Should I buy a Norinco SKS over an Olympic Arms ar-15 PLINKER PLUS?

Question

Price difference is huge $195 sks, $545 for AR-15.
Also, the Norinco stock is synthetic vs. The cheap ar-15.

Answer 1

Bound's hubby here:

Personally, I would not consider either. Remember, you only get what you pay for.

While the Norinco may be less expensive, you will have very little manufacturer support if there is a major problem with your gun. Meanwhile, Olympic Arms (Quality Hardware) has a poor reputation for quality within the target shooting community. In my opinion, but appear to me to be "disposable" firearms.

I would suggest you wait a while and save your money and purchase a higher quality firearm, such as a Ruger Mini-14 (.223) or Ranch Rifle (7.62x39) or an AR from Bushmaster, Armalite or DPMS. Any of these firearms will last MUCH longer and hold tolerances better. You will also know you have a quality firearm.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Out of those two I would take the SKS. I would rather have a decent SKS than a bad AR-15. Personally I would save some more money and get a Bushmaster AR. An AR-15 under $800 (new) isn't going to be a very good rifle at all. I have a good Bushmaster XM-15 Carbine that cost around $950.

Answer 3

If you want an SKS though avoid the Chinese versions as some of them have pinned barrels not threaded barrels into the receiver. For optimal accuracy you want a threaded barrel, not pinned. A Yugoslavian SKS or Romanian SKS is better quality in my humble opinion.

Answer 4

I prefer the SKS but its a personal thing. The Ar-15 is much cheaper to shoot. So Why not buy'em both?

Miketyson26

Answer 5

well it depends on your personal preference. i would prefer the AR over the sks. mainly because i feel that the AR would be a better all around gun. the ar would require more maintenance. the sks would probably have the better ballistics. again it all goes down to personal preference. now i am curious to know where you found an AR-15 with a non synthetic stock. 99% of all Ar's out there have a synthetic stock. there is a few kits out there to have wood furniture on your AR ( i know that arma-lite has a kit for the ar-10 chambered in .308 win, that includes wood for-grips, stock, and pistol grip for that weapon, but personally that is the only one that i am aware of.) i myself own an ar that i bought used. it is an Olympic arms. i got mine for a little over 475 cash. as far as reliability, the only time that my ar has ever malfunctioned is when i used wolf brand ammo. that stuff is cheap, and it isn't well made. but aside from that, my olympic has never given me any problems. I've also been able to customize it some as well. that's another thing, you won't be able to find many accessories for the sks. there are a few out there, but pretty much whats out there is what your going to find. with the ar system, you name it, someone has either produced it, or they will come out with it eventually. I've got an ergo pistol grip from command arms accessories, as well as a blackhawk tac 3 point sling from blackhawk tactical equipment. I've switched out my collapsible stock for a fixed position stock from command arms accessories ( i prefer the fixed position one as opposed to the collapsible one) I've also taken off the factory birdcage flash suppressor, and installed a re-bar cutter style flash suppressor from dmps. all of my mags are mil-spec, with mag-pulls on them. the sights have been changed out from factory, to a tritium front post sight, and the rear peep sight has been changed to one that came from dmps. some would say that I've pretty much built my own AR, but as far as all of the internals, as well as the barrel, all of that has remained factory.

i also trust the operating system of the ar better than i do of the sks. granted the sks system is reliable, it just doesn't speak to me. a few of my buddies, swore by their sks's, but when it comes down to sheer reliability, their sks's will misfire alot more than my AR. now the AR does require alot of maintenance, but if you do it right, the AR will far outlast any other rifle out there.

don't let the price of the weapon fool you either. sks's are cheap because they are old military surplus. there isn't any telling how long those weapons have been stored, what the condition of the internals is, as well if that weapon would even be safe to fire. most of the all of the AR's that are out there, have never been used in any military conflict. the military uses the m16/m4. those weapons are select fire. the civilian ar-15/10, is not select fire. they are semi-auto only.

if i was in your position, i would save up for the ar-15. you can do alot more with the AR-15 than you can with the sks. besides. the AR-15 will be alot lighter verses the sks. and it doesn't recoil as much. your shoulder will thank you later.

Answer 6

i prefer an sks because they look badass and are cheap but its up to you .oh and where did you find a synthetic stock on the sks .