[rbernie]

You're never going to get a consistent answer to this kind of a question because you'll always bump up against the intangibles of 'what constitutes max range for a given rifle/chambering'. The advice you've been give, when lumped together and culled for nuggets, is all good. Max effective range for the chambering itself (presuming the use of appropriate 123gr-125gr hunting bullets) from an energy and trajectory perspective is probably 200 to 250 yards. All of my SKS's, when stoked with good domestic hunting ammo, could hold 2" groups at 100 yards - good enough accuracy for hunting deer inside of 200 yards, I reckon, if everything else goes perfectly. AHA!, you think - so my max effective range for the SKS on deer-sized game is 200 yards. Well, maybe, but most likely not.

For example, I have not yet taken a shot at game with my Marlin 30-30 that was further than 75 yards. Certainly, the rifle and the chambering can do better - it's almost an MOA rifle at 100 yards off a bench. But I can't hold that kind of accuracy with the rifle offhand, and until I get to a 300 yard range I have no idea what the trajectory looks like past 100 yards even if I could find an expedient rest in the field. This means that I have to occasionally (like this last Friday!) pass up a 150yd shot on a great-looking doe because the conditions were simply not right - no rest in sight, no way to drop to a supported position without spooking the deer, and no way of knowing how much drop I was going to see at that range. Therefore, my 30-30 in my hands in field conditions - no rest, snap shot - and with an unknown trajectory past 100 yards, currently has a max effective range of 75 yards.

If you can do you part (and be HONEST with yourself about what that means), the SKS stoked with good domestic hunting ammo is capable of taking deer out past 150 yards. But there's a lot of homework involved in being effective out to that range in the field, and that's the real rub of it all.