you would be a ton better off with atleast a SKS. personally I would opt for in order of preferance 1st AR-15 and other variants or a M1A 2nd a Saiga Sporter and 3rd a Mini-14 or Mini-30. AK's are made to be rugged and reliable rather then accurate, but the accuracy is good enough for shooting at people to 300 yards under combat standards.

Take it for what it worth... I am a pretty good shot period...

Dozens of shooting awards from the USMC...

Buddy of mine bought one... We went to the range and shot man size targets at 100 yards with iron sights... I was lucky to hit the target... I took my AR-15 DELTA HBAR out and put 5 shots in a 1" group(with scope)

They are good for one thing... Putting a lot of bullets down range...

Buy what you want

Check out the HK line of assult rifles

I sure did have a bunch shot at me over in Nam in 68-69 and they all missed...johnny b.

I'd have to agree with most here..you'd be aweful unlucky if you got hit by one, problem is since there .30 caliber even a bad hit is usually fatal..with all that empty brass laying around in the streets of Bagdad you'd think all the people would be dead by now..not accurate but reliable for sure....and if you ever get a chance to be in the firing line they make a sound unlike any other..you won't forget that either..

The Saigas are the best of the bunch that you can get for under $1000. They are made by the Russian Ishmash armory to Russian Specs which are pretty much tops for AKs, the Chinese make good AKs also, but thanks to Bubba Clinton, they can't be imported anymore and command a high price these days. The Saigas can easily be converted back to their military form with a few hours worth of work and about $100 worth of parts. The accuracy of Saigas that I've shot were rather decent out to 100 yards, and there is always an option of adding a scope.


As far as shooting moving deer goes, that is a completely different story. The conservation club I belong to has a running deer shoot where only AR rifles are allowed. The deer runs at 60 yards away and is in view for about 3 seconds and makes a total of 6 passes for the shooter who has to shoot standing. There is a small paper plate attached to the head and a standard paper plate attached to the vitals. Most of the shooters used 30 rd mags, and there were very very few hits on the paper plates. I burned off 30 rounds myself without a single hit. [] It looks very easy to an observer but is very difficult in practice.

if your state allows it you be better off with a load of buck shot for those moving deer.

I had a saiga sporter in 7.62x39, with the scope mount. Biggest POS gun I have ever owned in my entire life. It sure didn't need the scope, I could have done just as well without the sights all together. My SKS was WAAAY better in every aspect. I have shot a few mac 90's or what ever they are that were not too bad. I still wouldn't hunt with one though.

For the same money I paid for the saiga you could get a H&R single shot rifle and it would be much more accurate and you would have the option of swapping barrels from different centerfire rounds to shotgun barrels.

Also keep in mind to check your local laws. Many prohibit Semi Auto rifles, rifles of a certain length or type and how many rounds it can hold.

If money were not a concern I would suggest an AR style weapon chambered in .308. This would be an excellent all around weapon.

Paul