Glockstar .40
New member
i have a norinco sks that takes AK mags....dead on accurate with the iron sights. love it!!
sks vs. ak47
- Thread starter moisanfan11
- Start date
okiewita40
New member
If you are going to hunt or shoot with any degree of accuracy then get an SKS. If you just want a more expensive way to burn through ammo then get an AK.
The only "military" or "assualt" type rifle I own is a SKS. It is a chinese with the Tapco stock and detachable mags. Very dangerous looking. It came with the wood stock and fixed mags. I swapped out the black plastic for the wood and metal and it doesn't look nearly as evil. I wonder if it shoots faster the meaner it looks.
Anyway, since everything seems to be gone and I already had quite a few detachable mags I ordered another SKS from Buds last night for $329.00. figured it was still a relatively good price for a good gun and know I have one I can keep evil looking and one I can keep not as dangerous with the wood stocks
And if you have or want an SKS with detachable mags. Go for the Tapco 20 rounders. I have a few and have never had an failure with it. This week I ordered a ProMag 30 and 40 rounder during the "panic". The Promags do not have as good of a rep as the Tapco, but most people seem to like them. Almost everyone has sucess with the Tapco. They are foolproof.
The detachable mags do not take any real modification. Just remove the fixed and the "duckbill" mags fit right in. Sometimes they are "tight" and hard to get in the first few times, but that will work itself out. The only down side I see to the SKS detachable mags vs an AK is you have to have the bolt open to insert or remove the mag. (there is a fix for that that involves a little modification, I have not done it)
Anyway, since everything seems to be gone and I already had quite a few detachable mags I ordered another SKS from Buds last night for $329.00. figured it was still a relatively good price for a good gun and know I have one I can keep evil looking and one I can keep not as dangerous with the wood stocks
And if you have or want an SKS with detachable mags. Go for the Tapco 20 rounders. I have a few and have never had an failure with it. This week I ordered a ProMag 30 and 40 rounder during the "panic". The Promags do not have as good of a rep as the Tapco, but most people seem to like them. Almost everyone has sucess with the Tapco. They are foolproof.
The detachable mags do not take any real modification. Just remove the fixed and the "duckbill" mags fit right in. Sometimes they are "tight" and hard to get in the first few times, but that will work itself out. The only down side I see to the SKS detachable mags vs an AK is you have to have the bolt open to insert or remove the mag. (there is a fix for that that involves a little modification, I have not done it)
spacecoast
New member
I'm not sure how your rifles shoot, but this is how my AK shoots with Tula steel-cased ammo and stock iron sights...
bustersmaster
New member
I've done the removeable mag thing on 2 different SKS's and had to remove a fair amount of wood from the inside of the stock on both.
I'm not sure how your rifles shoot, but this is how my AK shoots with Tula steel-cased ammo and stock iron sights...
Good shooting! I wish my eyes were that good. I couldn't do that with my A2 on that target.
Were you using something bigger than the 2.5" square as an aiming reference? At 100 yards I pretty much need a 6" black circle to center over the front sight post. I don't know if I'd even be able to see that square.
spacecoast
New member
No, it's actually a 1.6" black square and I can just barely resolve it at 100 yards. I made up some targets specifically for this using the "aim small, miss small theory". However I do use a small aperture on my shooting glasses to help me see the front sight clearly when I am going for accuracy (or precision, whichever term suits best).
Arrgghhh... make that the rear sight
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I owned both at one time. The SKS is a bit more complicated but mine never had reliability issues. I could be a bit more accurate with the SKS which I always attributed to the better sights but I realize now that I was also staging the trigger as well. The SKS's trigger is pretty awful. Ultimately accuracy is about the same because the thin barrels heat up enough to open your groups after 15+ rounds.
The SKS was more comfortable to shoot, mainly due to weight (mine was a Yugo). Not fun to carry for the same reason.
Ultimately I sold the SKS because I wasn't shooting much of either at the time and my AK was a little more handy and bomb-proof. They both fit the same niche.
The SKS was more comfortable to shoot, mainly due to weight (mine was a Yugo). Not fun to carry for the same reason.
Ultimately I sold the SKS because I wasn't shooting much of either at the time and my AK was a little more handy and bomb-proof. They both fit the same niche.
tahunua001
New member
I just bought my first SKS yesterday. it's chinese and obviously saw a bit of action. I have yet to fire it but here are a few observations I've made about it compared to other guns such as the AK47.
the SKS has a very straight forward design as far as field stripping goes, more in depth disassembly is a little more complicated but for the most part all you'll ever need is field strip for cleaning. compared to the AK47 however it is much easier to get stripped and back together, I have stripped mine down once just to get all of the cosmoline out of it but I am confident that I could field strip it and put it back together in half the time as my old WASR 10/63 AK47 clone.
ammo capacity, most SKS come with a standard 10 round, non detachable magazine however higher capacity magazine kits are available to increase the capacity to 20, 30 or even 40 rounds. the AK47 has quick change magazines and can be had in 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 round magazines before you start to get into high capacity drums. at first glance it would appear that the AK holds the advantage in ammo capacity however the SKS has guides to allow you to reload using 10 round stripper clips which in the hands of a well practiced user, can be just as fast as a quick change magazine and since AK47 mags require a special and hard to find adapter to feed from stripper clips it is actually easier and faster to reload an SKS with a 30 round magazine than an AK with 30 round magazine.
I have yet to spend trigger time with the SKS so I can't attest to accuracy though both are chambered in 7.62x39mm so I doubt that the SKS can claim too much more accuracy than the AK47.
I personally hated the ergonomics of the AK and spent all of 3 years trying to make it more comfortable to hold, carry and shoot but I just never did find a setup that I liked, the SKS on the other hand feels very much like any other vintage military surplus rifle.
the SKS would do well as a close-medium range deer/hog/varmint rifle and as a home defense rifle however I still think I would rather use an AR15 than an SKS when under normal circumstances an AR15 can be had for $600.
this entire post however is purely academic, AR15s and AK47s are sold out almost everywhere and the ones that aren't are selling for twice and sometimes 3 times what they are worth due to panic-profiteering. I bought my SKS yesterday for 239 dollars and they even threw in one of the last remaining boxes of ammo they had for it while every other gun store, sporting goods shop and pawn shop in town were selling them for $400 and up, including hacked up, drilled, and tacticooled up models.
the SKS has a very straight forward design as far as field stripping goes, more in depth disassembly is a little more complicated but for the most part all you'll ever need is field strip for cleaning. compared to the AK47 however it is much easier to get stripped and back together, I have stripped mine down once just to get all of the cosmoline out of it but I am confident that I could field strip it and put it back together in half the time as my old WASR 10/63 AK47 clone.
ammo capacity, most SKS come with a standard 10 round, non detachable magazine however higher capacity magazine kits are available to increase the capacity to 20, 30 or even 40 rounds. the AK47 has quick change magazines and can be had in 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 round magazines before you start to get into high capacity drums. at first glance it would appear that the AK holds the advantage in ammo capacity however the SKS has guides to allow you to reload using 10 round stripper clips which in the hands of a well practiced user, can be just as fast as a quick change magazine and since AK47 mags require a special and hard to find adapter to feed from stripper clips it is actually easier and faster to reload an SKS with a 30 round magazine than an AK with 30 round magazine.
I have yet to spend trigger time with the SKS so I can't attest to accuracy though both are chambered in 7.62x39mm so I doubt that the SKS can claim too much more accuracy than the AK47.
I personally hated the ergonomics of the AK and spent all of 3 years trying to make it more comfortable to hold, carry and shoot but I just never did find a setup that I liked, the SKS on the other hand feels very much like any other vintage military surplus rifle.
the SKS would do well as a close-medium range deer/hog/varmint rifle and as a home defense rifle however I still think I would rather use an AR15 than an SKS when under normal circumstances an AR15 can be had for $600.
this entire post however is purely academic, AR15s and AK47s are sold out almost everywhere and the ones that aren't are selling for twice and sometimes 3 times what they are worth due to panic-profiteering. I bought my SKS yesterday for 239 dollars and they even threw in one of the last remaining boxes of ammo they had for it while every other gun store, sporting goods shop and pawn shop in town were selling them for $400 and up, including hacked up, drilled, and tacticooled up models.
tahunua001
New member
be that as it may, you are comparing aperture sights to leaf sights. true the leaf sights can be graduated to 1200 yards but I would love to see anyone hit anything smaller than a tour bus at that range with a 7.62x39 of any model with open sights. aperture sights are much easier to shoot accurately and offer much clearer sight picture than fuzzy leaf sights. if you are so far away that you need to hold over you probably shouldn't be shooting with irons anyway.
okiewita40
New member
IIRC tech sight does make sights for both the AK an SKS. I have read that the tech sights really turn the SKS into a shooter.
If your just talking about standing on a line casually shooting off hand at pop bottles with iron sights then by all means an SKS will do everything an AK can and it might even be a little more easy to shoot the SKS since its a little heavier(stable) and has a longer sight radius.
If your talking about actually using the gun in for say a defensive carbine course or if you were doing any type of dynamic shooting or wanted the gun as a personal defense carbine for your home then the AK's compact size, weight, ease of reloading, modularity(optics and rails) and maneuverability will give the AK a huge advantage.
Personally I think a small bore AK in 5.56 or 5.45 with the AK-74 style compensator REALLY puts the AK in another class because of how fast you can put accurate fire on target.
If your talking about actually using the gun in for say a defensive carbine course or if you were doing any type of dynamic shooting or wanted the gun as a personal defense carbine for your home then the AK's compact size, weight, ease of reloading, modularity(optics and rails) and maneuverability will give the AK a huge advantage.
Personally I think a small bore AK in 5.56 or 5.45 with the AK-74 style compensator REALLY puts the AK in another class because of how fast you can put accurate fire on target.
customaquatics
New member
doesnt a some chinese SkS have that removable magazine?
WildBill45
New member
I have both
but I have not shot the AK yet...
The SKS does shoot well for what you have with it, and it is fun...
but I have not shot the AK yet...
The SKS does shoot well for what you have with it, and it is fun...
If the trigger group gets real dirty on the SKS... it will have a possibility of going full auto on you. I like my fake Chinese Paratrooper SKS, that is outfitted with a 4x scope ---along with my two Saiga AKM's -- Krebs Custom KTR 03S, 7.62x39 and one in 5.45x39. For the AK'S...the Tapco trigger group, runs very fast, with no trigger slap.
tahunua001
New member
the SKS/M was designed to take AK47 mags. a number of conversions are out there to allow SKS to use a proprietary detachable magazine as well however as stated, stripper clips are faster in the long run.
a little update on my post. I finally shot my SKS, ringing 200 meter oxygen tanks with almost boring precision once I got it dialed in with new Tech Sights Apertures. when I made my earlier post in this thread I had no idea that there was an aperture system available for the SKS but I sure am glad I bought them.
I picked up another sks today I'm becoming a damn good "trigger expert" on the sks I polished mine she is as smooth as butter no creep at all. I went with a wolff 31lb hammer spring my other sks has a 27.5lb OOps going off topic as usual I think the Norinco sks D or M is would be my choice over a AK47.