I've been thinking about buying my first gun lately and have been wondering what a good first rifle is for somebody with moderate shooting experience. I've mostly been considering the SKS since they're so cheap
Good starter rifles
Oliver Jones
Thomas King
It would be better to buy a cheap 10/22. You would learn how semi auto works. You could buy various cheap Chinese optics of different kinds for it to decide which platform you like best and learn how to zero them. Your ammo is insanely cheap. When you decide to graduate to a bigger rifle you will have more trigger pulls under your belt for sure with a 10/22 or equivalent than an sks. Plus, once you do upgrade the 22 is still useful in many situations while (and I know some commieboo will show up now) most people with sks's leave them in their closets indefinitely after their first excitement of getting it wears off.
Ryan Nelson
The SKS isn't actually all that cheap these days.
I mean, it's not expensive, anyone could easily afford one who wanted it, but the SKS used to go for like $200 about 10 years ago, which was a fucking steal, these days you're likely paying $350 at the least, but probably more than $400, and by the $400+ mark you could just as well be looking at an entrylevel AR15, which will overall be a more practical rifle.
All that said, there's nothing wrong with the SKS (slightly weighty for its cartridge, but you'll manage), if you find one in decent shape for under $400 and you really want that Simonov, go for it.
Relatively speaking, the SKS is still also a steal in a way, as you're not very likely to find an actual military surplus self-loading rifle for less than $800 these days, M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, Hakims, G43s, SVT40s, you're paying a lot more to have rifles like those.
Logan Long
I will suggest to not try to modify an SKS that much, because there's not very much you can do to make it better, and you'll quickly arrive at dollars where you could just as well have bought a better rifle to begin with.
>Plastic stocks
Might seem like a good idea, since it's kinda heavy, but they often end up pretty awkwardly balanced, and lots of them aren't very well made, or clash with the aesthetics of the rest of the rifle.
>extended mags
Aside from those fixed extended ones from China (20rd mags with stars on them, sought after collectibles), extended mags for the SKS are usually pretty poorly performing, you're better off sticking to the original fixed 10rd magazine.
>optics
This venture is hopeless, mounting optics on an SKS is bothersome as shit and hardly worth it, if you put them on the top-cover or a railed replacement top-cover you'll get wobble, mounting them into the wood is shit, the handguard for the gastube is way too far forward and not very secure, and the inherent precision of these rifles can vary, you may get zero mileage out of a scope even if it could be properly fitted.
A somewhat workable idea is one of those peep-sights which can be mounted to the rear of the receiver, which isn't a terrible idea, since it'll give you more sight radius, and most people find them more comfortable to use than the original Russian notch sights.
>bipod
The typical bipod designed for an SKS will be some piece of shit that will mount on the bayonet hinge, replacing the folding bayonet. Avoid.
>firing-pin safety upgrade
These aren't a bad idea, as the SKS will sometimes slamfire if it gets dirty enough, a kit to upgrade this will not change how the rifle works other than avoiding a potentially unsafe situation.
Jayden Price
SKSs aren't really cheap anymore, 2010 was 9 years ago, user. For the same price you can buy an AR parts kit and receiver from PSA and be able to do a lot more with it.
>jUsT bUy An Ar HuRr
If it's your first rifle, it should be able serve as a general purpose rifle, imo, and be able to do everything a rifle needs to do, even if it isn't great at any particular thing.
I love my SKS but wouldn't really want to pay the price they demand now. If you do decide to get one, whatever you do, don't get a Yugo or Norinco.
Leo Powell
Oliver Carter
>c
DAMN, i wish we could get that price in canada! S&W or DPMS will run you close to 600-700+tax
Liam Martinez
Just buy a cheap PSA.
Lucas Anderson
jesus those are some cheap ass AR's. Looks like airsoft tier guns though
Ayden Hill
>canada
stick to the fucking canada containment thread
Brandon Baker
Sks is a good first gun.
Eli Martin
SKS: $350 from classic firearms
PSA AR15 kit: $300
Anderson loser: $50
If you’re gonna be a cheap ass, be the cheap ass with a modern rifle
Nathaniel Taylor
>this
As much as I love my comblock shit I bought that stuff when it was still reasonably priced. These days it's not worth it buying an sks as a starter when there modern more accurate rifles for a better price
Joshua Sanchez
AR 15 is the way to go imo. Very modular and easy to put together and take down, inexpensive ammo, light recoil, and good stopping power. Palmetto State Armory is having sales on pretty much everything on their site right now, as well as lots of other companies.
Charles Hughes
Whats wrong with the norinco ones?
Angel Ward
What about that issue with accidental discharge when slapping the butt on the ground?
It kina scares me but I wonder if it's a myth.
Asher Sullivan
Yeah, it looks like a turd, but I'm going to guess it goes bang, and is under 3 MOA.
Adam Evans
Just buy a shotgun
Camden Flores
the commercial ones are just kinda shitty
literally nothing wrong with milsurp norincos or any yugo
Liam Howard
>yugo bad
not unless you're super asshurt about having a little extra weight from the chunky barrel and GL hardware
Camden Ramirez
i heard they go for 600+ in the us, which you shouldn't buy except you really really want an sks. i like my tula but it will never be more than a range toy.
Luke Lopez
Gay
Josiah Anderson
Don't the commercial Norinco ones still work fine?
Yugos are perfectly alright, but the lack of chrome is what I'd consider the major downside.
Xavier Sanders
>a cheap SKS in 2003+16
Elijah Nelson
Yeah
Robert Williams
> but the lack of chrome is what I'd consider the major downside.
No one buying a Yugo now is going to be burning through spam cans of corrosive x39 surplus. Lack of chrome lining is a non-issue at this point.
Lucas Sanders
>Don't the commercial Norinco ones still work fine
They're hit or miss because they were often assembled from leftover parts. Could be a great SKS, could be meh. I have one and its just fine.
Henry Martinez
SKS rifles aren't as cheap as they used to be, but it depends where you live. Maybe your LGS happens to have one for $300 in which case I would absolutely recommend it. Very idiot-resistant, rugged and overall just neat design. Good versatile cartridge too.
If you live in Canada, you can buy legit Russian ones so cheap it's a no-brainer. Americans are jealous.
A .22 rifle is also an excellent idea if your intention is primarily to learn marksmanship, but innawoods/HD/boogaloo applications aren't a factor. You really can be a better shooter by starting out small. It's just not very powerful so not ideal for protection, especially against large dangerous animals.
Ah, kinda figured you for a leaf. SKS it is. Upgrade to an SVT-40 or a Norinco M305 at some point to make us really jealous.
Get a legal 12" shotgun just to rub it in too.
It has a free floating firing pin so in theory a sharp strike can cause it to shift forward and touch the primer. You can install an aftermarket firing pin with a spring that pushes against it to eliminate this issue, but it's really not a huge deal. It's very unlikely to occur.
One thing that can happen (also unlikely) is that the gun gets very dirty and the firing pin gets stuck forward causing the rifle to fire when a cartridge is chambered. In this scenario when you drop the bolt it will "slamfire" and run full-auto until the magazine is empty, gun jams or the firing pin frees itself.
The Norincos are fine but Russians are just a lot nicer in terms of fit/finish. The cost difference in Canada is negligible, so just get a surplus Russian. Here in the US a Chiense SKS is like $400 and a Russian is $600-800. That's freedom bucks too.
Anthony Scott
On top of that, the SKS is an easy gun to disassemble and clean, Ive been putting corrosive ammo through my Yugo for years, I just clean out the barrel and gas tube/op rod after. Despite probably a couple thousand round of shitty corrosive steel case through the gun it still works fine, shoots straight and is nice an shiny all over.
Jose Lopez
I know, but still, chrome just feels like it should be in an SKS.
The firing-pin is free-floating, so that can happen, particularly if the gun is very dirty, but there's ways to fix that.
Brayden Young
Extra barrel life is never a meme, dude.
Cooper Richardson
Literally AR15
Oliver Peterson
The SKS is admirably idiotproof for a gas-operated and locked breech rifle. If the AK didn't come along, being all better in every way, I think it would still made a wonderful conscript's rifle, stupid easy to use, stupid durable, and stupid easy to take care of.
Ethan Hernandez
if you arent canadian then an sks isnt really worth it in terms of price
Sebastian Walker
Only Para SKS's are worth it DESU. perfect combo of weight, and size
Lucas Green
this
Chase Jenkins
Right, so you'd want an extra thick hardy barrel like in the Yugos
Brayden Lopez
>equating thickness to barrel life
Angel Cruz
Wow, you sure are retarded.
Adam Bennett
a little chrome will make so much difference for casual shooting.
Adrian Wilson
It does when you shoot a lot
Gavin Bailey
which I highly doubt you actually do
Aiden Edwards
>implying anyone on this board actually owns guns
Michael Morris
Second for the paratrooper but as for yours
>no bayonet lug
>no canvas sling
Get your shit together
Nicholas Gray
He might be in a ban state.
Jace King
Very inexpensive bang for the buck and if you fuck something up, you lost nothing.
Also, they are good for fucking with people if you have a full length model and the steel butt.
Ian Davis
Jack Cox
got an SKS as my first rifle. i dont consider a 22 a real rifle. yes it shoots boolets and yea it can kill but a 22 is truly a class of its own considering the total lack of recoil.
the SKS is cool but for the price you may as well get an AR-15.
Oliver Rivera
What’s a cheap bolt action rifle that’s relatively good quality that I can get these days? I just want to larp with a bolt action :(
Blake Reyes
Do you mean bolt action or milsurp? If you mean bolt action, get a tikka. Otherwise, it really depends on where you live
Chase Lee
Milsurp, though can you explain the tikka a little bit? I’ve never heard of the company
Eli Wood
Unless you get a good deal get an AR15 instead. At least in my area AR's are like $50 bucks more, SKS prices are dumb lately
Luke Gray
>noguns
>moderate shooting experience
You already seem like a yeet cannon fag
Cameron Reyes
>mags
Tapco mags work brilliantly as well as the KCI drum. For me, other steel mags have been a total disaster. I could never go back to the fixed mag though
>rail
The matador full length optics rail is a great rail. It is screwed into the receiver cover and the front sight and doesn’t lose zero.
And remember OP, I did it with my first SKS. You can easily convert and drop a full auto trigger group into an SKS and remove it when you are done.
Leo Price
There's indeed ways to make a lightning link for the SKS, and not difficult, but of course, we're all just talking hypothetically here.
youtube.com
Here's a post-sample one.
Adam Edwards
What's the ROF on that?
Ayden Taylor
Looks pretty high, maybe 750rpm or so.
The SKS was designed to only be semi-auto ever, so I figure that it didn't matter that much that the bolt slams back and home pretty fast.
Looks real funny to see a rifle with a fixed 10rd mag BRRRT like that, dunnit?
Jeremiah Lewis
The sound is really satisfying, though.
Sebastian Bailey
Oh yeah. Nice acoustics on that range.
Luis Sullivan
how the fuck do I make one I NEEEEEEED IT
Brandon Clark
Nathaniel Diaz
While we're on the subject, have you guys ever seen the Chinese Type 63? This one later became the Type 81, the Type 95/97 and the Type 03.
Landon Davis
Aiden Sullivan
William Harris
Nicholas Russell
Finnish rifle , new production. Company a part of sako international. 1moa out of the box quarantee. Shoots great,many options . Only pricey if you compare to sks's
Grayson Perez
We just started getting type 81s in Canada recently, apparently a bunch had bent barrels and are pretty meh over all. Never seen the 63 though, neat.
Justin Rodriguez
Get a Remington 597. Half the price and better performance over a 10/22. In comparison the only thing the 10/22 has over the 597 is the aftermarket
Lucas Moore
>B.A.T.F approval must be obtained before manufacturing this full auto sear
BWAHAHA
Julian Cox
That's just a disclaimer. We all know it's not a crime if you're not caught, so don't get caught.
Justin Reyes
Jacob Williams
For milsurp, either Mosin-Nagant 91/30 (though they're in the $250 to $300 range these days) or a Turkish Mauser in 8mm (around the same price range).
Ammo for both is still relatively affordable, although I'd more inclined to grab the Mosin just because non-corrosive Wolf 7.62x54r will still be around for the forseeable future.
Eli Watson
Sweet Jesus those Turkish mausers turn me on, any recommended sellers?
Adam Morales
Not sure if you're still here, op. But I have an sks, and I love it. I've done everything under the sun to this gun at one time or another.
If you want to run detachable mags, avoid the steel ak looking ones. The promag and tapco mags have worked wonders for me. The drums are great too. I did the bolt mod to mine as well. Tapco stocks are cool, but they kinda lose their flare over time. At least it did for me. Ask me anything about it.
Jayden Baker
What mag is that?
Christian Watson
What is this sexy beast
Brayden Diaz
I was thinking of getting a "paratrooper" SKS, but putting a standard 10 round, maybe 20 round magazine.
Easton Long
Type 03 rifle. Basically the Type 95 if it wasn't a bullpup.
Here's the Type 88, which is basically their DMR.
Anthony Scott
It was a tapco I cut windows in. It had damaged feed lips. I also cut off the bolt hold open tab on the mag. Strangely enough it still works 100%
I have a bunch of promag mags too. The only detachables I've had a problem with have been the ak47 looking mags.
Jonathan Powell
That feeling when in finland "entry level AR15" costs easily over 1200€ and sks is between 250€ and 500€
New go for 400-500 and used under that
And for some reason only AKs we have are chink, dubious eastern european quality, overpriced murican or over priced ubertacticools. Though RKs are kind of cheap when compared to US-prices
Andrew Fisher
What's the bolt mod? Or am I being stupid and missing something? Also, what's wrong with the steel mags? I was going to get one when I first got my SKS before I realized that this thing was basically untouched and brand new, but I'm still curious.
Grayson Roberts
There's aftermarket mags available for the SKS, they're basically AK mags with an extension fitted to the top (I don't know if they're converted surplus mags or just styled to look like AK mags), and it lets the things rock into and engage the magazine latch, which is meant to just open the normal fixed mag for safe unloading.
Commonly these are called 'Duckbill Mags', for the atypical appearance.
These do not tend to work very well, supposedly it will behave a little bit better if you let it just stay in place and treat it as a fixed mag, just refilling it from the breech with clips, rather than having a bunch of them and trying to use them as detachables.
Carson Cook