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Thread: Does anyone else like the SKS?

  1. #41
    Boolit Master
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    For years I've thought the SK was underrated, the AK somewhat overrated, and I'm just plain tired of the AR-15. I don't own any of them right now but having fired all three, If I had to buy another rifle it would be an SKS.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  2. #42
    Boolit Master
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    JS,

    The SKS is a fine farm gun and "bug out" arm. I handload for mine and they like cast and J boolits. Uncle Sam issued me a Matel-16 in July 1965. I did not like it then and even less now. The PR BS said the 5.56MM was a "wonder weapon." The direct gas impingement system was the first mistake. No forward assist, back then, was #2 and McNamara's order to use Ball WC846 instead of Stoners IMR4475 powder, as I recall, was mistake #3.

    I preferred a real rifle, the M14, over a groundhog gun. lol.

    Be well.

    Adam

  3. #43
    Boolit Master 35 Whelen's Avatar
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    Back when I first had my C&R, Century had "U-fix-em Yugo SKS's for $99 each, if you bought three, so I did. All that was wrong with them was they had cracked stocks which were easy to repair, so I did. I gave one to my Godson, sold one and kept one to which I attached one of the Tech Sight aperture sights. I never shot any cast, but it'd do 3" @ 100 yds. with Russian steel case ammo. I carried it around for a year or two and I'd hang it from the fender of the tractor when I was out in the pasture. The Yugo's are fairly large examples and one day it occurred to me that I was carrying a rifle that was as long as a Garand, almost as heavy as a Garand, yet was chambered in a cartridge with a fraction of the range. So, I sold it.

    Now, I'm a little interested in them again. My question is, is there a version of this rifle that's smaller?

    35W
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  4. #44
    Boolit Master hoodat's Avatar
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    The chinese/norincos are a little slimmer and lighter than the Yugos. Ditch the bayonet, and you lose more weight. you can even cut the barrel to just legal and replace the front sight, giving yourself a new crown. Sight replacement is call the Price 50. I've got a pic here I think. jd
    It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.

  5. #45
    Boolit Master hoodat's Avatar
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    Here's that replacement sight on a cut barrel Bubba Job that I've got. jd


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    It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.

  6. #46
    Boolit Master Digger's Avatar
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    What would be a good mold/size for a SKS ?
    It is much easier to fool people ,
    than to convince them they have been fooled !

    If you can read this , thank a teacher ...
    If you can read this in English , .. thank a Vet !

  7. #47
    Boolit Master

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    Thank you Larry, now my brass is reusable. I like the SKS.

  8. #48
    Boolit Master

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    I have a soft spot for the SKS. My dad bought a couple of them back in the late '80s. He was never a gun guy but got caught up in the big scare of the moment, and a smooth-talking salesman sold him several guns because, you know, "they're going to ban them all and you'll never be able to get any more."

    I've had a bunch over the years, lots of Chinese, a couple Sino-Soviet, a couple Yugos, a Russian, and an NVA. They're all gone except my old Sino-Soviet and a Yugo. Back when I was young, I made my first SKS into a wannabe AK, and thought it was amazing. I was young and stupid, and paid $50 (in 1990 dollars, equivalent to about $100 now) at a gun show for a junky "duckbill" 30 round magazine. Can you say "ripped off"? I had several of those duckbill magazines. Some years ago I dug them out of storage and gave them away. The SKS is best as originally made, IMO.

    They're often compared to the AK, but other than caliber they're very different rifles. In my opinion, at <$100 they were way undervalued, but the prices they sell for now are too much for me. Just my opinion. Back when they were cheap, it seems that everyone saw them as a "cheap commie gun". Based on that, a lot of people still see them as a $100 gun, at best. I wish I could still buy M1 Carbines for $100, or Mausers for $50, but those days are gone. I wouldn't turn up my nose at a gun just because they used to be cheaper. I made that mistake a few years back when the CMP had Italian return M1 Carbines for $475. I thought about buying one, but then remembered back when they were a hundred dollar gun. I'm still kicking myself for missing out on that one.

  9. #49
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    I seem to have read somewhere a long time ago that the Simonov SKS was a scale model of a larger weapon and was adopted just in case that the new design by Kalishnokov didn’t work out......
    It’s my favorite Russian gun but I don’t own one any more. My AR15 .300 BO fills the gap just fine and shoots better.

  10. #50
    Boolit Master

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    A friend of mine way back then really loved the SKS because of a very easy, uh, modification. When we found out just how much trouble a person could get in for that particular modification, he dropped it like a hot potato.

    Another friend brought over a couple guns that someone had loaned him to take out shooting, since we were headed way out in the boonies to do a bunch of shooting. One of them was an SKS with a 75 round drum. I was looking it over as we were putting it in my car for the drive, and he said the guy told him it was "full auto". I held the trigger down and cycled the bolt a couple times (unloaded of course), then gave it right back to him. I told him he needed to take it right back to the guy he got it from, before we left to go shooting. I didn't want anything to do with it, didn't want it in my car. This was back in the early '90s and I think the guy was a Mormon prepper, at least that's what my buddy said. I can't imagine anyone being foolish enough to "loan" something like that to a young man to take out shooting.

  11. #51
    Boolit Master

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    I to gave away all those ak magazine wannabes , Got them in a package deal with the Russian one and gave them to a guy at work who wanted them for his SKS , I tried a 20 round fixed magazine once and went right back to the 10 round original .

    Worked with a man had one with the bring back papers he picked off the person no longer needing it during the Tet offensive , and watched a neighbor who as we were both shooting at his gong his SKS failed to fire the 3 round , he said he was waiting to clear it and I laughed and said you do not have a gas tube , he had been shooting some E. German mildly corrosive and his piston locked up and departed along with the tube , mildly corrosive like being mildly pregnant . Poor cleaning habits that some people have .

  12. #52
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    I seem to have read somewhere a long time ago that the Simonov SKS was a scale model of a larger weapon and was adopted just in case that the new design by Kalishnokov didn’t work out......
    It’s my favorite Russian gun but I don’t own one any more. My AR15 .300 BO fills the gap just fine and shoots better.
    I read that also, the article had a very large heavy caliber rifle, maybe some kind of antitank rifle designed by Simonov. It had basically the same operating system.

  13. #53
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by beemer View Post
    I read that also, the article had a very large heavy caliber rifle, maybe some kind of antitank rifle designed by Simonov. It had basically the same operating system.
    I'd have to look it up but I always thought the SKS had been developed and accepted prior to WW2 and the AK wasn't conceived until Kalishnikov was recovering from injuries sustained during that war.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  14. #54
    Boolit Master
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    Russia began exploring the concept of a medium capacity cartridge around 1943. The SKS 45 was developed in, you guessed it, 1945. It missed WW2 for the most part. The AK came along two years later mostly replacing the SKS as Russia's battle rifle. Other countries copied and produced it in mass.

  15. #55
    Boolit Master
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    I've a Chinese commercial model, originals are robust and built to last. Have run milsurp, commercial, reloaded jac's and cast thru it. It's not overly finicky and goes bang when the trigger is pulled.

    3-4 MOA in general, cast seems a little better in short range trials.

  16. #56
    Boolit Master
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    That is one rifle I regret not buying. Really lousy about the ban on Russian ammo though.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check