How accurate is the SKS?

Took mine to the range for the first time on Friday and enjoyed shooting it but I've always been a scope person. Bad eyesight and trouble getting a good sight picture on anything beyone 25 yards. At 50 yards I was hitting the target ok, nice 4 inch group which considering the sun was in my eyes I figured was as good as I was going to get with open sights.

I've tried researching scope mounts for the SKS and it is appearing to be a difficult nut to crack.

I'm not interested in the rear receiver cover mount or the gas tube mount but would consider a rear sight mounted scout scope or a hard attached drill and tap receiver mount. Probably the latter is my preference as this rifle has already been altered to be California legal, it isn't going back to original.

Are they accurate enough to warrant a scope? I have the Yugo model.

I'd also prefer a mount that doesn't require removal every time you want to clean the rifle which seems to be an issue with most of them.

Anyone with experience with these?

Aragorn,
Actually I have a Yugo that I have never shot (its in cosmo).
My brother had the Chinese SKS, and was VERY disappointed with it. Never knew if it was the gun or the ammo.... he got rid of it before we could figure it out.
You pose an interesting question, and one that I look forward to having experts comment on....

Your best bet for accuracy is to leave it alone. the scopes for these guns are usually dependent on the mount(like most guns). The most common mounts for the SKS are cheap top cover replacements you could not give to me. There are some better ones out there though. Pick a good mount and you should have good luck with relative accuracy.

There is no point in putting a scope on it if it isn't fixed. The gas tube and the rear cover mounts are not fixed. I am aware of these issues, I want to know if a positively attached scope is worth the effort of installation. I understand it is also a relatively short range rifle but as I rarely shoot at anything beyond 100 yards this is not an issue. I've heard but have seen no hard data that the Yugo's are probably the best built and most accurate of the SKS's though they are lacking the chrome lined barrel.

A riend of mine and I were shooting his Yugo SKS a while back at our clubs range. We were shooting it off a Lead Sled with Wolf ammo and it was pretty consistant at hitting the NRA Rams at 500 meters with iron sights, I was very surprised.

I have seen side rail scope mounting systems on an SKS before. The one I saw was what looked to be an AK side rail though I can not be positive. Modification of the stock would be nessicary for this. Otherwise I believe S&K makes a quality rear sight based mount for the SKS as they do for just about everything. I have also seen a receiver nount that was drilled and tapped into the front of the receiver. I would not advise this though as there is not much metal to work with there because of the chamber and op rod. Hope this helps.

The SKS is not what I would consider very accurate but at 300 yards can consistently hit a 8 X 14 inch target. Have a D with a scope and it is a little more accurate but not worth the expense of the mount and scope.

Have shot a thousand + + rounds thru various SKS's and considering what they were designed for I would have to say the accuracy is acceptable. They are not a target rifle however. Cheap and fun to shoot and good if the zombies ever attack.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by enfield303t

The SKS is not what I would consider very accurate but at 300 yards can consistently hit a 8 X 14 inch target. Have a D with a scope and it is a little more accurate but not worth the expense of the mount and scope.

Cheap and fun to shoot and good if the zombies ever attack.

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Is the scope mounted solid to the receiver on the one that has the scope or it is on the rear cover?

I should just leave it alone. I have other rifles for the long range stuff and I do need something if the zombies get in close I guess. I just tend to be someone that wants the best setup for shooting and as I have problems with the iron sights, it seems logical to at least investigate. Would never put one on one of my other rifles but this one is already altered.

here is a sks that I built last year from a pile of parts. The scope and mount are just things I had hanging around. I wanted it to look like a pseudo sniper sks if they ever made one. It is what my friends call the UN rifle, as it is very multicultural. The barrel is Chinese, the bolt is Albanian, the bolt carrier is Russian as is the gas piston and tube, and the stock and receiver is YUGO. It will shoot SUB MOA all day long with the Yugo M67 ammo that is on the market right now.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../th_side-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../th_rear-1.jpg

Depends mostly on the ammo lot, mine shoots anywhere from 1 to 6 MOA depending on the ammo used. It's certainly not built for accuracy but once I figure out where the POI is I can consistently hit paper at 300.

I tried one of the cover mounts but took it off as it didn't work worth a hoot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nattcmars

here is a sks that I built last year from a pile of parts. The scope and mount are just things I had hanging around. I wanted it to look like a pseudo sniper sks if they ever made one. It is what my friends call the UN rifle, as it is very multicultural. The barrel is Chinese, the bolt is Albanian, the bolt carrier is Russian as is the gas piston and tube, and the stock and receiver is YUGO. It will shoot SUB MOA all day long with the Yugo M67 ammo that is on the market right now.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../th_side-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../th_rear-1.jpg

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I really like the looks of that mount. Do you know where one like it could be found?

I have no clue where i got the mount. I think I picked it up with the scope for $10 at a gunshow.

There's a great deal of variability with the SKS in terms of accuracy. I currently have two SKS's, but owned three at one point. All will shoot under 8 inches at 100 meters in factory configuration using only the iron sights and Czech or Polish surplus ammo. My best shooter, a nice 1952 laminate, will shoot up to 3 inch groups at 100 meters using Prvi Partizan soft points, or up to 4 inch groups shooting surplus stuff.

Here's few pics of them, top to bottom '51, '52, '54:

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...7f7645_b-1.jpg

And, I decided to "bubba" the '52 as it is my main shooter (middle SKS above):
-professionally parkerized and Arma-coated (for rust prevention), military/olive green
-wood chemically stripped, lightly sanded and tung-oiled
(on far right, below)

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...cb021c_b-1.jpg

Here is my “Yugo” and some samples of its accuracy at 100 yards. It is better than I am, rings are; X=25mm, 10=50mm, 9=100mm, 8=150mm etc.:
M59/66a1
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../08/SKS3-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...110924_T-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...111001_T-1.jpg

I have two SKS rifle one Yugoslavian M59/66A1factory refurb and a Chinese /26\ I bought NIB. I gotten the best results with as far as steel case Russian ammo goes with Golden Tiger in both rifles groups generally run around 2",Brown Bear is a close second at 3" and Wolf is just crap in my rifles as far as groups go I don't shoot that stuff anymore.

I get the best accuracy form my reloads in both rifles at 50 yds. they produce five shot one ragged hole groups with 123 gr. Hornady FMJ and SP bullets. As fas as sight I replaced the front sight post with a TechSight target post it's about 1/2 the dia. of the factory post Aim Small,Shoot Small.

Later on after it started getting harder to focus on small targets at 100 yds. I scoped the Yugo with a Choate drill and tap side mount it allows you to still use the irons and remove the dust cover as needed,I use and old Tasco 2.5 scope so stripper clips can still be used. On my Chinese I replaced the front sight a well,I do use a dust cover mount and a Red Dot sight for tree stand hunting about the longest shot I can get in the thick woods is 50 yds and it shoot nice tight 1" groups with that setup otherwise I remove the dust cover mount and just use the regular iron for plinking the rest of the year.

Yugo before the scope
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...test0101-1.jpg
Scoped Yugo
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...cture009-1.jpg
10 shot scope group J bullets
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...11/10/21-1.jpg
Yugo cast loads first test loads
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CastLoad-1.jpg
Chinese
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...mmo00811-1.jpg
Chinese and 5 MOA red dot sight group.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...3grVMAXT-1.jpg
Cast Loads
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../10/Cast-1.jpg
Chinese cast loads first test loads
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...neseCast-1.jpg