Sacha

Hey guys,

In about 1 year I will be able to get my PAL and so I am considering which firearm I should get (I plan on hunting whitetails).
Over the months, I narrowed it down to 2 very different gun, a Russian sks and a mossberg 500, probably with slugs.
Now, since I live in Canada I can't start throwing 30 rounds mag or mag tube extensions on it.
Why these 2 guns you ask? The answer is very simple, I'm broke AF, and sks's are dirt cheap in Canada and a shotgun is very versatile, from shooting deers to ducks to defending your home (even though that's very improbable, because Canada)
Reloading is something that I'd like to try eventually, but it's pretty much impossible in my current situation, because my mom won't let me build an ammo plant in my bedroom...
So considering many of you have much more experience than me, what's your opinion?

mrbb

the shotgun will do more than hunt deer and be about as accurate with slugs as a SKS would be, you will just be limited to what ever range the slugs group well out to(say a 100 yards or less )
so I would NOT recommend the SKS for hunting period,
next suggestion might be to look for a used rifle, like a savage bolt action, they can be found all over the USA pretty darn cheap and be more accurate than both your suggestions, IF that is DEER is the more likely thing you will be hunting!, it will be useless for anything that fly's and be dangerous to shoot at anything that fly's with it as well
have to ask yourself what do you plan to really hunt , same cane be said about USED shotguns, I would also tell you to consider a rem 870 shotgun, as like the mossberg they can be had cheap and you can also get a good slug barrel for it to make it better for deer use(I highly recommend using a slug barrel on any shotgun you plan to shoot slugs with, or at least MAKE sure it has a am Improved cylinder on it so slugs can fly without issue's, as you do NOT want to be shooting slugs out of modified or full or tighter choke on a shotgun barrel)

elkman30

Withing their ranges, both guns will work for deer hunting. What ranges and type of deer hunting do you anticipate?

mrbb

yeah both might work at range, but most all ammo for the sks will be full metal jackets ammo, and well that sucks for hunting! so that is why I suggested the 12 ga over it, or a used gun in a different caliber! very few folks shoot enough to make a decent rifle bad! takes a lot of $$ to shoot the rifling out of a rifle barrel! so used rifles many time sare good guns to buy and get for a lot less than new!

billyboy

Good luck ,have you looked at some of the package deals ?Some bolt guns come with a scope that might be in your price range .

rogerstv

Get a Remington 870 before the Mossberg. Mossberg make a sloppy, loose feeling, heavy weighted pump.

hunters_life

I know you said you are broke but the fact is, the SKS, 7.62x39 is a very weak round for whitetail. Especially those monster Canadian whitetails. And going the slug route really limits your range unless you get a really good slug dedicated rifle such as the Savage 220 or 212 which both have much better range/accuracy capability than most your shotguns with rifled barrels. mrbb actually gave you very good advise in looking for a used bolt gun in. Get one in 7mm.08 or above and hit the range. There is a reason SKS are cheap. Because they pretty much suck as far as accuracy. Back to shotguns, you say you are broke, then you dang sure wouldn't want to pay the price of slugs today. And whatever you get, you will need to practice so you don't get out there and miss, or even worse, wound a deer.

Gm54-120

You can buy a single shot for under $300 and fairly nice ones for under $400. Both Traditions and CVA offer some very reasonable single shot rifles. Henry just started offering them also.

Under $300
https://cva.com/product-line/hunter/
Under $400
https://cva.com/product-line/scout/
https://www.traditionsfirearms.com/c...y/outfitter-g2
https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/single-shot-rifle/

Sacha

Thx guys for the replies. I considered it, and since where I'm going to hunt you can't make one step without eating branches, I think slug range Is going to be more than enough. The price of good sabot slugs in Canada can be as much as 5$ each... Welcome to Canada eh?
So yeah, maybe getting a job would help.. Yeah, that's not a bad idea :P

Gm54-120

Good slugs are pushing $5 each here too. Most are not but there are plenty in the $17/5 range. Funny thing is though my muzzle loaders will equal or beat that performance in many cases for much less. I can only guess 45/70 would be pretty common up there. All the cheaper single shots i mentioned are offered in 45/70. The Henry in 308 sounds like a really good all around rifle. Ammo is extremely common just about anywhere.