the best sks rifle

[sig220mw]

I have a friend that wants to get an sks rifle.....I myself have a norinco that I bought in the early 90's for about $80.00 at a gun show in Fort Worth.
I've advised against getting one like mine since it is not very accurate but it is fun and easy to shoot. He, however, wants one with more quality and accuracy. Can anyone help me to advise him on a brand or country of origin for a quality sks and also where to find one?

Thanks as always

 

[Joshua M. Smith]

None will be target guns.

My pre-Norinco Chinese is pretty danged accurate, moreso than I.

The trick is in using good ammo (I use Wolf HP and get mediocre accuracy, but good enough for home defense and coyote.)

Check out the foreign ammo with .311 bullets instead of the domestic .308. They should fit better.

The Chicoms are chrome lined and overall are nice guns, I think.

Josh <><

 

[rcmodel]

The Russian ones were made the best by far, but are hard to come by now.

No SKS is really accurate though.

And com-block ammo is not accurate either.

The best you can do is to handload for them with high quality American bullets.

rcmodel

 

[308sc]

sounds like he is looking for a Russian made one..or a Yugoslavian made sks.

 

[22-rimfire]

I second that. The Russian ones were available first and they were made real well and were typically pretty accurate. Then the Norinco's or Chinese ones hit the market and they weren't near as good. Now the best ones are the Yugo ones.

 

[sarduy]

get a yugo

 

[HogManMagnum]

im also looking at a yugo SKS. i keep seeing them in J&G for approx $200. but i hear conflicting things about the magazines, i only want one if it can accept a 30 rd mag... can anyone clear that up for me?

i really want the Mini-14 Ranch NRA edition but im too impatient to wait and save, and my home/financial situation is a little unstable so im considering getting both an SKS and a Hi Point 9mm carbine now while i can still afford it. seeing as there is a big political shift on the horizon i'd like to stock up now before its too late... wut yall think?

 

[Cmdr. Gravez0r]

to BOTH OF YOU--RESEARCH THE HECK OUT OF THIS BEFORE YOU BUY. sEE SIG.

sorry for all caps

 

[yesit'sloaded]

My Chinese made with Russian parts (Sino-Soviet) SKS does about 1.5 MOA with decent AMERICAN .310 rounds. One day it reared back and passed a miracle sub MOA at 170 yards (group of 5 shots less than 2 inches). I never expect it to happen again and yes I did keep the target. Look for a threaded barrel instead of a pinned one, get the Kivarii trigger job, upgrade to Wolff springs, Murray's firing pin and spring, and place it in a stock with decent length of pull like the Choate and it will probably be a sub 2 MOA gun out to 400 yards. Expect around 4 MOA with Wolf. Tapco makes the only mags that I have ever had work consistently. The original mag is probably the only other mag that will feed reliably.

 

[mustang 22]

I have both, a Norinco that I got in 89 for $73.00 and a 1952 Tula. The fit and finish on the Tula is much better than the Norinco and the stock is also much better than the chinese. The Norinco stock looks like the same kind of wood that pallets are made from. With that said, the Norinco actually shoots better groups than the Russian. I heard it aint supposed to be like that but it is.

 

[Wolfgang2000]

Have you ever heard the expression "you can't turn a pig's ear into a silk purse"? You can't buy a $100.00 rifle and a $2.00 box of ammo, ( that's what I paid for mine), and expect to have a sub minute of angle 1000 yard gun.

That said I love the SKS. I have several. But I don't expect more from it than it can give. Mine are more than accurate enough to hunt with, (within their range). In fact I've taken several deer with mine. They are extremely fun to shoot, not that expensive to feed, and mine, have been extremely reliable.

I'm partial to the Chi-Com carbine versions. They are real handy in the woods.

 

[QUICK_DRAW_McGRAW]

it matters on gun condition more then anything. i got a un fired norinco with 80 rounds and full matching numbers for $200.

i did the tapco complete t-6 settup w/4 tapco mags and love it. i just put a aimpoint on it and was able to get 3inch groups at 50yards with a 1x red dot. now that is good enough for me for a military grade rifle. if he wants something accurate, tell him to buy a stevens 200 in .223 and put some nice glass on it. he will be happy with that.

 

[Vaarok]

Whatever you get, accuracy's at least half due to ammo quality.

That said, the Russians are probably the nicest and best.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The Ruskies are the premium units, and can still be had for $350-$400. I have a '53 Tula laminated stock. Sold my '54 Tula solid stock to a good friend.

 

[Ifishsum]

im also looking at a yugo SKS. i keep seeing them in J&G for approx $200. but i hear conflicting things about the magazines, i only want one if it can accept a 30 rd mag... can anyone clear that up for me?

The aftermarket large-capacity magazines for the Yugo SKS have a reputation for very poor reliability. I tried one despite that, and I couldn't make it work right to save my life, I gave it to a friend and he had the same problem. If you absolutely have to have a 30 round magazine you I believe you should look for the SKS-D which is a chinese version that was made to accept AK47 magazines. It will cost substantially more though.

My Yugo shoots pretty well given I only feed it cheap russian ammo. Reloading the fixed magazine is surprisingly quick using 10 round stripper clips, much faster than I could reload a 30 rounder. If you want one, you should get one soon as the supply is drying up and prices are rising. I paid $159 for mine a couple years ago and I'd buy another one in a new york minute if I found the same deal. It's a fun rifle to plink around with.

 

[guntotinguy]

I have a Yugo...got it all cosmo'ed up and once cleaned up it was 'not a bad' rifle...I used Wolf rounds...not exceptionally accurate.Managed to buy a Russian SKS...is by far more accurate than my Yugo but alas I wouldnt give up either one.Looking for a Norinco to buy (someday soon).

 

[Limeyfellow]

The SKS can be made alot more accurate but it requires quite a bit of work. You certainly have to bed the action to remove that slight movement. Stick on a better rear sight such as the Techsight TS-200, clean up the trigger group, you can get replacement gas tubes that seperate nicely from the barrel, and for the love of all that is good and makes a loud bang noise, use some good ammo. Some people had really good success with accurising the SKS, but you really spending quite a bit of money to do so.

 

[markk]

Some of the best I've ever handled were Norincos.

 

[Matt Dillon]

Forget the 30 round mags - Just keep the original 10 round mag and use stripper clips - they reload VERY quickly, take up less space, and are far more reliable then most 30 round after market mags in the SKS

 

[tinygnat219]

Here's the order for quality and reliability:

Russian: The first ones and by far the nicest.

Chinese: Mine has never misfired, jammed, etc. Quality is apparent throughout the rifle.

Romanian: Often overlooked, these nice rifles dried up a long time ago.

Yugoslavian: The 2 I have had were constant "single shot" rifles due to the damned leaky gas tube around the selector switch. They ate Brass ammo just fine, but tended to choke on the Wolf stuff.

Albanian: These look like they were finished with a combination of tang and shellac. Very rough, but the rarest of all.

 

[gcrookston]

In my esperience, the Russian are the best, followed closely by the Romanian, the Military (not sporter) Chinese Type 56 with the screwed in (rather than pinned barrel -- generally found with a serial # that begins 01- to 17-), then Yugo and finally Albanian.

There are North Korean, Vietnamese and E. German mfg out there, too. But they are quite rare. Supposedly the E.Germans are excellent, while the Korean and Vietnamese are so-so. I have never seen an E.German, but a Korean one was on GB recently and Vietnamese ones pop up from time to time.

When choosing a Russian I look for one that hasn't been through the arsenal rebuild program (just a preference). This will have solid wood stocks, no electro-pencil parts, no X'd out and renumbered parts and no rebuild stamps.

From Left to Right: 1957 Tula (unissued-unrebuilt), 1971 Factory 26 (transition with stamped trigger guard and pinned barrel), 1958 Romanian

 

[Zouave Rifle]

I've got a unaltered Russian SKS. I've shot it at 300 yards, and it's a good 4 MOA shooter with Wolf hollow point ammo. I shot a 275 out of 500 with it in a NRA high-power competition. Sight in was 25 yards prior to the competition; the 200m setting on the sight leaf was on target, but the 300m setting was a bit low. I had to adjust my front sight 1/2 turn down to hit at 300m, and I had to adjust during competition.

I like the fact that the bolt stays open on the last shot and it's much easier to load with one round during the slow fire phase of the match. I forgot my stripper clip and had to load them one at a time during the rapid fire phase.

 

[ThomasT]

I ask a similar question a while back about my Chinese SKS. I got some really good replies about the Chinese SKS. I like my Paratrooper so much that i just bought a new Chinese SKS from Gunbroker. I have to mail off the money for it today.

Here is a link to my earlier post. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=318230

Read post #5. Like any gun ammo is the key to accuracy. For what i use mine for i'm happy with 2-3" groups at 50 yards. I can still bust canalope sized rocks at a hundred yards with the "used to be cheap" ammo and don't have to worry about finding the brass to reload.

 

[nathan]

Chicom SKS, chrome lined and less heavy to slung around. If the Congs in Nam can go underground with it for months with no cleaning and still carry out hit and run attacks, that is something proven.

 

[woad_yurt]

Norinco!

Once I shot a Norinco, I sold my Yugo and never looked back. The Norincos look a little cheap but they're lighter, have the chrome-lined barrels and they're far more accurate than most people think. I have two now, a normal one and a 16" barrelled version w/no bayonet lugs. The 16" one is a dream to carry and to shoot. It's a great woods rifle, very light and handy.