Sks and lead...

I've got an idea that casting for my sks is a good idea. I haven't cast or reloaded for a semi-auto yet. Does anyone here have experience with the sks?

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I've never had a problem with mine, using the lee 155gr gas checked, and also the 185-312 lee ( made for the 303 I think), it would be a better hunting boolit, but its weight would limit velocity, and also range. you might check noe for molds, you need a round nose for feeding.

I loaded the 155 gr Lee bullet for mine. It doesn’t cycle with a light Unique load but it drops brass at my feet and is the smoothest manually cycled bolt gun ever!


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I shot one that was pretty used up with a 200 gr spire point paper patched (a silly extreme but being as it was more like a 7.92×39) with I4350 for about 1800 fps and clean burn . Ejection was the same as steel Wolf 123s , all over . You could drop a #30 drill through the gas port so that made any reduced loads unlikely to cycle any better . It did have a gas cutoff so single fed long loads could be pushed on up to nearly 2000 fps . Accuracy stopped at 1900 .

The sks I have has gone through a couple of buckets of lead and the gas port is so easy to get to I don't even bother to check the brinell scale of my bullets.

The SKS is a great one to shoot cast boolits! Accuracy can be better than factory FMJ's. Do a pound slug your chamber to get the proper throat diameter as they do vary. Most will do fine with a .312" or .313" boolit but, mine prefer .314". Many mold options are available made specifically for the SKS. The Lee 155gr or 160gr TL (tumble lube groove) shoot well for many. I like the NOE molds that are available in more (bigger) diameters. They have a 155gr, a 160gr (Harris designed) and a Ranch Dog designed (.313") 150gr TL with or without HP pins. Many powders work well like 2400, IMR4198, IMR4227, AA2230, H335, RL-7 and 4895. Removing the gas rod prevents searching for your brass.

I load the Lee 155 bullet for both the SKS and AK

Some I powder coat , some I don't LOL

For both I have a number of loads
But in the SKS , the best groups are with AA 1680 at almost max charges
PMC or IMI cases
And .316 sized bullets ( come out of the mold .318 after I opened the mold )
Yea I know the barrel is .310 , but the chamber is oversized like normal and the barrel sizes the bullet just fine when I pull the trigger LOL

John

Another Lee .312 185 gr Gas check user here. My SKS is a Yugo, so easy to turn the gas off and shoot low cost low power Red Dot loads. Or leave it on and shoot those big slugs with IMR 4895.

Limiting factor for me is old eyes not the rifle.

Make sure they are big enough, don't be afraid to go big and slow.

Have a read through http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...on-the-7-62X39

i use 155 gr lee gas check with imr and h 4198 works great with no leading at all.

I tried this about twenty-five or more years ago with two SKSs. Mine were Norinco; I know nothing of the desirability, collectability, or quality of the different guns and that may be significant.

Cast bullets worked great with a variety of bullet weights and designs. The SKS will feed bullets that I thought would never work well. 100 yard accuracy was at least as good as the surplus, steel-cased ammo I bought. I couldn't get over the crudeness of these guns and finally sold mine, but they work surprisingly well with cast bullets.

The SKS is subject to slam fires and can also turn into a machine gun with handloads. Most owners may never experience this, but enough have to make for a potentially very dangerous situation. This occurred with one of my guns. The use of hard, military-type primers may lessen the possibility of this happening, but won't eliminate it. I had a gunsmith install a firing pin spring kit (probably called something else) from Brownells in both of my guns and the problem was solved.

Yah no! The SKS is no different than the M1A. Both have floating firing pins and thus need proper attention and cleaning.