Interesting about the SKS. My brief foray with it has not been successful, but using it as a heavy duty combat rifle is interesting. What damage does it do over short range? Two shot kill if no headshot? Might equip Recon with it; when I do play Recon (MAV) I don't really know what weapon to go with, so I might aim for your setup.
Stats and stuff
3 shot up close, 4 shot at distance so in principal it sounds pretty useless but I've just done my homework so I have the important figures that make the SKS do serious work at those mid range engagements. The vertical recoil per shot is nearly half that of the other semi-auto rifles (0.85 compared to 1.5) and it has the fastest fire rate at 375RPM compared to 260RPM on all the other semi-autos. The mag size is then double at 20+1 and you combine all those things and at distances around 50m the amount of rounds you can fire accurately is very impressive in practice. I get the feeling the suppression effect has something to do with it as well, you can do similar work with the other semi-autos but you need a bipod to be able to fire anywhere near as quickly and hit the target which limits the damage you can deal whilst remaining mobile.
In brief: SKS
Seine is the perfect map for such a weapon, where you can move in a way which means you're firing at that sweet spot range but you can still move around the map without fear. It's not the perfect gun by any means, you can't rely on it at longer ranges like you can it's siblings and similarly you can't rely on it to defeat automatics at close range but for mobile mid range fighting it's not only the best Recon gun, it makes a strong case for dominating almost anything if you have the precision of aim to use it. I suggest a red dot/holo (irons til you get them), a foregrip and then consider a flash suppressor or full suppressor or nothing.
Semi-automatic In General
The semi-auto rifles in general are really nice weapons, I've yet to use the chinese one but even when I accidentally have an SVD as it comes from the box instead of my Mk11 with all the add-ons I feel comfortable taking any infantry target down that isn't a bolt action sniper at super long range. They all fall down in counter-sniping, so your best bet is once compromised to a long range sniper to just back down but against other infantry you can kill much faster if you equip the bipod and once you're familiar with your rifle of choice dominate an area of the map. They work will with anything from holos to 8x in this role, then the SKS is the choice for maps where you don't need much above 100m if that.
Some Recon Tips
When not using the SKS though, the sign of a good Recon is when they can and do regularly bring out their pistol and get stuck in. I would say pick a semi-auto rifle that isn't the SKS, use that exclusively as your primary on most maps with a 7-8x and bipod then the SKS with a holo when you don't feel like the situation requires much long range engagements or you need to be constantly on the move (as in you can't post up for to long with your bipod, if you're going to you can consider another rifle). Your sniping remains untainted as the holo is nothing like the 8x, don't worry about headshots to much if your bipod is up as you can just pull the trigger twice and down most targets unless you're using a bolt action.
The key is time regardless of the rifle, including the bolt actions, stick with 1 for each type of map or playstyle (if you need 12x pick a bolt and stick with it, 8x-acog same again with semi-auto, acog-holo SKS
). Start off by using just 1 ranged set up of those and the SKS, don't change optics often on a single weapon or you'll throw your shot, if you get used to looking at one set of sights for one weapon you can better judge drop i.e. I'm looking through a 12x I know this M40 will drop roughly X amount, I'm looking through 8x I know my Mk11 will drop Y amount, rather than always one optics with many weapons where you have to work out which dots are now important or ever changing optics and trying to make 1 rifle fit all engagements by changing the optics is simply sub-optimal, 1 weapon 1 scope 1 playstyle 3 sets but even then try to stick to 1 rifle as much as you can until you need the SKS and keep your alternative ranged set up (i.e. if you mostly sit back with a bolty make sure you're not unfamiliar with a semi-auto and 8x in a mid-long range situation and vice versa). In battle there are superior weapons, but ultimately for the Recon role knowing your weapon is more important than having the best one but in order to find your favourite you have to suffer some frustrations as you work out how your new toy works.
Note: This is the sort of thing I'll harp on about if I make a guide for BF3, I've just pretty much written alot of my Recon section if I go ahead with it
. Never in this much detail on any 1 weapon though, but on each class. If this is useful, I'll begin work right away, or if this is to long-winded I'll use bullets more then paragraphs if the information is good (though I intend to use bullets still). The latter 2 paragraphs are the ones I'm interested in feedback on, is the information useful or dribble? does it come across well or not?
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