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SKS Assault rifle
Soviet Designed and manufactured starting in 1945 the semi-automatic SKS
Assault rifle has many characteristics that make it a good
survival rifle option.
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Cost of ownership is one factor that the SKS
Assault rifle has in its favor. There are many variants
out there, some starting as low as $180, and sometimes cheaper
on the used market. The prices for the SKS rifle have
risen over the past 10 years, but for around two hundred bucks they
are still a good deal. Ammo prices have gone up
lately too (what hasn't) but is also reasonable at around .20 cents
a round. The 7.62x39 round is a standard, widely
available cartrige, and packs a mean punch.
Like its soviet cousin, the AK-47,
durability and dependability are a given with the SKS Assault
rifle. Some rifles require regular maintenance and cleaning,
the SKS however, will fire time after time, magazine after magazine
while never seeing a cleaning rod or being dissassembled. An
occasional squirt of oil, and the rifle just keeps on going.
(Of course I dont recommend this sort of treatment for any weapon,
but just ask any SKS owner and they will attest to this
statement.)
The safety on most SKS rifles is a finger
operated lever, located on the right side of the trigger. (shown upper
left) |
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At the end of WWII the Russians drew on lessons from the
field and designed the SKS Assault rifle to be smaller and
lighter than previous military battle rifles such as the
mosin-nagant, and fire a smaller round. Smaller and
lighter are good survival rifle characteristics.
With the addition of a readily available after-market
composite or folding stock, the weight and size can be
decreased even further. |
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All SKS Assault rifles were orginally manufactured with a
10-round fixed magazine. They are top fed and can be
loaded very quickly with 2 five-round stripper clips.
The fixed magazine has a release on the back to open
the cover and allow for quick unloading. (shown
at right).
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A scope can be mounted to most SKS models by replacing the
upper receiver cover with an aftermarket reciever cover fitted
with scope mounting hardware. In a wilderness
survival situation, open sights would be preferable to a scope
from a reliability standpoint.
If you decide to mount a scope on your SKS it requires
a short scope to clear the rear of the ejection port, and a
shell deflector like the one shown at left is not a
bad idea either. I have seen a pretty nice scope 100%
destroyed by a shell ejecting straight up out of an SKS.
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After market magazines designed
for the SKS are available in 20,30, and even 50 round
capacities. These magazines have a number of drawbacks: First
of all, a large percentage of these magazines are just pure crap,
and will jam with monotonous regularity. Secondly, a huge
banana clip sticking out of the bottom of your survival rifle
may impress your buddies, but it adds a hell of
a lot of weight and bulk to the
rifle. Finally, to use detachable magazines, you must remove the fixed mag
assembly, leaving nothing but bare wood for the magazines to affix and detach from... it
works, but its a little awkward.
In a wilderness survival situation if you cant hit something with
10 rounds, lack of capacity is probably not the problem.
No matter what your surival rifle of choice is, you better be able
to use it well, and hit what your aim at if the need ever
arises.
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