Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Russian SKS Carbine

Dad gave me his old Russian SKS a long time ago. It was my first rifle. I cleaned up the horrible looking finish and he wanted it back- lol. I loved carrying this on my old lease where I jumped numerous hogs. I grew to appreciate the 7.62x39 round for its low recoil and effectiveness and even took my first deer with it in a Ruger Ranch Rifle. The SKS is super reliable. I tell folks it will fire if you load it backwards.

I have a friend who nearly bought one at a gun show. I got a kick out of him calling it gorgeous.

Used to be able to get them for under $100 bc. Before Clinton.

Maybe 30 years ago a local dealer had cases of Russian laminated stock SKSs wit kits. $69.99 and I could not understand why anyone would want one. IIRC they were straight from the warehouse unused.

They are great. I think it would be my SHTF rifle. It shoots a cartridge that is equally useful in hunting or a fight. Not much anywhere that wouldn’t get put down with ten rounds of 7.62x39. It has a fixed magazine with a useful capacity. I don’t like relying on detachable magazines for a SHTF rifle. Get separated from your mags somehow and the AR is the world’s most impractical single shot. Ten rounds isn’t idea in a fight but not useless as many Vietnam vets who encountered them in SEA can testify. The rifle itself is light and handy with plenty of practical accuracy.

Anyway, I’m a fan.

They are great rifles and almost everyone I know has one. They stayed the same price for years and have now tripled the last few years

Extremely reliable platform, accuracy for the most part on par to the AK. Used to be a cheap SHTF platform, not so much anymore.

Yep. Back in the early 1990s, they were coming in from Russia by the crate loads to every gun store in the US. I bought four of them for $100.00 each. I gave one to my brother, and kept three. A few years later, I sold two of them for $350.00 each. I kept the best one of them for myself.

Yep, people would buy them for $100.00 and use them as truck guns. Nowadays, if Russian, and in nice shape, they are collectors items.

Only experience with one was at a metallic silhouette match some 30 years ago. After the match someone brought out his SKS to plink at the sight in targets - full size silhouettes of each animal suspended by chains.

He let several of us fire a few rounds each and we were all hitting the 300 meter pig (328 yards) just about every shot. The pigs are generally the easiest to hit and we were shooting with elbows supported on a bench, but we were still impressed that a "cheapo Commie rifle" with open sights and Eastern Bloc military ammo could do that well at that range.

👍

Alas, don't have the Russian version, but have two Chinese SKS - early 1966 and late 1966.

Superb firearms!

Been handloading accurate cartridges. Saving my TULA, etc. for next Russo-Sino-American conflict.

Chinese/allies marched around with these weapons, but they must have had very little ammo as the chrome-lined barrels are like new!

was RO at a public range in southern commiefornia in the mid 80's.
two car loads of young bangers showed up and poured out of the cars.
the chief banger had a SKS still dripping cosmoline.
I got them all situated with nobody in front of the firing line, with most of them on the right rear of the shooter.
he stood at the fireline with the sks at belt level.
sks are famous for slam firing if not cleaned and lubed properly.
half way through the magazine, the shooter realized it was running away with him and spun to his right.
ambulance took 4.
today there are probably 4 old former bangers still walking with canes.

Mine was Chinese and rough is too complimentary; it was covered in so many hammer marks. Had to beat the front sight over to the middle. With a cheap folding stock it was real handy and could hit fist size rocks at 100 yards easily once the delayed roller trigger was familiar. About as elegant as the artillery piece it was based on. Affection but no love.

they were $99 ea and $99 for a spam can of ammo. this was in the mid 80's

I have owned a number of them. I don't now. If they were all that great, then countries would still be using them.

Better designs came along within the Eastern Bloc. Doesn't mean that the SKS isn't still a highly effective and reliable weapon.

One point to keep in mind is that if you own an SKS, you actually own a firearm that was a main battle carbine of several major nations, constructed with arming their soldiers in mind. When you buy an AK, on the other hand, you are invariably buying a gun that looks like an AK-47, but was actually made specifically for the civilian market, not a military.

That is a good question, when you could buy an AK 47 with three 30 round mags, and a case of ammo (300 rnds IIRC) for $300.


Before Hilary's first term as POTUS.

I bought a Russian and a Yugo way back when for $88 each. That was a wholesale price when bought in groups of 3 or more. Several of us went together to split the shipping charges which added another couple of dollars to the price. I skipped the spam cans of ammo as it was corrosive primed as I recall. I did buy a lot of Wolf, Tula, and several other such brands for about the same price when it went on sale. Some of those boxes are still around and the have a $2 sticker on them with sale prices down to $1.75 a box.

I sold the Russian for considerably more than I paid for it and almost feel guilty about it. The Yugo stuck around for a while as it was fun to shoot using blanks and a grapefruit loaded into the grenade launcher adaptor. I sold that gun after the adaptor was lost in the pasture swamp.

Do you apply that same standard to the m1903 and the m1 garand?

Nonsense. Must be why the Russian and Chinese armies
are still supplying their troops with AK's.