The SKS – Surplus Deer Rifle

The SKS – Surplus Deer Rifle by Lyndon Combs
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The use of surplus rifles to hunt is nothing new, but since the fall of the Berlin Wall the market has been flooded like never before with good rifles. The Ak-47, Mosin Nagant, and the SKS, to name just a few of the guns, have become part of the hunting terminology in America, filling shelves at local gun shops by the dozen.

In this article I am going to deal with the one that has caught on the most with deer hunters, the SKS. At first the Russian version came to America, and as the guns caught on with the gun community, surplus Chinese versions began to flow into the hands of American hunters. They were cheap, well made, and accurate; all great selling points to many hard working hunters who picked up one to add to their collection of hunting rifles.

As time went by and the rifles were used more in the field they became even more popular with deer hunters, many setting aside their trusty lever action .30-30s to use the SKS. The guns have changed a little since the first ones hit the market, due to laws being passed by liberal idiots trying to stop the guns from being sold, but the laws have only made the price go up, and the popularity of the guns to flourish. At least every hunter I know locally has owned an SKS at one time or another and some own more than one to hunt with. The after market products for the rifle have made customizing the SKS very easy, from stocks of all shapes and configurations, to custom finishes, the options for personalization of an SKS is limitless.

The SKS or Samozaryadniy Karabin Sistemi Simonova was designed in 1945 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonova, it was chambered in 7.63X39mm M1943 round. It was an intermediate powered rifle that was manufactured in many of the former Eastern Bloc nations under various designations. It uses a short stroke gas piston self–loading action that fires one round every time you squeeze the trigger. Most came with a 10 round attached boxed magazine that could be fed with stripper clips, but many owners changed this feature to a detachable box magazine using after market parts. Some later models made by Norinco in China had detachable box magazines, but they only held 5 shot clips. Contrary to the beliefs of many anti-gun liberals, this is not an assault weapon, it does not meet the criteria of a true assault weapon. It can be changed to meet the specifications of an assault weapon, but the original rifle does not fit the criteria.

The Russian SKS considered to be the best version of the rifle was only made from 1949 to 1951 after this the rifle was made in other countries such as China, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The only country to currently manufacture the rifle is Yugoslavia by the Zastava Armory. The most common versions of the rifle are the Norinco made in China, and the Yugoslavian version. The exact number of rifles is unknown, but it is well in the millions. There are only a few variations of the rifle that are actually rare, and they are the Vietnamese Type 1, North Korean Type 63, and the East German Karabiner–S. These have never been exported to the U.S., and the difference between this version and other versions is not really known.

The 7.62X39mm cartridge that the SKS fires is the same cartridge that the AK-47 is chambered to fire; S.A.A.M.I., maximum average pressure of 50,000 C.U.P. ammunition of U.S. manufacture uses a .308 bullet, and in the early surplus ammunition made in other countries a .311 bullet, so some ammunition works better in the SKS.

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