In the interest of full disclosure, I have never been a rifle guy. I own two, my Dad's 46b Mossburg .22 and an SKS. However I do own several shotguns.

About 20 years ago a friend and FFL dealer convinced me I needed to buy an SKS. And for $75 how could I go wrong. When it arrived, it was a new Chinese Norinco. I bought a few accessories for it such as a bayonet and leather ammo box. Then I refinished the stock and put it in the safe and proceeded to forget about it for 20 years.

Well the other day I finally decided to shoot it. Oh my! What a surprising and pleasant experience that was! Light recoil (rubber stock bumper added), excellent accuracy and flawless function. It was great fun! And now I'm curious about what other SKS owners do with theirs. Are they just fun, cheap plinkers or closet curios? How about you, what do you do with yours?

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I'm gonna grow fins.

Around here, they seem to be popular among Viet and Lao deer hunters.

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Not in jail.

I bought my 1st one in the early 1980s for $59. Also got a tin of 1,100 rounds of ammo for $69. Sold the rifle and gave away the ammo when I moved out of state and needed to pare weight in the moving van.

Picked up this one about 1989. Short barrel, no bayonet. Paid $119 and it was new. To me the SKS is a fun gun. But some use it as a primary defensive rifle.

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No life story has happy end.

I have had up to 8 different ones at the same time. I have always loved to shoot them even more so than the ak model.one of mine resides in my shop , and I will put it in the rhino when I go for a ride into the wood behind my house. I also bought mine years ago when they were cheap along with the ammo that was also cheap. I see them now in the $350 to $400.00 range. ofcourse if you had to built that rifle now in this country I am sure it would cost 6 to 7 hundred.

I have a 1954 dated Russian SKS manufactured at the Tula plant I bought in unissued condition for $59.00 about 25 years ago. I've taken a couple of whitetail deer with it. I bought it as throw around truck gun because they were so cheap back then, but Russian SKS's have increased tremendously in price. Since this one is in such nice condition I set it back and occasionally target practice with it.

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- Change it back -

My bone stock Chinese SKS is a good all-round, general purpose rifle. I've had it for about a year. I've taken it to the range several times and I'm always surprised at it's accuracy, reliability and at just how soft shooting it is. Even with the cheapest ammo you can feed it.

I've even gotten pretty good with stripper clips.

I enjoy shooting it much more than I did my Saiga 7.62. In fact, the Saiga was collecting dust and I decided to sell it.

I may even take it deer hunting this year.

About the only mod I'm considering is adding Tech Sights.

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-Mike-

I have one sitting in my gun safe...unfired for the past 3 or 4 years. <sigh>

I've a couple of Norinco SKSs. One is a paratrooper; one a regular model. We shoot them occasionally, but not much since I bought an AK. As good as the SKSs are, the AK is just more fun.

Now's a great time to buy a case of two of ammo for it. One never knows what'll happen in the future, but it won't get any cheaper or easier to find.

I've owned as many as 6 of'm. About 1 in 4 is a real tack driver. There's a peep sight available that tightens up the groups. I killed many deer with'm. It will not eat up 30 rounds as rapidly as an AK but will out shoot one when it comes to actually hitting something.

Gotta say more pics would be nice especially since the pervading view is that the SKS is a sweeter shooter than the AK.

I bought a Norinco when they were cheap. It now sets in my gun room. Haven't fired it for years because I have other rifles that fill that niche.

I bought a Russian made SKS when they first hit the market years ago. It cost me $50.00 as I was a friend of the dealer. I took it out twice, maybe fired fifty rounds through it. Somewhere around 2008/2009 a neighbor asked if I could find him a deer rifle for his daughter. I opened the hall closet, grabbed the SKS, and handed it to him. He remarked that it didn't look like a $50.00 gun, so I put it back in the closet. I later swapped it for a Stevens 200 rifle.

THe secret to accuracy with the SKS is ammo. Wolf/Tula/Hot Shot etc. is o.k. for plinking, but bench accuracy is found with milsurp ammo, or the old Norinco stuff. My Norinco is amazingly accurate. I've not fired the paratrooper from a bench yet.

Thanks for all the replies. Keep them coming as they are very interesting. For all intents and purposes my SKS appears to be exactly the same as Saxon Pigs pictured above.

Here's an interesting observation from my first time to shoot this gun. Loading the mag was interesting. Basically you just dump the ammo into the mag resevoir. What? This has got to be a recipe for jams. Not so. Somehow the ammo lines itself up so the bolt finds the first cartridge just fine. Seemed pretty low tech but it works.

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I'm gonna grow fins.

Ballistically the SKS round is very similar to the 30/30, which makes it an excellent deer rifle.

My son found the Yugo SKS I have is perfect for busting clay pigeons at 100yards... I have an AK and it is on of the "National match" Chinese models... the SKS shoots circles around the AK... the AK just sits...

I fabricated a dual mount for twin Browning for my ffl co-worker. He gave me a norinco sks. What a hoot to shoot. It should be a law everyone should own one. Iron sights it shoots 1 1/2" groups at 100yds using norinco ammo.

Shooting soda cans, targets it's a big boys toy.

They like the Saiga too.

The Chinese norinco sks in 7.62x39 is more accurate than the AK in 7.62x39.
The russian Izmash Saiga ak/akm in 308win will shoot 1 1/2" groups @ 100yds iron sights. Using south African 308 ball ammo. Never sighted the Saiga in 223 yet.

The Russians did say they focused on making the Saiga the most accurate of there Ak design. They have the chromed lined bore and chambers.

The russian, Chinese, Romanian, Albanian sks have chrome lined bore and chambers. The Yugoslavian sks doesn't. Check your bore size if your sks isn't accurate. The bores and ammo diameters can run between .308" to .3115" a loose bullet in the larger bore won't get u any frequent flyer miles. Lol.

Here's my Yugo. it's in the back of the safe inside a sock right now. I don't get to shoot as much as when the ammo was dirt cheap. I guess I paid high at $130 from AIM Surplus.

Thanks Mainsail and Saxon Pig for taking the time to post pics. I don't have any pics of mine.

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I'm gonna grow fins.

Stripper clips are the way to go with an SKS. See Mainsail's post above.

My first SKS was a Chicom "paratrooper" model with the 16" barrel.
I installed one of the Chinese 20 round, extended, non-detachable mags.
It was a blast. Lots of fun to shoot with cheap Chinese surplus ammo.
A buddy of mine got a 75 round drum for his, in the 1990s.
I wish I had.
Mine was my deer/hog rifle in the early 1990s.
Sadly, I sold it to buy an M1 carbine.
Sadly, I sold the M1, too.
I did some stupid selling of my guns back when I was a broke, tech school student.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

I make my AKs jealous with it.

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Isaiah 41:10

I had a nice Yugo. Enjoyed shooting it, but I wanted optics and realized there was no good way to mount them on an SKS.
I sold it, my ammo, and my dies and put the proceeds towards an AR style rifle.

I've presently got two. A 1952 Russian and a captured VC SKS.
The Vet who captured it sent it home and unfortunately was killed one month before DEROS in 1969.

I found every SKS I've had over the years to not only be accurate, but trouble free. I shoot mine occasionally.

Attached Images

	1952 Russian SKS 024.jpg (277.4 KB, 39 views)
	Vietnam bringback SKS 019.jpg (254.3 KB, 41 views)
	Vietnam bringback SKS 012.jpg (236.9 KB, 47 views)

They Saiga is a typical AK made on the same line as the military rifle. The only difference is that the Saiga stays a sporter. All AKs from all countries with the exception of Yugoslav have chrome barrels.

And with good ammo 1 - 2 moa is possible with most AKs

I use U.S. made Tapco 20 rd and Promag Polymer 30rd detachable mags. Both work fine in the Norinco I have now and worked in three other ones I had, including a fully Tapcoized one.

My current gun is in a Choate Dragunov stock.

You can fire an SKS with some rapidity before it over heats. I have a Mini14 and an M4 clone, but the SKS has its place.

Nothing wrong with 10 shots fast.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

I used to have one of those 7.62x39 Saigas with a 20" barrel. It was so overgassed it was ridiculous. Traded for a WASR-10 to scratch the AK itch.

I have a Russian refurbed SKS with the blackened bolt. Never shot it.

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Release the Kraken

I bought a Yugo (grenade launcher and folding bayonet) when ammo was cheap. I still have a lots of ammo for it. It's OK. The trigger is not all that great. Shoots decently, not too much recoil. Seems very reliable. And its fun take it and go blasting with a newbie on the range.

I got a Yugo, used it to prop open garage door when cable broke.
It did a wonderful job.

I've had several others over the years but now have three that I plan
to keep. Two Chinese and one Russian. Since the 7.62X39 is not a
legal Deer cartridge in IN I just get one of the SKSs or AKs out of the
safe occasionally for a bit of plinking.

I have a nice Norinco that I think I paid $90 for back in the day. I shot it a few times. It's decently accurate and totally reliable. Fun to shoot. Unfortunately, like the OP's it's been languishing in the back of my auxiliary gun locker for 20 years except for the occasional inspection or "show and tell".

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Wait....... What?

I have a nice Russian one. The only modification was a slip on pachmayr recoil pad that was added to increase the ridiculously short length of pull.

It is a supreme soda can plinker.

This is my Yugo, I have shot thousands of rounds thru it and accuracy is acceptable. I used to shoot a lot more when I could get 1000 rds of ammo for $65

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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

My two sit in the dark recesses of secret places with a couple thousand rounds . . . . . . . . waiting . . . . . . . . .

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Georgia On My Mind

I reload cast for my SKS Fun gun. I bought it due to old "Slick Willy" was going to ban semi autos(" I did not have sex with that woman") My 45-70 Ruger would not be be my choice when "the sh@t hit the fan"

Mine don't get much range time at the moment but I still enjoy having them.

Left-Right
Albanian, Yugo 59/66, Norinco and Russian refurb.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

I bought a 1954 Russian SKS for $75 straight out of a crate of 10 or so the dealer had. Hindsight, I should have bought the entire crate. Instead, I just picked one out and went with it. This was around 1992.

Great rifle, especially back when you could get cases of ammo for well under $100. It was intended as a beater rifle, but never made it to that status. It's too nice - the wood is really pretty actually. Now she sits way, way back in the safe. Maybe time to get reaquainted....thanks for bringing this gun back out front!

I paid $125 for my numbers matching Chinese Type 56. I won't call it a Norinco, that will get you groans on the SKS forums. I'm into military bolt action rifles, Mausers mostly so I don't shoot it much. It stays handy along with a Polish AK for when the SHTF. The 7.62X39 round is a pleasant round to shoot indeed.

Attached Images

SKS with stripper clip.jpg (96.4 KB, 7 views)

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

They are very accurate despite their poor triggers. They do have some of the worst trigger pulls I have experienced. They are also amazingly reliable. Mine are very accurate with .308" bullets and they tend to shoot everything to the same point of impact. The Kalashnikovs generally have a much better trigger and can be surprisingly accurate. I like to stick with the 10 round magazines in the SKS. The 20 and 30 round magazines have been nothing but trouble for me.

That's a very interesting comment regarding Norinco. Can you or anyone else explain to this SKS novice why that is? I sure don't want to be the cause of a bunch of groans.

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I'm gonna grow fins.

It's been a few years since I was really into SKSs but I believe it has to do with Norinco being the exporter not the manufacturer. It would set a few of the purists off when a new member would call his Chinese SKS a Norinco much like the term "clip" would instead of magazine.

Just checked one of the SKS Forums and it also has to do with Norinco being established in 1980 while the great majority of SKSs exported into the U.S. were made before this date. Many of the factories that made SKSs were part of the Norinco conglomerate so I guess the term could be used correctly but like I said it would tick a few of the purists off so I learned to call it a Type 56.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

Mine, a completely stock Norinco with removable mags, is my bad weather, knock around deer hunting rifle. Used when my shots will be under 100 yards, in moderate cover, and bad weather. Great deer caliber, and very accurate, plus I'm not afraid to bang it around a little.

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .