oldsmellhound

I bought a Chinese SKS years ago before the ban, here are the pluses and minuses:

Pluses:
1. Cheap, easy to find
2. Cheap ammo
3. Very light recoil
4. Very, very reliable- I've never had a jam with mine; my friend dropped his while walking through a swamp, fished it out, covered in mud, wiped it off, then proceeded to shoot a groundhog.
5. Can take a lot of abuse and keep on ticking

Minuses:
1. Most ones (unless you get lucky) are VERY inaccurate at anything past 50 yards- mine shoots 4" groups at 50 yards and I have rarely been able to hit anything past that range with any kind of consistency.
2. You need to be careful about buying crap surplus ammo- I've had some hangfires with surplus ammo- something that scares me a lot.
3. The wood stocks tend to be very short- good for a small-framed person, very bad for a larger person.
4. The sights suck.


So basically, if you're looking for something to plink around with at close range, not have to baby or clean often, maybe take some potshots at varmits (and won't get too upset if you miss a lot), then your SKS is a pretty decent gun. I have no personal experience with a Mini-30, but from what I've heard, I can't imagine it being so much better than an SKS to warrant spending the extra $$$. You might gain some accuracy, but I can't imagine it being a monumental gain. That's my 2 cents.

Paul L Mohr

My SKS was more accurate than that, especially with premium ammo. Hey and with the SKS you get the sexy knife on the end. I still say if you are looking to spend mini 30 money get a bolt action.

Paul

statjunk

I cannot verify this but I heard from a reliable source that something (law/tariff-Not sure) is going to ban military surplus ammo. I asked for additional info and I was unable to get it.

Tom

VT_Hunter1980

Wolf is not military surpluss, but I notice midway is sold out of it. Is it all bulk ammo. If so, this is kind of shady.

ChazyKEJ

I agree with oldsmellhound on the Chinese SKS phenomenon. My friend and I were shooting his at the range. At fifty yards wegot one.75 inch group with old military ammo, at 100 yards, we couldn't hit a 2.5' by 4' board. Not my idea of a plinking gun. My wife has a Russian SKS. It shoots great at shorter distances also. Father in law has a mini-14, andaccuracy is nothing to write home about. If you want toput lots of holes inold TV's, refrigerators, and washing machines, plus blow up a few ceramic toilets, the SKS is hard to beat for the price. Target rifle it ain't.

KEJ

eldeguello

IMO, NO! My oipinion is based on owning one Mini-30 and 2 WSKS's. The Minio-30 handles much more nicely, and looks a lot better. But mine had a case of "wndering zero". It was accurate enough, but the zero changed as much as 6" from one day to the next. You'd zero the thing, and tomorrow it would be shooting someplace else - to one side or the other, up or down from yestreday's POI. I tried glass-bedding it, etc., to no avail. Got rid of it.

Both my SKS rifles were capable of about 2 MOA, and no more than that. But they shot to the same place every day. SKS's leave a lot to be disired as far as handling characteristics are concerned, and they have bloody awful triggers!

I agree that the 7.62X39 is economical to shoot, and it is a fun cartridge - buy a bolt-action 7.62X39, like the CZ 527 carbine! They shoot like this - 150 grain .308 Sierra handload on right, WW 123-grain FMJ factory load on left.

Knightia

Yep. I got a knife withmy one sks &also
2 long spike, s that could be used to hunt pigs?
and a fewbandoliers& slings& lill tool kit etc[]


That CZ carbine sounds intresting.

I will have to see how much they are look into that& buying somemore Ammo too.......

Paul L Mohr

That is about what my sks would do as well, around 2-2.5 inches at 100 yards, but with premium ammo, not the cheap norinco crap. I had a scope on mine as well. And I am little so the gun fit me pretty well.

The 7.62x39 gets a bad wrap sometimes in the accuracy department, but only because so many people shoot it out of mil surp weapons and use crap ammo. This combination was not meant to be that accurate, just MOP (minute of People) at fairly close ranges. This has to do with the equipment though, not the round. Good ammo out of a good gun like a bolt action can be very accurate. I don't know why the mini 30's aren't, they should be. I have not heard anything good about that gun in any caliber to be honest.

Ballistics are pretty simular to a 30-30 with the 30-30 being a smidge better because of the heavier offerings from what I understand. Never shot one to be honest though. For the type of hunting I do I would have no problem using my old SKS for hunting deer. It was plenty accurate enough for it at the ranges I hunt.

And like I said before, I bought one of those Siaga sporters that are made in the same plant the AK's are. That thing was the biggest f'n POS I have ever owned in my entire life. I traded it for some paint ball stuff and a model 60 .22.

Paul

johnny_b_goode

i dont know much about the mini 30, but if ur interested in pig huntin the sks is a great gun