SKS rifles - what good are they?

[zoom6zoom]

I spy a Rashid Carbine in that bunch of SKS's.

Yeah... I included it in my SKS pics since it's sort of a hybrid.
From the top, those are a Yugo, Romy, Rashid, Russian, Albanian, Norinco.

I suppose I could throw in the Czech VZ-52 as well - it looks just like an SKS but is totally different internally, and is the only rifle ever chambered in 7.62x45.

 

[Gutpile Charlie]

The SKS is what it is. It is a very good utility rifle, inexpensive, plentiful and easy to use. It's not the best at anything, but will do a lot of things at least OK.

They are a good bang for the buck. I have two now, one Chinese and one Yugo. Since I've got plenty of other firearms, probably won't buy any more, but would sure urge anyone that doesn't have a couple to go out and at least find one.

Like a previous poster stated, they would be a great gun just to arm the populous.

I have a number of firearms, that if we get to a SHTF situation...I'll give them away to friends and neighbors.

You can't have too many guns...and a stock of SKSs will never go wrong.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I've got a bunch of cheap ammo for my AK, and when offered a Chinese SKS for a good price a few weeks ago, I picked one up. I prefer the AK with the high cap mags for aound the house, but the SKS is fun to shoot also. Did I mention cheap? I see the gang bangers buying and accessorizing this things a lot at the gun shows. I still haven't figured out why they would put a high cap mag on one. It seems like for the extra$ they could just get an AK ready to go. I guess one of the appeals of this gun is if you have to throw it down and run you haven't lost as much as you would have with an AR. There was a guy a couple of years ago at one of the Jackson,Ms. shows that had pallets of the Yugo's still in cosmoline for $89.95. He was selling them as fast as he could do NICS checks.

 

[zoom6zoom]

I've never really understood the aftermarket mags either. Much faster to load with stripper clips.

 

[R. G. Amos]

Weren't there two methods for barrel attachment with these? Some with barrels screwed into the recieve and others with barrels pinned. I seem to remember something about the method of barrel attachment effecting the price.

 

[Nicksterdemus]

Nice write-up there Noah.

And the #1 reason for, "what good are they"?


Ammo available at Waly-World....

 

[dennis40x]

Having been down range on the receiving end of those rice propelled people it’s an attention getter. The SKS was referred to as a “Lifers Dream” for war trophy purposes. Lets say I don’t get warm and fuzzy thinking about the SKS.

 

[reddogge]

I've owned 3 but sold my Yugo '59 so I have a early 1950 Tula Russian in perfect condition and an Albanian, a rare bird. I understand only about 15,000 Albanians were ever made. It's really ugly but accurate and functions perfectly. I found both of mine pretty accurate, handy and fun rifles to shoot. The break down quickly and easily for cleaning and some have chrome bores like AKs. They were a communist people's rifle for some of the poorer countries.

The Russian Tula and the Albanian SKS

 

[David LaPell]

I bought a Russian SKS about 10 years ago, it was ok, but I think I had more fun with my M1 Carbine. Granted I know what the rate of fire is like in a semi auto, but I would rather have a lever in a pistol caliber like .44 Mag or .45 Colt. Here in NY you can't hunt with an SKS that has the 10 round mag or any other semi auto centerfire over 7 rounds I believe.

 

[wbraswell]

I have a Norinco that I bought back when I could get one for $85 at CTD. I think it's a nice gun to introduce young shooters to a semi-auto rifle. It's a great truck or trunk gun. It's reliable and simple, that's a good thing. I don't think it killed the 94. If 94s were still the price of an SKS they would still be selling. My main complaint is that the handguard on mine has so much varnish on it that it must have been dipped in the bucket of it. What good is it? Well, it goes bang, every time you pull the trigger. That's pretty good for starters.

 

[ladder13]

I have a few, but the Russian is the creme de la creme, imho.

 

[m657]

Years ago I happened onto a deal I couldn't turn down. It came with tons of ammo and a "Chinese sniper scope".

After being convinced of the sturdy advantages of such a basic design, etc. I made a deal and hauled the goodies away. And over a course of 18 months grew from skepticism to outright distaste for the model, the round, the optical inadequacy, and the realization I had absolutely NO use for such.

Mine had function failures no one could remedy. It was inaccurate as well as being unreliable. What other reasons does one need to rid themselves of such a beast.

The up side was I made enough to boot on the ammo alone for a nice S&W revolver.

 

[Joe Kent]

Gutpile Charlie said it best in the above posts. Several of my friends and I bought a number of guns and cheap cases of ammo when they were cheap and used them to introduce new young family members to the safe and fun part of shooting. When they could safely use and maintain them on their own , we gave them each the rifle they used. Some continued to add other guns to their batteries and some still just have the one and are keeping it and enough ammo for "just in case".

 

[beach elvis]

Then there are guys like me who kinda see it as the poor man's Garand.

I have 2 Norincos. Chrome-lined bores, etc.
Both have been reliability tested and I have less than 80 bucks in either of them. Ammo's cheaper to get than .308 or whatever. In fact, my cheap self reloads the ammo. I had about 3000 brass cases given to me and accuracy increases exponentially with the right handloads, needless to say.

 

[Bat Guano]

You can do a LOT worse than an SKS and an old police trade-in Model 10...they're cheap, reliable, sufficiently accurate for normal purposes, and decent power.

Heck, substitute M2 carbine and Victory Model S&W, and that's what the USAF issued for pulling security on nuclear weapons back in the day. Unglamorous but still potent enough.

 

[bmcgilvray]

Though I didn't really want or need one I bought a Russian SKS at the Dallas Market Hall gun show back in the 90s, mostly because I'd read that Bill Clinton had said that patriotic Americans wouldn't buy such guns. Gave 80-something for it and bought gobs of ammo. Shot a bunch off and still have a pile or two left.

It is ill-balanced with it's folding bayonet and seems heavy to me. The stock is too short by a mile. The cartridge won't quite measure up to a .30-30 over my chronograph. Mine is only good for 4-inch groups off the bench at 100 yards at best. The rifle features the most ferocious and random case ejection I've ever seen. I actually do like the sight picture gained with the issue sights. It never has malfunctioned.

It's largish and awkward for a carbine and not the first choice for repelling boarders around here.

I last had mine out in March, flinging bullets at distant rocks, 300 yards to "infinity." The 7.62X39 cartridge was a bit more impressive than I had considered it to be. It shot flatter out to 300 yards or so than I thought it would and could be put right on a rock without too much effort. Mind you I was shooting at some large rocks.

It's not really a firearm at all but mostly a crude but dependable machine for throwing projectiles.

Probably not a popular choice these days but I actually prefer the M1 Carbine to either the SKS or the AR 15.

 

[Spotteddog]

Considering that 75% of the people it has armed over the decades had the equivalent of a third grade education, it's been a serviceable weapon. If the shooter is lucky/good enough (insert which it is you believe) to put one where it belongs, the recipient won't know what the real or imagined quality is of the product they've been hit with. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to save your neck. JOMO?

 

[PALADIN85020]

Paladin:

There's so many statements in your thread starter that I just cannot agree with, that I wonder if you made them just to stir up a variety or responses.

Noah

Gotcha, didn't I? Seriously, though, you made some good points!

John

 

[digi-shots]

Linda -

No high tech lighting here. The gun was placed on a large sheet of white countertop fiber-based plastic, laid out on the ground, that I bought specifically for photographing rifles. I shot it outdoors on a cloudy day in the shade to get the diffused light with soft shadows. The rifle was propped up on its back side with a glob of modeling clay to hold it, slightly angled towards the camera, in place. I shot it at aperture priority f/8 to get good depth of focus, at 1/20th of a second, ISO 100. My camera, a Pentax K200D with 10.2 megapixel capacity, has a shake reduction feature that's worth +2 stops, so I was able to stand over it and take the shot hand-held. I used spot metering on the dark metal to be sure there was enough exposure. The lens was a Pentax 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, set at around 26mm. The picture was then cropped and reduced in size via CompuPic software to post here. I use a smaller sheet of the same countertop material and the same technique for handguns. Seems to work pretty well at very low cost and little setup bother.

Hope this helps.

John

John, thanks for the tips... it helps a whole lot!

I didn't realize that you could hand hold 1/20th sec with a shake reduction feature!

I've been using a white vinyl roll up shade for rifle shots. It's easy to store and wipes clean if you've got a dirty mil surp rifle! I also use some type of prop under the gun to angle it correctly (usually a roll of black electrical tape on the bolt side of the gun)