trying to us it for my son to hunt with.putting a scope on it,have bought federal ammo.just trying to get an idea about effictivness of weapon an range.any addvise would be greatly helpful!

If he's comfortable shooting it, and can hit well with it then it will be fine. Just keep his shots at a reasonable distance.

And use a good bullet, no FMJ's.

I shot a buck with an SKS back in 1998. Small entrance and I could stick my fist in the exit wound. When I shot him he hit the ground jumped back up and collapsed about 20 yards from where I shot him. Hollow Points is what I used. 70 yds was the distance.

under 100yds with a lead tip bullet and you should be good, if he can hit a paper plate at 100yds your good to go

what he said.

ballistically its about like shooting a semi-auto 30-30

Shouldn't be no problem at all. My little brother shot his first deer last year with one of my sks's. He was shooting hollow points. The shot was only like 70 yards or so in the neck. Never took another step. At the time it was the only gun small enough for him to shoot. I wouldn't take real long shots with it,, but at a shorter range should be ok.

Just a tip. Some American ammo apparently is or was made with .308 diameter bullets. Correct is .310-311. SKS rifles generally have a bore diamter around .311 give or take. There can be some minor variation especially with the chinese rifles. Using ammo with the .308 diameter bullets can cause accuracy issues with some rifles. Try more than one brand of ammo when you do your initial sight in to determine what works best with your rifle. Do a screwdriver check to firmly tighten all bolts holding stock to action before sight in and that may help with accuracy if any were loose.

I do own a sportered SKS as well as original examples from most countries that made them. I have used my sportered sks as a knock around deer rifle with success. After experimenting with loads and sight in, I narrowed my comfortable hunting range to within 100 yards to the heart/lung kill zone. My farthest deer taken at an estimated 85 yards. None have traveled more than a few yards with soft point ammo.

I think there are better options for your son, but if you already have the rifle I see no reason why it would not work with good ammo, sight in, and staying within it's limitations.

I shot a Christoval giant 6 point about 16 rs ago with a SKS. I didn't have the funds for a "real deer rifle" so this is all I had. The shot was about 80 yrds and he dropped in his tracks. Myself personally, I wouldn't push it over 100-125 yards, max. I read somewhere a long time ago that at 100 yards the 7.62 has about as much energy as a 3030 round, but then looses alot of "ump" after that.

I just bought an SKS a couple of weeks ago for hog hunting at my place. After burning through 200 rounds from 35-125 yards I will try it this year at my little place in Bowie. I was pretty impressed how accurate I was with open sights at 100 yards. Good luck!

Check out Brown Bear Soft Points- they expand reliably and are pretty accurate.

It has more than enough umph for deer within reasonable range, I've killed lots and lots of pigs with 7.62...

thanks for the info!i will try dif. ammo and keep under 100yds. it is the best thing on internet i have ever seen thanks agian!

There is a man I know in upper lower Michigan with the last name of Quint. He has taken 4 black bears with his SKS, so I think it would be fine on deer.

I still don't get the deal with needing ever more powerful rifles on deer. They are relatively easy game to knock down.

Like anything involving guns, shot placement is everything.

bigger is better when you can handle it, I've seen some big deer die in some nasty places.

use silver bear soft point and have dropped several deer at 100 yards . The problem with is a scope mount, if u use one that is on the rear dust cover it wont stay true past a box or too, i have a sporterized yugo 59/66 with a choate drill and tap mount it is a true deer rifle 3 inch groups at 100 yards

Yes

thats it??? Come on Vernon, you a lil guns shy this evening???

+1... My daughter has taken a couple deer with hers. Loves it because of the low recoil. But would cap the range at 100 yrds, and recheck the zero on the scope frequently. SKS scope mounts tend to loosen up rather quickly.

Ive had good luck with the Hornady plastic tip ammo out to around 100 yards. My grandson has smoked a few does with it and they went knowhere. Sometimes we dont get a through and through, but the insides of the animal are always jello.

The ultimate optics for a Yugo. The rifle was imported from Bosnia with the mount. A friend got the scope for me from his contact who had worked for Zrak optics in Sarajevo. Despite several mounts being available that only attach to the dust cover, you must use a mount that attaches to the frame or I suppose to the barrel also for a scout scope setup, for any optics to be reliable on an sks.

I also use the Russian made ammo due to it for sure having the correct diameter bullet for these rifles.