AK vs. SKS Accuracy

[reloader762]

reloader 762 What is the accuracy at 100 yards?

Don't really know as I don't have anywhere I can shoot that far around here safely. The local range which goes out to 300 yds. cost about 1K a year to join and there is a long waiting list the closes public range is about a 2 hr. drive. Several years ago when I was down at the public range I could easily hit clay targets off hand on the 100 yd. berm so I think it will do just fine for anything in the area I live.

[Sierra 173]

For those of you who have not shot the M-14 rifle, understand that those rifles are one of the best rifles EVER made for all round service use. They are extremely accurate with novice shooters being able to repeatedly hit targets out to 750 meters with a little bit of training. In about 1970 the U.S. Army brought out the XM-21 sniper rifles which were upgraded and tuned up M-14 rifles. These M-14 variants would eventually become the M-21 sniper rifle system and would, with a trained shooter, match grade ammo and a decent scope, deliver 1,000 meter silhouette shots about 9 out of 10 times.

The thing about the AK vs. the SKS is that the AK has a side mount system that lets you add and remove a telescopic sight when you want. When the sight is in place, your magazine change does not effect the sight nor does the sight cause a problem loading the rifle. With the SKS there are a couple of sighting system issues when using telescopic sights. With the real early models, the Russians had a scope system that moved forward and backwards so that ammo could be loaded into the magazine. I only saw one of those in Viet Nam and the guy who had it was taking it home with him as a souvenir. There was another variant where the scope flips off to the side so that the shooter can load ammo into the magazine and then move the scope over the centerline of the carbine. A third variant is an offset scope, just a little to the left of the bolt, so that the line of sight is pretty close to the bullet's flight path.

While I was in Viet Nam the majority of the communist snipers used old Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles with scopes mounted on them. We did, however, capture one SKS that had half of a binocular mounted, crudely mounted, on it. The shooter had etched a crosshair in the front glass of the binocular to use for his shooting purposes. His make-shift sniper rifle worked well enough from zero to about 300 meters or so.

The thing about the SKS is that you are not under-equipped when you have one. They are decent carbines and they do tend to be a tad bit more accurate than the AK rifles. Both the AK rifles and the SKS carbines will serve you well so you can't go wrong with either of them. If I had to choose, I would pick an AK with a scope over a SKS just because I would get 20 extra rounds and reloading would be easier when using a scope.

Attached is a photo of me and my sniper rifle over in Viet Nam that I used to kill a feral pig.

[Hummer]

The first AK74 to arrive in country that Military Intelligence got hold of that was sent to the Army Materials Systems Analysis Agency at Aberdeen for evaluation from 100 to 800 meters I was selected to conduct the testing by AMSAA.

We had Russian arsenal loaded 5.45 ammo (two 55 gal drums of it) and they wanted it tested on the weekends when no one else was down range so it was me, the AMSAA Analyst and my gun crew of 3. AMSAA did not want the world to know we had one and the analyst wrote the first report written on it was done four years later. Another was written by same analyst several years later. Both of which are still not released but a third one has been released you can get to by clicking on link in collage below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16LSk-RtaEGVqN7g_v5ZrEjAyn1o0wnhtFG8hLfGoDFg/edit

These are the photos made and given to me on Thanksgiving Day 82 when I was asked to come to the analysts (Weaver) home for Thanksgiving Dinner. He gave them to me and asked me to keep them close hold for a while and when I found out the third report had been released tot he public I figured it was time to put them out since everyone in the world has a AK74 that wants one. There were photos of the targets made before they were put into data and entered into the program that analyzes all targets of all systems so the data from every test is comparable. All data is generated on same range which is about five feet above sea level and the light conditions are the same. There is a typo in the collage above, it is actually a 1500 yard range and you will note it appears we are way down range which we were so we would be out of sight.


First thing I had to do was blacken the sights and the PO did not care for it and the sight finish had worn off and I blackened the sights and made front and rear sight hoods from gun tape to protect them during the testing. to save lots of typing you guys can download Weavers third analysis done a number of years later. I tried to trace him down and found his obituary. As you will see reading it his analysis gets pretty in depth and has direct comparisons to several other weapon systems data for comparison purposes.

[orangetom1999]

For myself I prefer the SKS over the AK platforms....I prefer more accurate rifles....not rifles which shoot alot.

If I want to shoot alot...I take my 12 Gauge pump and do it in a few rounds of 00 Buck.

I just bought a Ruger Precision Rifle and am taking my time researching an affordable optic for it.

As I said....I prefer accurate rifles.

Like my 1903 Springfield over my M1 Garand and the M1 is a fine rifle...but it is not a 1903 Springfield and you can tell the difference.

It is my way....

Orangetom
Not an Ishmaelite.

[Tugaloo]

I believe years ago carbine meant a shorter barrel. In the 1950s, the 336 had a 24" barrel and the 336C had a 20". However in today's world, they both have the same length barrel.

Now I wouldn't trade my sks for almost anything, it's a good straight shooter. But I do know one thing. If I can't reasonably shoot a weapon, I trade it out mucho pronto. Thats a problem waiting to happen.

The SKS dates back to when ComBlock's doctrine leaned towards aimed fire instead of today's spray fire. Lightweight, fast handling, accurate and reliable; so what is not to like? (Except for today's prices, LOL)
There are quite a few variations of SKS, Russian, Chinese, Czechoslovakia and others. Usually, the Chinese has a triangular bayonet and European versions have a blade bayonet.