yhtomit
Member
I recently got my first chance to fire a Mosin-Nagant, and an SKS. Both were great fun (the Mosin kicked less than I'd been led to believe; helped that the gun is nice and heavy), and the SKS was really fun.
However, I have a "thing" (fetish, compulsion, tendency, whatever you want to call it) for sticking to guns in just a few of the very most common types of ammo, NATO-approved / used (or former NATO in the case of .45) in particular. So, .45 and 9mm in handguns (plus .22, which is forgiveable), and when I get a centerfire rifle, I'm thinking 5.56 x 45 mm / .223 (and when I can afford it better, a .308, too ).
So, I *know* that Wolf is cheap in the Russian calibers, that there are some sources of surplus that are perhaps even cheaper, that it's cheaper to use the cheap stuff in (steel / aluminum) cases than reload, but ... I'm trying to stick (by my guns; ) ) and figure out the answer to this:
What's the closest thing to a Mosin or an SKS for someone like me who'd like to shoot 5.56 x 45 mm? That is, I'm seeking the analogy gun, rather than an actual SKS in .223 (unless someone could tell me that such a thing exists ).
SKS: ugly, reliable, cheap, amenable to repairs when needed, good shooters, reasonably accurate, autoloading, surplus.
Mosin: Similar (hey, no accounting for taste -- I know not everyone finds them ugly), but bolt-loading, and at least the best of them are superbly accurate, I'm told. The one I shot was certainly more accurate than I knew how to exploit.
So, perhaps this is asking the impossible, but is there somewhere that a pig-headed person who doesn't want to seek out scads of surplus Russian ammo can find a rifle in .223 with many of the characteristics (esp. wrt reliability and price -- accuracy is nice but I'm a plinker at heart rather than a surgical mall ninja ) of either of these guns? Did any military make a lot of indestructable .223 rifles that are floating around the world for sale to Americans?
Is the closest I'm going to find a Saiga in .223? (Seems not a bad option, really, from what I've read on this site and elsewhere ...)
Cheers,
timothy
It's Friday night / Saturday morning, I can come up with any question I please ...
However, I have a "thing" (fetish, compulsion, tendency, whatever you want to call it) for sticking to guns in just a few of the very most common types of ammo, NATO-approved / used (or former NATO in the case of .45) in particular. So, .45 and 9mm in handguns (plus .22, which is forgiveable), and when I get a centerfire rifle, I'm thinking 5.56 x 45 mm / .223 (and when I can afford it better, a .308, too ).
So, I *know* that Wolf is cheap in the Russian calibers, that there are some sources of surplus that are perhaps even cheaper, that it's cheaper to use the cheap stuff in (steel / aluminum) cases than reload, but ... I'm trying to stick (by my guns; ) ) and figure out the answer to this:
What's the closest thing to a Mosin or an SKS for someone like me who'd like to shoot 5.56 x 45 mm? That is, I'm seeking the analogy gun, rather than an actual SKS in .223 (unless someone could tell me that such a thing exists ).
SKS: ugly, reliable, cheap, amenable to repairs when needed, good shooters, reasonably accurate, autoloading, surplus.
Mosin: Similar (hey, no accounting for taste -- I know not everyone finds them ugly), but bolt-loading, and at least the best of them are superbly accurate, I'm told. The one I shot was certainly more accurate than I knew how to exploit.
So, perhaps this is asking the impossible, but is there somewhere that a pig-headed person who doesn't want to seek out scads of surplus Russian ammo can find a rifle in .223 with many of the characteristics (esp. wrt reliability and price -- accuracy is nice but I'm a plinker at heart rather than a surgical mall ninja ) of either of these guns? Did any military make a lot of indestructable .223 rifles that are floating around the world for sale to Americans?
Is the closest I'm going to find a Saiga in .223? (Seems not a bad option, really, from what I've read on this site and elsewhere ...)
Cheers,
timothy
It's Friday night / Saturday morning, I can come up with any question I please ...