Range Report: Chinese Type 56 SKS with Golden Tiger and Tulammo

[rjinga]

This was only my second time at the range with my new rifle.  I wanted to check the windage and elevation of the sights (I don't think the previous owner moved them; they may have the factory settings from 55 years ago), and compare two brands of ammunition:  Golden Tiger (124 grain FMJBT) and Tulammo (124 grain HP).  In an attempt to keep myself out of the equation as much as possible, I shot everything off of a bench rest.  I used the regular iron sights; no scope or optics.

I read on the internet (so it has to be true) that with the rear sight set on the 100 meter mark, you zero the rifle at 25 meters, and then check it at 100 meters.  So, I set the first two targets at 25 meters.  The grid is made up of 1” squares (darker lines) and ¼” squares (lighter lines).  The red square is 2”.  My POA was a 6:00 hold.  I tried to set the red square on the top of the front post.


The Golden Tiger target is on the left.  The first shot was at 4:00 just outside the red square.  The next two shots were almost dead-center.  The forth shot (top right corner) was a slam-fire off of the third shot.  It happened so fast, I wasn’t really sure that it did happen, until I dumped the magazine and counted the remaining rounds.  And then, when I walked out to check the target, that’s when I saw the hole up in the corner.  Next I fired five rounds of Tulammo at the target on the right.  The shot placement was low, high, low, high, low.


Here are the remaining five rounds of each ammunition brand.

Next, I put up two scaled “Dog” targets at 25 meters.  Now I was trying to set the bottom of the black silhouette on the top of the front post.



The Golden Tiger target is on the top and the Tulammo is on the bottom.  I got 49 out of 50 on the top target, with seven rounds either touching or inside the “V” circle.  I got 47 out of 50 on the bottom target, with five rounds either touching or inside the “V” circle.

Then I went out to 100 meters.  The Golden Tiger target is on the left and the Tulammo target is on the right again.  At that distance, the front post is at least 2/3, maybe 4/5, of the width of the silhouette.


I notice that both shot groups on the silhouette were skewed to the left.  So, following the maxim of “aim small, miss small” I put up two 8.5 x 11 bulls-eye targets (turned sideways) at 100 meters.  The red squares on these targets are 3”.  The Golden Tiger target is on the top and the Tulammo target is on the bottom.  I only ended up with 12 out of 20 rounds on the paper, but the placement did seem to be relatively centered, so I’m okay with the windage for now.


I finished off the day with a would-I-rather-spend-the-money-on-shipping-or-buy-something-else-and-get-the-shipping-for-free target that I got off of Amazon.  I’d never seen this type of target before.  I put it at 50 yds and fired 10 rounds of Golden Tiger at the heart and 10 rounds of Tulammo at the head.

[Phosphorus32]

Have you had the bolt completely disassembled to clean out the firing pin channel?  A good clean SKS bolt should not give slam fires.

Consistently minute of man and your groups are improving. Based on your 100 yd (green) targets, you might move the front post a smidgen to the right. Looks to me like your groups are skewed to the right, not to the left, as you stated.

[carls sks]

bleeding target, never saw that before. neat, thanks for sharing.  clean the firing pin and channel out( like you were told). 

[rjinga]

Have you had the bolt completely disassembled to clean out the firing pin channel?  A good clean SKS bolt should not give slam fires.

The previous owner did it.  I can hear the firing pin clicking when I shake the bolt back and forth.  There is also a possibility that it was shooter trigger error.  I fired 100 rounds yesterday and that was the only time it happened.

Consistently minute of man and your groups are improving. Based on your 100 yd (green) targets, you might move the front post a smidgen to the right. Looks to me like your groups are skewed to the right, not to the left, as you stated.

Brain fart!  I meant "to the right." 

[Greasemonkey]

Just because the last guy did it... doesn't mean he did it right. If he oiled it, that could cause issues when enough gunk builds up.

Never trust the last guy..

[Loose}{Cannon]

Awesome shooting!     BLEEDING TARGET!!!!   And I thought my big azz Sodamn-Insane targets were cool.   

[Loose}{Cannon]

I wanna see some 200 yard bleeding head shots.   Pleeeeease.   

[rjinga]

I wanna see some 200 yard bleeding head shots.   Pleeeeease.   

Well, that was the only target of that type that I bought.  And frankly, I was kinda disappointed; I was expecting a bigger splatter.  However, I think my next range trip will be to my gun club.  We have a center-fire range with target backers at 50, 100, 200, 300, and 400 yds.  I'll see how far out I can punch some paper!