Should I buy an SKS???
 

I have just about bought a SKS about 100 times now... For some reason I just never pulled the trigger (pardon the pun...). I'm not sure what I'd do with it, but I watched one shot at the range once and it looked like fun. So, if any of you have one let me know why I should or shouldn't have one..Thanks

it's a good, solid design, and a fun little rifle.
It's been used for decades in all climates and conditions.

Makes a good little plinker, or a small to medium game short ranged hunting rifle.

whether you shoudl or not is up to you, but it isn't a bad choice at all.

YES, you should buy one. But I also answer that to any should I buy this gun question. The SKS is a fun little gun to shoot, the ammo is cheap and they aren't very expensive. You can reload for it if you want, I did for mine but it didn't seem to help accuracy any. You can buy soft points for short range hunting or reload them. The SKS and my Garand are the two guns I always grab when I just want to go do some shooting and have a 'blast' doing it.

I have had quite a few SKS's. My brother bought a case of I think 12 or 16 we shot them all and kept the best six each. I am down to my last two.

Which is for sale, I notice you are in Utah. Where at?? If you are looking at one seriously send me a PM.

This one is a Norinco from China, with a spike style bayonet. It shoots great I have only shot about 250 round thru this one, not one jam. I have shot over 3,000 rounds thru my other one. I have been getting into archery and have been selling off some guns I hardly shoot to pay for that new habit:D

My brother has taken several deer with his which is scoped. My dad had also taken a few deer with his. I have just used mine for rabbit and coyote hunting. And to take out and just shoot stuff when the 22 gets boring.

This one I have just kept as a backup gun. I have kept it under the bed in my camper with 200 rounds of ammo as an "emergency" gun. Just in case my hunting rifle had problems. But now I am looking at a new 3d target and arrows so It is next in line for sale.

It depends
 

My recommendation would be to buy an SKS if you really want one. They will cost more later. These are solid guns and built to last. All the best...
Gil

Big joe,

If you want an SKS, go buy it! Far too many folks in Peoples' Republiks of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Great Britain can only think about such a purchase.

I bought my first SKS in the early 1990s that was new-in-box with sling, oiler, chest pouch and combo tools for $85! I shot it, liked it and went back for a few more. I reload for my SKSs and love them. I have one favorite I always carry on the farm. It is far better than the M1 Carbine it replaced for coyotes, chucks, other varmits and such like.

I suspect you could have bought a NEW SKS for under $100 in the past and I say you should have. Well, better late than never-go for it!

Adam

Here are some pics of the one I am selling

oops here is the other one

Nice gun RUM I'm not in the market right at the moment. I just bought a 223 that I haven't even shot yet. If I brought another one home my wife would give me the boot.

So you buy it for "her" :D

after all she needs something to enjoy along with you when you go shooting :)

Re: Should I buy an SKS???
 

you lucky fellows i feel like flying over to the US of A just ta shoot some good ol FIREARMS of all sorts.i would buy one just cause ya can.

deadkelly,

Welcome to the Forum. I see you are from Australia and have recently been subject to some rather harsh gun control laws. I believe you CANNOT own an SKS and many other arms we here own in the USA.

Would you be so kind to tell us what military surplus arms you FORMERLY could legally own and now cannot? Why were the new restrictions imposed and why was it not vigorously opposed by Australian gun owners? Has there been a net decrease in armed crime in Australia?

Adam

g'day adam
 

well first mate us gun owners and shooters did vigorously protest.our prime minister was wearing a bullet proof vest and didn't the media love that they took that hook line and sinker and they ran(i don't think they have ever stopped running) this was back in 1996.and why well we had a couple of F--K WITS go on shooting sprees .martin bryant in port arthur tasmania. wade frankum in stathfield shopping mall,and julian knight in hoddle st melbourne .now you and i both know about a decrease in armed crime.as the population grows and poor get poorer crime will always grow,the only thing that will decrease is peoples rights.NOW TERRORISM well well what do i say or should i not say.ok back to the good ol days when ya could buy a sks ,skk for about $au 180-220,mate we could have anything short of full auto.never silencers now no pistols with barrels shorter than 4in ,theres a semi auto pistol ban about to come in thats all semi autos.only a very very few people can own any semi auto rifles any..every year the law gets tighter and tighter .about 4 months ago in the paper inspector smart of wepons branch in queensland said only cheifs should have pointed knives.so where do you think where heading.well i probably think very similar to you guys . well you might see that iam a single shot ol boy and shoot black powder, and reenact american civil war over here in the very deep south lol.have alook see acwrtq.com iam the wheats tiger zouave , ok latter guys.

I was in Ozz, on R&R in the 1960's and I was amazed at the number old Martini Cadets in the gun stores. I picked up one in .310 that I intended to convert to .218 Bee. But I was young and let my division officer talk me into selling it to him. I don't remember what I paid for it, I believe they were pretty reasonable back then. It had been well cared for and I’ve never seen another like it here in the USA.

deadkelly,

Many thanks for the report on the onerous gun control laws imposed on honest gun owners in Australia. We, Yanks, need to hear how bad things can get.

If you ever visit the USA, I am sure many folks here will be glad to let you have a go with "the banned ones" on the local rifle range.

Keep us posted on the pending legislation.

Adam

mate i love the lil kangaroo on the side
 

i think there great, light and aussie made some of em anyway.we dont have any animals that would hurt ya thats big enough to shoot ,people will tell ya this and that but 9 3/4 times out of ten the animals know when ya have a rifle and there out of there quick smart.
so single shots are fine well thats what i think,iam going deer shooten on 2nd of june taking the ol 6.5 sweed k latter

"Should I buy an SKS???"

Do you really need to ask a question like that?! If you can buy it, then absolutely buy it!

cool mate
 

no worries see ya's round.

So, now that is it clear that, if you can, you should get an SKS, I have a question.

I have heard a good number of opinions on which SKS to keep an eye out for. I have heard that Russians, Yugos, and Albainians tend to be the best... or in other words... stay clear of a Chinese... Granted from the people I heard it from it could just be a bunch of anti-Chinese thought.


So, I am curious, if I am looking to get an SKS, should I hold out and look for a certain one, or just go for the cheapest?

(I am not looking at any modifactions, just plinking and a cheap to feed semi-auto).

Welcome to the Forum
 

Arcturus,
You will get various opinions on preferred SKS models from different folks. I have a Chinese SKS that is functional. The Russian ones seem to be a bit better made. The best I have seen are the Hungarian SKS rifles made by FEG. I bought a used FEG SKS from the local gun shop for $200.00. Seems the prices are varied so look around, you might stumble onto a real deal. All the best...
Gil

Arcturus,

Welcome to the Forum, I see this is your first post. I have Russian, Chinese and other SKS arms and all are good shooters. I have one Chinese that I bought new for $85 with accessory pack that has had about 4,000 rounds through it and it is still going strong. I do not shoot corrosvie ammo in any of my "gas" guns because it is not cheap enough to spray corrosive residue throughout the action of any of my arms.

The SKS is a "Battle Rifle" so buy what you can and keep it clean.

Adam

To continue this thought...

While biding my time looking for the right SKS (sooner or later one will jump out at me...), I bought a Yugo 24/47 Mauser off a friend of mine. He is moving and didn't have a place for it, got it fot $50 off him, with bayonet, ammo pouches, sling. He had only bought a few weeks earlier (a Big-5 special). It is also covered in cosmoline, something he never cleaned off...

I have heard that mineral spirits with a toothbrush works, and that some invest in a steam cleaner...

The Mauser should be fairly straight-forward to clean, but from what I have read some of the SKS's that can be found seem to have been literally dunked in the stuff... any thoughts on how best to clean it?

g'day arcturus
 

mate kero even petrol,and or carbie cleaner will do the trick,these
are all cheap .of course some rags & elbow grease. see ya round.

Arcturus,

I degrease heavily greased arms by detail stripping the arm and then tossing the metal parts and action into a large pan of very hot, soapy water. The grease comes to the water's surface and is easily poured off.

Petroleum products will cut the grease, but the heat from the water makes wiping the metal free of grease quite easy to do.

Adam

Arcturus, adam and deadkelly both gave good info on cleanign that cosmoline.

another method is (make sure your wfie is _NOT_ at home when you do this) to strip the rifle, and run it through on the top tray of the dishwasher. :) works great, but that can offend the sensibilities of the fairer sex :)

I myself went ahead and bought a scunni portable steam cleaner a couple of years ago. works great and not expensive, i think they run $40-60 dollars. works on all kinds of stuff around the house too.

bascially it all depend son how you want to do it, and what you feel comfy doing.

Well... found a nice $140 Chinese SKS, clean bore and only trace amounts of cosmoline in the action. Cleaned up good and nice, shoots good. Are Wolf 7.62x39'ers known for hard primers by chance? I ran into some trouble repeatedly having rounds not fire, I stripped it down later and found some cosmoline deep inside around the firing pin, but not enough to really be a problem... I haven't shot it since so, it might be it.

Also cleaned up a cosmoline-dipped 24/47 Mauser. A really nice looking gun. Haven't shot it yet... but look forward to it... with that nice big 8mm round.

wolf ammo ?
 

hi arcturus how did you find that wolf ammo ?
i've herd it leaves thick tar stuff down the barrel thats hard to get out, that was in 223 its nice and cheap though