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What to look for in a SKS ?
- Thread starter MTAA
- Start date
This might be a minor detail. These things are old and many have been rebuilt, refinished, etc. Remove the stock (very easy to do) and examine all the metal that is normally hidden for excessive corrosion and pitting.
Buy one with the normal fixed 10 round magazine and leave it alone. Those detachable ones are horrible. Most don't function well and the bolt has to be open to remove or insert the magazine.
It's just my opinion, but I would suggest not messing with a scope on an SKS.
Buy one with the normal fixed 10 round magazine and leave it alone. Those detachable ones are horrible. Most don't function well and the bolt has to be open to remove or insert the magazine.
It's just my opinion, but I would suggest not messing with a scope on an SKS.
I have been down the SKS road twice. In my experience, the chinese SKS is good and so is the Russian. I would stay away from the romanian version as you get what you pay for.
As far as accuracy goes, the rifle does exactly what is was designed to do, hit man sized targets out to about 100 yards. Where you hit them, well, thats another story.
Do not get a stamped receiver (chinese), the milled are much nicer.
If you plan on shooting the bejesus out of it and are on a budget, a carefully inspected romanian will do the job for a lot less (150. or so around here and in SGN).
Check the bore, take the stock off, check the chamber, rack the slide, dryfire it, examine the bolt (some firing pins have a tendancy to be too long resulting in slam fires, which is full auto and very dangerous), inspect the gas piston, and shop around.
Replacement stocks are real cheap (40.) so you may not need to worry about the appearence of the original. A lot of shooters will find that the stock is to short for comfortable shooting.
I would also stay aware from "carbine" versions.
I am sure others will tell you otherwise, but the SKS is a good starter rifle. They are not costly, cheap to shoot, fun to tinker with, and easy to clean. They can allow the new shooter to get "blasting" out of their system before they move onto more refined firearms. When you tire of it, you don't even need to lose money when you sell it.
I would also sugjest doing a search on the web, sksman comes to mind, to find out as much about this rifle as you can. There are some tricks to it and if you are not careful you could get hurt.
Good luck and have fun!
As far as accuracy goes, the rifle does exactly what is was designed to do, hit man sized targets out to about 100 yards. Where you hit them, well, thats another story.
Do not get a stamped receiver (chinese), the milled are much nicer.
If you plan on shooting the bejesus out of it and are on a budget, a carefully inspected romanian will do the job for a lot less (150. or so around here and in SGN).
Check the bore, take the stock off, check the chamber, rack the slide, dryfire it, examine the bolt (some firing pins have a tendancy to be too long resulting in slam fires, which is full auto and very dangerous), inspect the gas piston, and shop around.
Replacement stocks are real cheap (40.) so you may not need to worry about the appearence of the original. A lot of shooters will find that the stock is to short for comfortable shooting.
I would also stay aware from "carbine" versions.
I am sure others will tell you otherwise, but the SKS is a good starter rifle. They are not costly, cheap to shoot, fun to tinker with, and easy to clean. They can allow the new shooter to get "blasting" out of their system before they move onto more refined firearms. When you tire of it, you don't even need to lose money when you sell it.
I would also sugjest doing a search on the web, sksman comes to mind, to find out as much about this rifle as you can. There are some tricks to it and if you are not careful you could get hurt.
Good luck and have fun!
FireForged
New member
Russians are the best and I would choose the China-norinco next. I agree with EHENZ, you should remove the stock and inspect the metal. Also make sure that the gas tube fits well and is not cracked or split. Remove the receiver cover to make sure its not seized up. I have had loads of fun with mine and think everyone should have at least one.
FireForged
New member
If I'm not mistaken, I believe that all China SKS rifles are stamped. $160 is a good/fair price..
Jamie Young
New member
I have a Russian SKS with all the extras and original pieces plus stripper clips and 1300rds of ammo for sale. If your interested email me.
What kind of 3 or 5-shot groups are we getting with our respective SKSs?
I just went to the range today for the first time to sight in the new Romie SKS. I was getting 2" and closer to 4" groups at 100 yards with Wolf ammo. I don't know what made the difference between the shot strings. All were off a concrete table and a carpeted 4x4 rest.
Could be my eye sight. Or my patience. I would really like to have ghost rings on the rear end.
Essentially, I could make headshots at 200 yards fairly regularly, I suppose.
My FAL was getting between 1, and closer to 2 MOA with Argie surplus.
Rick
I just went to the range today for the first time to sight in the new Romie SKS. I was getting 2" and closer to 4" groups at 100 yards with Wolf ammo. I don't know what made the difference between the shot strings. All were off a concrete table and a carpeted 4x4 rest.
Could be my eye sight. Or my patience. I would really like to have ghost rings on the rear end.
Essentially, I could make headshots at 200 yards fairly regularly, I suppose.
My FAL was getting between 1, and closer to 2 MOA with Argie surplus.
Rick
Jamie Young
New member
I've had two excellent Russian SKS rifles. One shot about 4MOA with a scope. I sold that one awhile ago and kept the other one in its original Russian stock with the Bayonet. The one I have now doesn't have a scope on it but I can't get any better than about 8 inch groups with Iron Sights. I did have a scope on it before and got about 4inches with it. I never really did well with the gun because of the Trigger pull.