lil_hunter I turn fifty first of next year,I've been shooting since age six and hunting since I was ten and reloading for the past twenty five. When your born and live poor through most of you teenage life hunting become a necessity more than a sport if you plan on eating. I learned early mostly because of limited ammo to make ever shot count,shot placement in the vital area of your particular game is always key,along with getting as close to your intended target as possible,very rarely have I ever shot any game animal over 100 yds,most are well under that. In some areas of the country that may not be possible but you can use camouflage,stalking and ambush techniques to narrow the distance.
As far as which particular firearm works best,you can be just as over powered as you can be underpowered and bullet selection for your intended game is very important,you want you bullet to impart its energy and expand readily in your intended game to cause shock and internal damage to cause quick death. So high velocity and tough bullet construction isn't always preferred especially on deer size game. The Russian ammo most commonly used in the SKS isn't normally your bet choice,it has and will kill deer,the 123 to 150 gr bullets are constructed of a steel casing,with a thin copper coating and a lead core. Expansion isn't always a given especially if you don't hit bone and out past 100 yds they all pretty much act like FMJ's.
For my deer hunting ammo I reload using mostly Hornady 123 gr SP and Prvi Paritizan 150 gr. SP they both expand readily at SKS MV.
http://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8507&dir=18|830|852 makes some good hunting ammo for the SKS I have seen this rd drop a deer dead it in tracks at 80 yds. and its reloadable and allot cheaper than American made stuff.
As far as a scope I have one on one of my SKS rifles and the other I use the iron sights,the Yugo has the Choate drill and tap mount on the receiver with a 3 x 9 x 40 I shoot 1 1/2" groups with this combo,if you don't want to drill your rifle you can replace the rear sight with a
http://161.58.206.244/store/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=scoutscopes&Category_Code=skscope and use either a Red Dot or long eye relief scope for the SKS I feel a 3 MOA Red Dot works fine. On my Chinese SKS I just replaced the front sight pin with a techsight pin,its about 1/2 the diameter of the original pin and will give you a finer aiming point $7 shipped. I wouldn't think twice about using my SKS rifle to hunt deer. It will kill them just as dead as any other rifle I own.
