Has anyone used an SKS to hunt deer with? I'm taking my son hunting in a few weeks. He'll be in a stand within 75 yards of a feeder. I considered putting a scope on it if it would be reasonable to use. I have some hunting rounds. This is the first time I actually considered using it. He's been shooting my daughter's H&R Handi Rifle in 223 to practice with. He's doing well shooting..

It will kill deer. I would keep it close for accuracies sake though.

i would have him hunt with the 223. he is already comfortable shooting it and you don't want him wounding his first deer.

Use the 223

SKS's will certainly kill deer at closer ranges, but the majority of them are not too accurate. I love mine, but it is a 3-4 MOA gun at 100 yards with the open sights. Good enough for plinking, not ethical for deer hunting in my opinion.

I'm curious, what makes them unethical?

If that is what you want him to hunt with it will surely kill a deer. I would just keep him as close as possible for a good shot and take him to a range before going so he can get comfortable shooting it.

I think he's saying that since there is a more allegedly accurate gun available it would be moderately unethical to use a gun not known for it's tack driving capabilities...

I would actually take the SKS over the 223. The 7.62 round is a better choice in my opion and definately a little heavier.

It depends on how accurate the SKS is. Mine shoots ~2 inch groups at 100 yards. My daughter has taken both mule deer and white tail using it with no issues. With a scope and a good soft tip bullet (Federal makes a good 123gr) it makes a viable deer gun out to about 150 yards. She really likes the soft recoil, and it makes for quick follow up shots if or when needed. (and sometime kid's need them)

Bill... I just noticed it was you asking. Call me to BS on this in more detail.

Agreed. Keeping the shot close is for the sake of accuracy. Both for the gun and limitations of iron sights for someone less experienced with them. The round is definitely adequate. As good as a 30 carbine and nearly as good as a .30-.30. It will kill quickly and humanely. The only issue is the ability to place it where you need it at range X.

+2 provided the gun tested accurate enough with the scope and ammo combination.

Scopes that mount solely to the action cover will never completely center due to it having some movement relative to the barrel. A mount used needs to be solid with the action or barrel.

Many, or most SKS rifles have a .311 bore diameter, but there can be some variance from this, especially with the chinese rifles. Some US commercial ammo uses .308 bullets with their 7.62.39 ammo offerings. Common sense tells one the problem with that. Try different brands to find what works well with your rifle will help greatly. Or even better slugging the bore and reloading will help even more. Save the cheap plinking ammo for plinking.

And some SKS rifles have terrible trigger pulls, some don't. If you could get away with going down a rack of rifles and trying all the triggers, you would notice some are better than others in that regard. There are website with info on improving the trigger, but only if your gunsmith savy or you can do more harm than good. Some gunsmiths specialize in them and will work on your trigger group by mail for around $50 last I checked. If you have more than one SKS, you can easily swap your best trigger group to the rifle you are wanting to hunt with.

So the SKS can have a lot of things going against them for accuracy. 3 or 4 MOA at 100 yards. I personally would have no problem taking a Deer with that under 100 yards since deer have a kill zone about the size of a baseball cap anyway. But you can improve on the accuracy by paying attention to the above issues.
And I would understand depending on the child you would want the most accurate rifle you could for any degree of error, but you also want a bullet type that is less likely to end up with a cripple or lost deer. It is a balance.
Only you know your son's ability and your rifles accuracy.

I have killed many deer w/ 7.62x39, and is much more punch than a 223.

Scope mounts for the SKS are generally crap. I say just have your son practice with both the open sighted SKS and the 223 at 75 yards and let him decide which he is more comfortable with.

I still want to hear what makes it unethical from this man. When I first started huntin deer 40 years ago, I hunted with a bolt action .410 with a slug. Now I got the most accurate 30.06 on the market that will hit from 500 yards. Is it unethical to use a modern, accurate rifle too? I don't get the unethical part.

Both my sons have killed deer and hogs with the 7.62X39. Never have they shot one that did not get recovered. My 8 year old niece will be using it to kill her first doe this year. We use the 154 grain wolf soft points and they do a great job. I will not let them take more than a 100 yard shot with it. If they want to shoot further they will use the .243. Even though I am confident it will do the job, I rather not push it.

I didn't mean to offend anyone, but if a rifle is shooting 4 inch groups at 100 yards I feel it is unethical to shoot a deer at further ranges (the part about further than 100 yards was not included in my previous post because I posted rather quickly and didn't read over before hitting submit, my apologies). That would be an eight inch group at 200 yards, which could easily hit a deer well away from the vitals and result in a lost deer. Of course if you hit a deer right in the vitals it will kill it at much longer ranges than 100 yards, but in my experience, a lot of SKS's won't be able to consistently hit the vitals at ranges much longer than that, especially with the horrible iron sights that come on the guns. Obviously a scoped rifle with solid mounts that shoots 2 inch groups is perfectly capable of taking deer well beyond 100 yards, but I have not seen many SKS's that will do that.

When did you people buy these SKS that were not accurate? I have 4 of them, and have had them for 25 plus years and they are all pretty accurate. No scopes, open sights and 100 yards they are well within covering a quarter. And I am crippled and blind in one eye. Maybe I just got lucky!

The shell has plenty of powder and bullet to kill a deer. Now I will have to question the accuracy of the gun. But if it is accurate I would pick it over the 223. Several good commercial brands of hunting ammo available.

Thanks for all the replies. I've learned a lot reading the various posts.

Mine is a Yugo 59/66 that I got with my C&R license. I am not 100 percent sure of the vendor, but I think it was Samco. I love the gun and it is fun to shoot, but it is not anything resembling accurate. I have only shot a handful of SKS's, but I think you got lucky. I need to go find me an SKS like you have.

I call BS on any SKS covering a quarter at 100 yards.

I have an SKS and the thing is not accurate with open sites. The sites themselves keep it from being too accurate due to their size. I would never shoot a deer with it over 100 yards, and actually will probably never shoot a deer with it period.

If the kid shoots the .223 comfortably, let him shoot that. A well placed shot with a smaller round is 10 times better than a gut shot deer with the SKS...

I shot one deer several years ago with a 223, my first and definately my last. It was a sad mistake to do that, more so when I have bigger better deer calibers and there was no use in doing that. The deer took a shot behind the shoulder, and rolled. A few minutes later he was up and running full throttle. I found very little blood and some pink bubbles indicating a lung shot. The shot was just at 75 yards. I never recovered the deer, and it sucks to not do so. Oh yeah I am sure there are going to be the guys who chime in, "Neck shots" or "You should have shotem' in the head!" Why make things worse, and have to attempt a shot like that??
I have shot a buck many moons ago with the SKS at about 125 yards. It dropped like a sack of potatoes. At the time I had no money to buy a "real deer rifle" so I used what I had. Is it 223 accurate???more then likely not, but damn sure enough wallup for deer at 100 yards. Look at most packages on the 223 boxes, they show a golpher on the box. I believe the ammo is giving a hint as to what the 223 round is used for.

7mag, neither one would be my choice for shooting a deer. Growing up, my first gun to shoot, as well as all my cousins, was a .243. They make these in youth models. Maybe the TS should look into getting or borrowing one of these.

Another recommendation would be to use your higher powered rifle and buy the low recoil ammo. Have shot this through my .30-06 for the younger crowd, and has worked very well.

Understood, but I think the choices are between the 223 and the SKS, as Smith stated in the original thread. They are not looking at a 243 or 06