Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 7.62x39 for deer

My brother called this afternoon and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the range. Because I had just read your ignorant post here I said sure, bring your chronograph. I have two types of factory .30-30's on hand. 150 grain Remington core-lokts and 170 grain Federal blue box. Since I needed to check zero on my 20" barreled Marlin 336 for the upcoming deer season anyway, that was the chosen test vessel. The 150 core-lokts averaged 2375 fps for 5 shots and the 170 Federals averaged 2204 fps for 5 shots. This with the chrony set up 12 feet in front of the muzzle and those numbers are not corrected back to the muzzle. I don't know where you've been getting your info on .30-30 factory ammo velocities but suspect you've been reading too much of Nathan Fosters drivel over on ballisticstudies.com and haven't actually chrono'd any yourself. Oh yeah, and one more thing. The factory listed muzzle velocities for 150 and 170 grain .30-30's are 2390 and 2200 fps respectively so your numbers are incorrect there too. The more you post on this subject the more clear it becomes that you're talking out your azz.

No clue who the f'k Fosters is. I do know what the chronograph reads, though.

Got MV same way you got yours; chrono set up and factory ammo shot over it.

As for "the more I post" bit, that Post of mine you're quoting is nearly a year old and goes back the last conversation you and I had on this subject.

Yeah, and you're still wrong.

No, I reported the velocities recorded, and that goes for both rounds in question.

For some reason - after a year - you got a hair up your ass about this topic again. Only you know why.

Your chrono setup is bad or the damn thing is just off. Someone brought this post back to the top. Didn't pay attention to who. Read your post that I quoted for the first time today, It was as full of incorrect information then as it is now.

Last 3 shot group through the chrono with my standard 336 and 150 grain Remington Hog Hammer Ammo(Barnes TSX bullet) yielded an average of 2400fps.

Define "shytton", please, as upstate NY with said bag limits does not a "shytton" create.

Is the 7.62 the equivalent of the .30-30? No. In some ways it's inferior and in others superior, depending entirely upon platform each are in. Discount the SKS or AK variant as hunting rifles off the start, though, as accuracy (while possible) is an unlikely happenstance.

A .30-30 in a tubular lever action (most common) restricted to flat-nose bullets (not really, but stay with me) fires a bullet with more mass, but the velocity bleeds off fast. Per the OPs question, past 100 yards the 123/125 spitzer of the 7.62x39 is packing as much or more power and retaining it better than the .30-30 FN. Inside 100, the .30-30 delivers more to the target; outside of that, the edge starts going to the 7.62x39 123/125 grain slug.

If your 7.62x39 guns the 154 SPs well, then it is even out the gate and stays at least even all the way out. Amazing how folks constantly forget that there are heavier bullets in the little Russian available.

Now, if you put the .30-30 in a single-shot or bolt action, then there is no replacement for displacement and the bigger engine room of the Winchester round gives you more gas onto which you can mash the pedal. Putting a ballistically non-handicapped bullet on top just frosts that cake.

The little Russian round gunning the factor Remington or Federal SPs is a deer killer; giving up ground to the .30-30 inside of 100, but overtaking it outside the same. The Hornady SSTs should be at least as good (I'll be trying them this year). The 154s, if your rifle shoots them, are as equal to the .30-30 as you're likely to find ballistically.

BT/DT, many times over with each.

Well at least you have a few deer under your belt.

Yes, paper says one thing.

Your problem is you have not shot a fair amount with the 30-30 and the x39 to compare each. I have. Maybe on NY deer it could matter somehow.

On our deer, granted they rarely hit 200 and 150 on the hoof is pretty much about average for a buck, until he gets to 6.5 or so of age when he starts heading to 175 plus, there isn't a deer I have taken with the 30-30 that the x 39 cant' have done the same.

But you have your thoughts and I have mine.

I've also seen a LOT of pigs shot with the X 39. and very few with the 30-30, but the x39 has never failed... and on some fairly large pigs over the 250 mark.

Then again when you stick an X type bullet in a gun you have made it larger than it is.

this is about like arguing 308/30-06...when it comes to deer, take your pick, they both kill and are both more than enough.

When fielding questions regarding deer rifles, I frequently got the one: ". . . my BIL says I should by an SKS, 'cause it shoots gooder than my 30-30 and the ammo is cheaper."

Case capacity wins every time in any discussion of the theoretical limits of two cartridges. Isn't there about a 25% advantage in favor of a 30-30? I'd say that pretty well says it all.

Yes, a souped-up 7.62 X39 fired from a nice bolt gun will do about the same job on a deer as a factory 30-30 up to a point, but having spent a good part of my life around KY hillbillies that spent the better part of their lives trying to make their 30-30's work like aught-sixes, I'd give the edge to the 30 WCF.

When fielding questions regarding deer rifles, I frequently got the one: ". . . my BIL says I should by an SKS, 'cause it shoots gooder than my 30-30 and the ammo is cheaper."

Case capacity wins every time in any discussion of the theoretical limits of two cartridges. Isn't there about a 25% advantage in favor of a 30-30? I'd say that pretty well says it all.

Yes, a souped-up 7.62 X39 fired from a nice bolt gun will do about the same job on a deer as a factory 30-30 up to a point, but having spent a good part of my life around KY hillbillies that spent the better part of their lives trying to make their 30-30's work like aught-sixes, I'd give the edge to the 30 WCF.

Yep, and if you want to soup up the 30-30 with Paco kellys 40,000 cup handloads {same pressure the 444 Marlin is loaded to in the 336 action} it really stomps the 7.62x39.