed to a harder primer and that problem went away. i did then notes a little dentbut not enough to set it off,there is a hard military primer but i could not get my hands on any of them

Chinese SKS rifles can be made to shoot very well. The coyote rig below was action bedded, had a trigger job, Choate Machine Tool receiver mounted scope base, lap polished the bore and fitted a muzzle brake. It will consistantly ring a 12" gong at 300-yards (until she heats up) and will easily outshoot my buddy's Mini-14. That isdone using cheap Ruskie hollowpoint hunting ammo. The scope is a fixed 4-power from Tapco.
It's a little on the heavy side but great for multiple targets out to 150-yards.

Another unconventional Lil' rifle for yotes is my Marlin lever in 357 magnum. Small and handy for those times when ya just want to take a walk and have a shootin' iron with ya. This rifle had a cowboy action job, trigger job and features a scout scope mount and a Burris scout scope.