rednekhuntr

My wife just bought me one for a fun gun. They had a bunch of new ones at the gun shop, and ammo is dirt cheap. I put 100 rounds through it today, and had a blast. No jams. Not exactly what I would call a tack driver, 4 to 5 inch groups @ 100 yards, but fun to shoot. I' m curious, have any of you guys ever taken a deer with the 7.63x39mm? I know it has a little less kinetic energy than a 30-30, but I thought it might be fun to whack a deer with it. Near the end of the season, AFTER ol mossyhorns is on the meat pole, of course.

diyj98

I' ve carried one a few times as a brush gun. Just make sure you don' t use full metal jacket ammo. Pick a load with a good softpoint bullet like the current Remington load. You' re right, it' s not up to 30-30 performance, but I think it' s certainly adequate up to 100 yards or so.

paulyseggs

i like mine alot, try the corbon 150grain softpoints if you want a heavier bullet

halcon

You might have to change the magazine to be legal to hunt deer with it because a lot of states limit semi-autos to 5 rounds max . I have never used it on deer ,but it did work good on hogs .

Nomercy

Mine' s a bit more accurate than you claim yours is, I get around 1.5" groups at 100yrds off a forend rest, but with your accuracy, I' d definately consider using it. I only take mine out after my .30-06 has filled its plate, or I' m going on a drive hunt in brush. I don' t feel bad taking it through rough stuff and I' m a heck of a snap shot with it. Mine is the paratrooper model, shorter barrel that is, and it has a folding stock on it, so it makes for very easy portaging. At 100yrds, it' s a great gun for deer of any size, I' ve used mine on coyotes out to 300yrds with great performance, so I' m confident with the ammo for deer at closer ranges.

Remember to use quality ammo when hunting though. You can get extremely familiar with the rifle very quickly because you can buy so much ammo for little money, but surplus stuff isn' t up to snuff on game.

As far as the capacity is concerned...I talked to the local rangers here (I have a good working relationship with them though) and asked them if they' d nail me to the wall if I had my 10 (really 11) rnd box mag in while hunting, they said they might check to make sure I only had 5 loaded at once, and since it was me they wouldn' t do anything about the capability of going over 5. I also asked them if I could just put in a plug (like shotgunners do) to limit the cap. to meet the requirement, they said that' d be great and that they were sure that no ranger in KS would cite me for having the over cap. mag if I made the effort to limit it. It didnt' take much work. I just cut a piece of wood in a wedge then loaded five rounds in the mag out of the gun, and wittled on the piece with a hand-lathe until it was small enough to lock the mag, then I put a piece of double sided utility tape in the bottom of the box and set the block in,viola, limited my cap to fit regs and I didn' t spend a dime.

rednekhuntr

Thanks for the responses. I' ve only tried the hardball military ammo with it. I' m sure I' ll be able to shrink the groups when it' s broken in, and I' ve tried a variety of ammo. Mine came with a 5 round mag. The serial # on the mag matches the ones on the trigger guard, and the barrel. The gun was coated in packing grease, so I had to completely disassemble it and give it a good cleaning before firing it. If it works well on deer, I' ve got an 8 year old stepson who will appreciate the low recoil when he' s 12 and finally able to carry a gun when I bring him out hunting. We' ve got some pretty silly hunting regs up here in Ontario. The earliest age used to be 15. It' s funny ' cause my father drilled proper hunting ethics, and safety into me for as long as I remember, but he used to let me use a .22 as early as 6. That' s the only law I can ever remember my father breaking. Niether one of us has any regrets.

Mainehunter

Around 10 years ago I took a small buck with a Norico SKS. I took it in the shoulder at only 35 or so yards. The deer was trotting along and crumpled up on impact. I used the soft point hunting ammo that was available at the time and it seemed to work just fine.

As for the 10 round mag, here in Maine you are limited to a 5 round mag but what I did at the time was I carved a peice of wood to fit in the bottom of the mag of just the right size to allow 5 rounds to be loaded. To make it a " permanent" alteration I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the mag and secured the wood to the mag with a screw. It was explained to me at the time that this would sufficiently meet the legal restriction on the magazine capacity.

The SKS can be a whole lot of fun to shoot and is a great truck gun. I' m actually thinking about picking up another one.

Rick Teal

rednekhuntr:

Sounds like you bought yours about the same time mine arrived from Lever in Vancouver.

Have you field stripped it yet? It comes apart like a dream. No tools required.

Mine' s already pinned as well - thanks to Kimmy Campbell' s gun law.

I' m trying to locate some milsurp ammo, but I guess it' s a little less common up here in the Ottawa area. I' ve sent an e-mail to Marstar, but they haven' t replied yet. If I can get some, I hope to be able to shoot it this coming week-end.

It looks like it' ll make a fun plinker. I don' t think I' ll hunt with it though - I wouldn' t be able to live down the bayonet.

Rick

rednekhuntr

Hey Rick, If your Kicking, aronnd Ottawa, you should take a stop by the Lebarons in Kanada. They should have lots of cheap milsurp ammo, as well as scope mounts, and drop in synthetic stocks. Every time I' m in Ottawa I drop by , and I always leave with at least one great deal. Usually it' as a new to me rifle, or a pile of super cheap ammo/reloading components.

Rick Teal

rednekhuntr:

I was there yesterday. No milsurp ammo or any SKS stuff (at least at the local store). They used to carry a lot of that type of thing, but I guess they' re getting a little too " high brow" for some of us.

Rick