Ahhhhhhh... the old FN C1 and C2... beauty and function personified. Warm fuzzies for sure.

Found this decent review (and history lesson) on the SKS (Samozaryadniy Karabin Simonova)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgCoG4eT0p0
and another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOqJreCG9aE&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Like said many times, the SKS is the way to go. It gets my vote for sure. Its reliable, accurate, affordable and pretty simple to learn. Its also semi-auto, allowing you to fire faster. I did the Marstar deal last winter and I am very happy with the rife. I have recently purchased a Russian SKS as well and I actually prefer the Chinese model. If you decide to go this route make sure you buy "clipped" ammo or buy a bunch of stripper clips. (Its like a magazine but used to load the weapon from the top). Having your ammo all clipped and ready to be loaded is key.

Also just as a side note, I would recommend getting a good cleaning and maintenance kit. I purchased one from bass pro. For the sks you will need one that has a .30 caliber brush, or you can buy one seperatly. But I would reccomend getting a universal kit anyways, in case you plan on owning other calibers in the future. They cost about the same. Also, get extra cleaning wipes! They go really fast lol.

X 2. Very important! A good cleaning kit is a must. You should NEVER be without a good cleaning kit. I acquired mine from the CF but like Buggie said, Basspro have quite a few good ones. Try to stay away from plastic parts. Metal is the way to go. I have jugs of gun oil(CLP)and a few bottles of solvent(HOPPS#9). I chose to never go without them.

IF you chose to do the SKS deal or similar consider:

Just set it al the lowest setting possible and it should be fine. Leave it in for 5 minutes at a time, take it out, wipe it off, repeat. Do this untill it is completley clean when you bring it out.

As far as cosmo removal, the oven method is the easiest way to get it done in my opinion. Took me about 3-4 hours at 200 degrees and a smelly house but its now 100% cosmo free. I took it out every hour and it was fine. Make sure to put out some foil in the bottom if you are thinking of doing that, the cosmo sweats out like crazy!

Best of luck, let us know what you bought!

Wait a second.
This is supposed to be " Suggestions for beginners". A center fire 30 cal should be the third choice after you already have a .22 and a shotgun.

Good point, a 22 is kinda the best way to start.. But it depends on a few things. Thread kinda took a side track lol.

yeah sorry everyone... the recent sks conversation was going on in the alberta preppers message boards, until one of the moderators moved it to this thread. not entirely sure why they did that... but thats why it just kind of came out of no where!

The post was initially on Alberta section and it was about suggestions for a beginner prepper (on a budget). When discussion got to the guns part it was split into two and the guns section was moved here, the rest stayed on the Alberta section.

When you choose your first firearm it shouldn't really matter if you're a beginner or not. Some people might need to go through a lower cal first but one can easily start with a 30 cal as a beginner. Scotty mentioned when he posted that he's on a budget so one could assume that the first gun he would buy will be the only one for a while.

The main reason for choosing a gun should be the purpose it will serve. For target shooting the SKS will do just fine. But if you want to do some big game hunting later you may want to take a look into a Norinco M305. It's a military rifle so it's rugged and durable and ammo is not that expensive if you find it on sale. If you want to hunt birds and have a backpack gun you might want to look into a shotgun. If you want to teach your family to shoot a .22 is the best option. Also I was told before that a .22 would be the best BOG (bug out gun 🙂 ) since it's lighter and you can easily carry bigger loads of ammo in this caliber. Compare 500 rnds of .22 with 500 .308. It's a good point but an argument can be made on how many .22 rnds you'll need to fire for one higher caliber round to achieve the same objective , which is a different discussion.

The SKS is a great starter rifle for a number of reasons, cheap as chips, recoil isnt bad, rounds are very very cheap you you can put a 1000 through it without breaking the bank (if your serious thats the minimum i would fire to get the hang of the weapon)

The current trend seems to be to mount scopes on modified topsides, this Disco gear will never work, it is a waste of time and money (just give your topslide a wiggle) lf you want a traditional scope i suggest you look into a choate mount. lt is a 15min job for a handyperson with $10 of tap, drill and a sachet of loctite red.

As you can see it is mounted to the side of the receiver and provides a stable mount, it also allows you to use your iron sights. There are some shortcomings with this system in my opinion. ln order to get good eye relief the scope ends up further over the ejection area than i would like, with the mickey mouse surpus rounds that seem to eject all over the place i had concerns of ejected shells putting the scope out of zero. l have put many rounds through this system and it hasnt knocked it out of zero.

The SKS is a great starter rifle for a number of reasons, cheap as chips, recoil isnt bad, rounds are very very cheap you you can put a 1000 through it without breaking the bank (if your serious thats the minimum i would fire to get the hang of the weapon)

Not to mention it is amazingly rugged and very easy to use. Just be sure that you remember that the safety is trigger, not hammer, on this rifle and therefore NOT drop safe.

The current trend seems to be to mount scopes on modified topsides, this Disco gear will never work, it is a waste of time and money (just give your topslide a wiggle) lf you want a traditional scope i suggest you look into a choate mount. lt is a 15min job for a handyperson with $10 of tap, drill and a sachet of loctite red.

Too true, and the Russian sights are pretty good considering their price. =D

As you can see it is mounted to the side of the receiver and provides a stable mount, it also allows you to use your iron sights. There are some shortcomings with this system in my opinion. ln order to get good eye relief the scope ends up further over the ejection area than i would like, with the mickey mouse surpus rounds that seem to eject all over the place i had concerns of ejected shells putting the scope out of zero. l have put many rounds through this system and it hasnt knocked it out of zero.

The sight mount, like all Russian kit, is surprisingly tough. Even with its drawbacks, it does still lend itself readily to use as a decent entry level utility firearm, especially for the prepper who doesn't have the spare skrill to get the disco kit.

I do not get the attraction to the SKS - I have owned the SKS-D and the Russian SKS with the laminated stock - both had a crappy trigger, and both were crudely manufactured (after all they are a cheap cold war gun). Ammo costs more than most SKS rifles so it amazes me why people do not want to feed it corrosive ammo.........buy a rifle and shoot 1250 rounds and then scrap the rifle. If your a glutton for punishment you'll but another but like most people you should have moved on at that point. Great gun if all you want is to pull the trigger and it go bang (it is very reliable and very cheap)........but far from accurate.

For beginners. I would recommend a .22LR (perfect for small game and plinking) and/or 12 guage shotgun (the most versatile gun out there from birds to big game)

Ammo for each is common and plentiful.

The SKS is a great gun, a workhorse, but not quite what I would call a good beginners gun.

.MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE FIRING PIN CLEAN!!! There is nothing more dangerous. And embarassing then slamfire (look it up on youtube).

I have put 1000 rounds through mine in the last month since I got it, and havnt had a hiccup yet. Great rifle to learn how to shoot with. Congrats on making the decision to arm yourself for shtf.

Not 100% accurate with all SKS rifles, about keeping firing pin clean...Its a good idea to keep all firing pins clean, but the first couple years the SKS was manufactured they had spring loaded firing pins to spring the pin back...Its silly why they stopped
making them with spring assisted firing pins...must of been cheaper to make a floating firing pin when they started making 1952 russian SKS rifles and newer. I had a 1951 SKS we with a spring assisted firing pin.

But to be honest, I feel the best first gun should be a .22lr like a ruger 10/22...if shtf this gun will be your gun that puts small gsme on the table...You also learn to shoot good with lots of cheap ammo, and in a self defence role you can drop in a 25 round magazine with high velocity ammo like CCI stingers...2-3 quick shots into a bad guy and they stop charging, or one well placed round

New shooters always want a bad a$$ gun to start with, but a 10/22 is cheaper to shoot & stockpile ammo & is more practical for hunting, and traveling since the guns are small, light, and you can carry 1,000s of rounds of ammo on you...andbif a group of bad guys are approaching if shtf, they will run for cover & likely not return if your shooting .22lr or 223...neither bullet is going to give a bad guy the courage to keep running towards you, no matter what rifle is shooting at them...and oh ya, a .22lr is roughly 1/2 as loud or better, so you wont give away your position as easy...The biggest advantages is cost & weight/size of ammo...it costs about $1,000 to buy 5,000 rounds of 7.62x39, and 5000 rounds would heavy and difficult to carry if you had other gear, if not impossible. Your lucky if you can carry 500 rounds with extra gear....it costs about $250 to buy 5,000 rounds of .22lr, and you can carry a couple thousand rounds quite easily, and with gear you could poosibly carry all 5,000 rounds...I have owned several SKS rifles, and they are dependable but also not accurate...maybe 4-6 MOA at 100yards...SKS rifles IMHO have about the same range as a good .22lr..neither are effective at 200 yards away, and really at those ranges, you basically spray & pray...but with a 25-50 round magazine in a 10/22 you can spray alot more very quickly.
If I was starting out buying my first 3 guns on a limited budget, I would buy a ruger 10/22 first, a 12 gauge pump second (remmy 870 or mossy 500, and thirdly I would buy a SKS rifle...but thats just IMHO.

Ended up finally picking up a 22lr, Savage arms model with the 93R17 GV model, Not my video, same model and comes with a scope at the camping store down by Ikea. 50 pack of bullets are $15. Fires 17HMR rounds, rimfire. Anyone up for joining me one day at the outdoor range... run me through some of your tips and tricks? I shot in the military back in 89 but that's some time ago and a different weapon. Time to get acquainted with my new weapon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMX3Ivs4BNI

That's a great Idea Prom Maybe I'll order one and see which I prefer.
Thanks for the link