I have been thinking about a Ruger Ranch rifle for 4-wheeler carry at the farm for coyotes, ground hogs, tin cans, hedge balls, ect. About $500, and not target rifles, I am told. I have a nice SKS. I was thinking about a 5.56 x 39. Then I thought maybe a 6mm or 6.5mm aka .24, .25, or .26 cal might be more useful, if I am rebarreling. Does anyone know about any of these cals in the 7.62 x 39 case or the rebarrel of them in a SKS and the price? Thanks.
George

oldfort
Auto loaders require a ton of engineering to make them work right with a given cartridge. Rechambering and rebarreling might be pretty easy, but how hot to safely load the cartridge, and how to make the action cycle with the new round puts you in the deep unknown, without a paddle.

Darrel

The 7.62x39 is the parent case for the 22 PPC and 6mm PPC.
However, gotta agree with Tio, autos are tricky. Another thing: if you do get the SKS working with a new wildcat or PPC, you end up with a rifle that heaves your brass into the bushes.....
Mighty annoying, since wildcat brass takes a lotta work to form in some cases, and PPC ammo is expensive-for the brass or loaded rounds (if you can find any).
SKS's aren't generally target rifles, either, BTW (maybe yours shoots well..)

Interesting! First, let's talk about the SKS's on the market. Some have pinned in barrels and some have screwed in barrels.......and that makes a world of difference. Most with milled trigger groups have screwed in barrels (.311"/.312").
Now for the Ruger.......for some reason, known only to Ruger, it has a .3085" (in the groove) barrel, where most 7.62x39 ammo runs as high as .312". The Ruger has a long leade that handles this .311"/.312" ammo.....but not very accurate. If you reload, you can set up a set of dies to bring the neck down and load with regular 125 gr .308" bullets.....then it will group pretty good.
We have found the well made SKS's dropped into a Ramline black stock with the front band hammered back tight to work well on "pasture pests", as well as "river pest"......James

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Dixie Slugs of Old Town Hammock, Florida
"Home of the Dixie Terminator Slug"

Thanks guys. I think that I will shoot up the SKS ammo, while watching for a Ranch Rifle. I have a Rem 597 in .22 Mag that is a fun plinker and several lever guns. I am just finishing up a project that rebarreled a laminated Sav 111 from 30-06 to 338-06 per advice from this board. It worked out so well, that got me thinking about the SKS.
Happiness is an empty cooler and a full livewell.
George

I have seen a SKS converted to 357 maximum, but I don't know who did the conversion, nor what kind of load he was using in it.

George

SKS is what it is...and it isn't a varmint rifle. Leave it as is, save money, buy a CZ or Savage in .223...you won't be sorry. Can't make silk dresses out of musette bags...

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The wise man said: "This cannot be done." The fool came, and did it.