Getting there with the SKS and cast boolits

[meece]

Hi all, after weeks and weeks of reading up on you guys and absorbing as much info as i could I think we are getting there.
We have been working on a subsonic close range bush loads for Goats with MOG (Minute of Goat) accuracy at 50yrds which is our normal hunting distance in our heavy bush, Using Lee 160gr cast boolits typically weighing in at 167 gr

loaded up some of our precious brass 7.62x39 this stuff is harder to find than unobtanuim here in New Zealand.



99086
167gr cast from the 106 gr TL Lee double pour mold using recycled Telecom lead telephone cable with a small amount of tin/lead solder wipe added for hardness and sized to .311, we are typically seeing 167 and 168 gr from our pours and we tried a new coating with oven treated acyclic lacquer automotive paint in blue to reduce leading and also so we know they are subsonic loads.
These have been loaded with 6.5gr of trailboss powder with a very small amount of dacron filler added, the filler is not really needed however I had it so added it.


took them out to a farm we do pest control on and tried them out at our target distance of 50 yrds, heres how it went

99087

as you can see the poa is a little low however my scope was zeroed in for 125gr Barnell Hunting ammo @ 50 yrds, and was looking for groupings more than anything, the 6.5gr loved the SKS with better than hoped for groupings (remember was just after Minute of Goat :) ) What was interesting was my sons JW103 really didn't like the 6.5gr and was all over the place however the 6.0gr started to group better. Im going to stick with 6.5gr filled 167gr boolits for the SKS and Tim is going to try some 200gr boolits and see if they group better in his JW103.

the upside is Ive found a consistently "goat" accurate load for the SKS, the experimental coating worked perfectly with no signs of leading or paint fowling even after putting 50 odd rounds though it, the down side is it wont cycle, although thats not a major problem for me as it's very easy to use it as a bolt action AND i don't have to spend 4 hours and a half day tramp to the next dimension to find my brass, my SKS's all time record for flinging cases is 22 meters!

the rest of the ammo we burned off shooting a 4 inch square steel target, hit after hit after hit ...

[Fishman]

Very cool! If you want a little more expansion, you can lube them in the lubrisizer with a flat top punch. This will swage a flat on the tip and the sks will feed it just fine. If you are tumble lubing obviously this wont work :)

And with that kind of accuracy, and a head shot, it won't matter.

[Fishman]

One other thing, just in case you hadn't thought of it, you can remove the gas piston and shoot full power loads in your sks without chance of losing brass. Just work it like a straight pull bolt. Of course you reinstall the piston shroud before use and don't lose the piston on a shelf somewhere.

[A pause for the COZ]

Man I love shooting lead out of my SKS so much I will try any thing to keep the Brass loss to a minimum.

I have done and do remove the Gas rod and use as a bolt gun. This works 100% of the time zero lost brass.

I have even went so far as to make a brass deflecting tunnel to stop the 20 yard flinging. Hokey as heck but I collect 98% of my brass back.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/0626131417_zpseb442dc5.jpg

And for range trips were I cant look Hokey or chase my brass I load steel cases.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8821_zps4090f55a.jpg

More than one way to skin this cat.

[meece]

I have done and do remove the Gas rod and use as a bolt gun. This works 100% of the time.

Did you do any other modifications other than taking the gas rod out?

[Driver man]

Im curious as to why you want subsonic out of your sks. Ive found they shoot 170 grainish boolits really well at around 1500,1600 fps. Better than mog .mod stuff. I use unique and load 9.5 to 11 grains. Ill happily shoot these at 100m. My JW103 is pretty useless , Ive never been able to get it to group well with light loads.

[freebullet]

Nice work! Ive always liked the sks, just have to keep the firing pin clean. Thanks for sharing.

[meece]

Subs seem to work better in the heavy bush we hunt in they can consistently punch though the odd leaf or teetree branch without tumbling or fragmenting, added to the fact the noise reduction which is really handy when you are trying to cull a 20+ mob heard and not have them scatter on the first round, (one shot from my .270 and they are disappearing every direction), the subs are quiet enough to confuse them for a while, once my can is finished I'm hoping it will be not much noisier than my suppressed .22 (lol untll I wrack the bolt that is) plus a normal full load at 50 yrds or less, some goats are shot at less than 5 meters! and is doing way too much damage to the goat and we are getting consistent over penetrations which reduces the amount of meat i can use.
The main reason though is noise reduction .... for my sensitive hearing (its a pain wearing hearing protection the entire time your hunting) and for the big mobs

The final reason is i can practice shoot these all day in the semi rural area i live in without upsetting my anti gun neighbor as its no louder than a .22lr
Oh and my recoil shy wife likes to shoot these as well

[Driver man]

Mangapurua is an area not to far from you I used to cull goats in and the sks was the gun of choice too. we cleaned out a few hundred over a week and barely scratched the surface. I used Norinco ammo nose clipped and cast for up close. Im working on a 205 grain load for the sks using steel cases and 5 grains of Ap50

[Driver man]

Ive just been looking closer at that group out of the sks you posted and its pretty impressive. That 10 cent coin shown (for our non Kiwi's) is a tad over 3/4" about 20mm. Have you been able to chrono them.

[meece]

Ive just been looking closer at that group out of the sks you posted and its pretty impressive. That 10 cent coin shown (for our non Kiwi's) is a tad over 3/4" about 20mm. Have you been able to chrono them.

yep ran them over the chrony @ 980-1000 fps over a 5 shot spread.


99200
edit here's a pic of the beastie, one of the original 20" 7 shot imports, been a damn good gun and has claimed 100's and 100's of goats.

[Fishman]

Nice rig Meece. To answer your previous question, no other mods are needed when you remove the gas piston. It's just that easy.

[freebullet]

Looks like its equipped well for your purposes. I haven't ever scoped an sks, open sights only. You have proven it is probably worth it.

I'm curious if you've worked up to find the lowest velocity that will reliably cycle the action? Around 1400fps is where I found reliable function, backing down to 1300fps would cause a few short strokes using imr 4227 & lee155.

Interesting info about removing the piston I hadn't thought of using one configured as such with subs. The recoil and sound was very low at 1300-1400. I have to imagine those subs are quite quiet.

[meece]

Looks like its equipped well for your purposes. I haven't ever scoped an sks, open sights only. You have proven it is probably worth it.

Interesting info about removing the piston I hadn't thought of using one configured as such with subs. The recoil and sound was very low at 1300-1400. I have to imagine those subs are quite quiet.

The scope mount on my SKS Is a little bit of kiwi ingenuity Lol its a piece of angle iron mounted to the frame with grub screws doesn't move or lose zero like the receiver type scope mounts.

I having worked up a faster load yet as I'm really wanting a subsonic round for goats I'm not worried about run the bolt manually.