Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7.62 X 39 FOR HUNTING?

Anyone here have expereince with it as a hunting round and if so, what/where were you hunting? Give us the benefit of your expereince, please

In my opinion a 123 grain soft point would work just fine for someone who is recoil shy.

Everyone knows the SKS is a 7.62x39, there is also the Ruger m77 Compact, CZ 527, and the Savage 10 Scout. I usually see boxes of FMJ rounds for around 5 dollars or so, which means cheap practice ammunition.

my neighbor used a Ruger 7.62x39. He killed two does at 200 yards with the little cartridge, DRT.

My BC bud has let his 13 year girl kill two black bears with a CZ carbine. 150 grain Hornady..kilt dead....
It is said to do whatever a .30/30 will do and I believe that to be true....

Contrary to what you are asking for, I personally have no experience hunting with this cartridge. But have fired a few rounds at the range from a stranger`s Ruger compact.

In browsing my 49th edition Lyman manual, I read on page 242 that; quote,,,"bullet selection is limited to the 110 to 130 grain range due to this cartridge`s ballistic levels." That`s not real good if one wanted a better or wider bullet weight variety.

Ballistically imo, moving a 130 gr bullet at between 2172 to 2340 fps (max MVs listed in Lyman from a 20" barrel), will make for a good deer round out to about 200 or so yards. Probably throw in some hog hunting too.

The 7.62x39 is what it is. Should be a good lower recoil starter round for kids and for a well seasoned hunting adult who`s hunting needs or style won`t exceed this round`s limited ballistic capability.

I've killed a couple deer with a 154 gr soft point, worked well. The rifle is a CZ 527 and makes a handy package.

David

..............150 grainer? Then my Lyman manual stands to be corrected to include 150s.

Yep. Good for black bears too.

Witnessed two deer killed with the x39. Both broadside shots. First aT around 100 yards. Bullet exited and deer went down about 50 yards from point of inpact. Second deer was just over 200 yards. Bullet did not exit and there was no blood trail. Found it about 100 yards from where it was shot after on hour search.

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The cartridge will do an effective job on deer and similar sized game out to 200 or so yards with the right bullet. The issue is the rifle; SKS's are rather inaccurate (I had one once that was good for 30" groups at 100 yards; maybe unusual, but very inaccurate). I assume the Ruger's were more accurate.

I have always liked this little round, so a few years ago I had the T/C Custom shop make me a 26-inch stainless-steel barrel for my Encore.

I've shot all kinds of different rounds through it, including mil-surp, Wolf, Winchester and various handloads. Right now I'm working on whisper-type loads using 220-grain bullets at low velocities. The noise level is very low and the rounds are fun to shoot.

I've never hunted with this cartridge, so I can't relate any real world experience. From what I've read, it is basically a Russian .30-30 round. (Which simply means you toast your dead deer with a shot of vodka instead of a Bud Light.

I hunted hogs with a couple of Border Patrol agents who were armed with the Ruger carbines. As with all of my guest hunters, I had them shoot their rifles from the bench beside my front porch to ensure that they were sighted in properly. Groups from one rifle were about 3" for three shots at 100 yds, while the second was closer to 5", both with factory ammo. The triggers on both were just this side of horrible.

They took two hogs apiece. Dressed weights ranged from a bit over 100 lbs to almost 200 lbs. We did not experience any one-shot kills--one of the larger hogs was shot four times. I was not impressed with either the rifles or the cartridge.

If you handload good bullets for use in an accurate rifle, your experience would likely be different.

mudhen,
Were they shooting Ruger Mini 30's or the hawkeye compacts?

We have used this little cartridge effectively on hogs, dogs & goats. Like most things, if you hit them too far back you have a problem. I think most of the problem regarding kill shots is many use fmj bullets rather than a properly constructed hunting bullet. Sure there are better cartridges, but I guess it boils down to what you have in your hip pocket & eventually your hands.

built my Nephew a mexican mauser in 7.62 X 39 just because.. he has killed two nice deer wiht it..one shot kills with 125 gr Sierras

as long as you stay under 150 yds .. no problem

I had one of the little Ruger 77mkII's that was a special run a few years back. It had a 20 inch pencil barrel and shot the 125 grain Sierras very nicely.

I never got the chance to shoot anything but paper with it, but I always wanted to work with the 130 grain Speer HP's. The Ruger that I had wore a barrel with the .308" bore.

I've taken some coyotes with a Rem 799 and 123 grain Hornady bullets. I also tried Sierra 125s. It was reloaded ammunition. I couldn't manage better than 1 3/4 inches with any combination of powder and 123/125 grain bullet. It was because of the thin barrel and bedding, I believe.

The ranges were from 30 yd to about 150-175 yd. The 30 yd shot made a mess of things. The bullet hit bone and tore the critter up.

I haven't shot any deer with this cartridge, but if I was after one, I'd use 150s.

There are a lot of reasons that someone might want to chamber an accurate hunting rifle in 7.62x39.

But for all-around use, wouldn't a light load in a 308, 7mm-08, or 260 usually be a better choice? Later on, you can always load the cartridge to full potential.

Or on the cheap side, buy one of the old Stevens or Savage bolt action 30-30s. With a little fiddling, you can shoot 165 grain AccuBonds in them.

Haven't shot one but the little CZ carbine looks like a handy little tree stand rifle and the berries to start off recoil shy folks with.

Logically it should work ok. Not sure about bore dims these days. There was a time when some were chambering the round in a .308 barrel but the sovbloc standard was .311 IIRC. Dunno where that stands. Seem to recall that RCBS die sets provide expander balls for both dims.

On another level, I hold the likes of the AK and SKS in very low regard. Nobody was ever able to hit me with either and there was a brazillion of those screamin' yellow zonkers that gave it a try. To be direct on the point, I truly despise the whole lash up. Guns, ammo, the whole deal. Of course I'm biased toward American classics etc....

I would ask do you already have one or are you thinking of buying one? If you have one it will do if sufficiently accurate. If you are thinking of buying get a 308 WCF and if you desire that power range load it appropriately.

My wife has killed a truck load of deer with her SKS and Wolf hollow point bullets. The majority of them were killed DRT, but most were shot at under a hundred yards.

Just curious, did those Wolf hollowpoints show any signs of expansion?

The 7.62X39 works well on deer and hogs at reasonable ranges. I use a Hornady 123 grain SP out of a 16" AR Performance barrel.You can load 150 grainers, but I have found the 123's work just fine.

Here is a pic of my latest:

I have had many SKS Rifles and with open sights can easily do 2 to 3" groups at a 100 Yds.AK 47`s are a different story.

My experience with the SKS has shown it to be quite a bit more accurate than the AK. That is a sample of Russian and Chinese SKS, and Chinese and Romanian AK's.

YMMV.

Had a CZ 527. Very accurate with 123gr Horn handloads. I killed four head of big game with it. It was a 50-50 split on effectivness. One large mule deer doe dropped within 25yds from a heart shot at about 50yds. Another large mule deer doe ran a half mile with a neet little hole through the heart, shot at 100yds. Whitetail doe DRT head on shot at base of neck about 35yds. Whitetail doe not recovered after being hit a bit far back at 200yds. Neet little rifle but I sold it. I would not consider the cartidge ideal for animals over 50pounds or at ranges over 100yds.

Personally, I've had much better results with a 223 loaded with 60gr Nosler Partitions and would suggest that as a rifle/load for the seriously recoil shy.

To bruinruin:
Most of them expanded about like an X-bullet. They are not a soft bullet.

60 gr. NPT's, 65 gr. Sierra Gamekings and 64 gr. Winchester Power Points all work well in the .223 and similar. I use them in my .223 custom Ranch Rifle and my .22-204's.

I pick and choose between these three bullets, based on how each individual gun shoots them. I see them as fairly equivalent on small to med. game.

I had an AR upper in 7.62x39. I wasn't that impressed and it went down the road. Maybe I didn't work with it long enough. Still, no regrets and I don't see going back.

DF

Thanks, I've always been curious about those HPs.

I need to do some loading for my CZ527 carbine. I've got 3 boxes of Hornady 123 sp bullets-I've heard good things about them.

5.56/223 is not deer legal in MN but 7.62x39 is. A friend of mine had shoulder surgery and I let him use my Ar-15 with Colt 7.62x39 upper. He killed his deer and didn't wreck his shoulder. It's a deer killer in the MN woods anyway.

I know a guy who takes young hunters out with his Ruger compact in 7.62X39 and they get deer. It seems to work well out to a hundred yards or so. I'm not of the opinion that the Soviet round can hang with the .30-30 WCF especially if 170's are used in the latter. I've killed a Bull Moose witht he .30-30 and I wouldn't even want to try one with the combloc round.

I like the idea of the little ruger compact, but I don't know if I'd like the reality as much.

I like the .30-30 very much, all the way around.

Ya never heard of cowboys and AKs have ya now?

I bought one of the Ruger Compacts for the kids I sponsor to use from the deer stands. They all absolutly love it. Don't kick much, is really accurate. But out of the box is way too compact for a big guy like me, feels like shooting one of those little chipmunk rifles.

I would highly recomend it for any kid where the shots are going to be inside of 175 yards so that all they have to do is center the crosshairs and squeeze.

They were shooting the Mini 30s. Sorry for the delay in replying--we are in Costa Rica and the ISP was down for about 24 hours.

For me one of the attractions of the 7.62x39 as a hunting rifle is the compact bolt action rifle like the K-var model 85 using the zastava mini mauser action. It's a much better looking rifle than the Remington 799 version using the same action.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe the Wolf 122gr HP is a military style round designed to tumble on impact, not expand.

Late to the table with the above. I 'm not convinced the 122gr HP is the best projectile for that round.

No problem! Hope you are getting time to fish. I'd love to wet a line in that part of the world someday.

That's a much nicer looking gun than the Remington version.

What are your best loads and what kinda groups does it shoot?

DF

For 10 straight years my brother-in-law and I hunted a southern NY apple orchard. Choice of firearm was the Ruger Mini 30 7.62x39. Ammo was the Russian 123gr & 124gr hollow point. Each year in august we would drive to NY and visit the Thru-Way in Walden to purchase our licenses and apply for 2 each anterless permits. That gave us 6 tags for the season. 2 buck tags and 4 anterless tags. The season always started the Monday after the 15th in November. By Tuesday our tags were filled. Some years the land owner would give us 15 pest controll permits. I still have my Mini 30 stainless. Haven't used it in years. Last NY hunt was November 2004. I need to take it back out and put it to good use.

Ken

125 ballistic tips for my nephews x39.... works good.

Both the 7.62x39 and the 223 with 60gr NP's are IF rounds. They work very well IF:
Shot placement is good.
Range is not to far, anything over 100yds in my experience.
The animal is not too large. Over 100 pounds and the first two IF's become very, very important.

The big selling point here is the low recoil, great but...
The low SD of the bullets used, generally around 125gr for a 30 cal. limit penetration on anything other than a deers rib-cage. The low velocity can cause some squirrely things to go on with even soft bullets at ranges over 100yds, like no or minimal expansion on rib-cage hits and failure to penetrate on shoulder bones.

So, IF you are hunting whitetails at ranges under 100yds, probably from a tree stand and can waite and carefully pick your shots, it'll be a reasoned choise, but there are better options out there.

I wasn't terribly impressed with either the Rem 799 stock or the Zastava action.

The thin barrel made it hard to find a suitable hunting or varmint load. Skinny barrels are usually finicky. Two other things: the trigger didn't smooth out after many hundreds of shots and I did not like the small bolt handle. Actually, the size of the bolt handle was the thing that made me sell it.

I considered messing around with the bedding, but would have needed to rework the trigger as well. I was tired of fighting to get the thing to group, so I made it go away.



If I was to buy another 7.62x39 bolt gun, I would get a Savage. It has a 308 barrel and the bolt handle is not as tiny as the mini Mauser. Obviously, this is a personal thing. One thing's for sure, when I was using this in the winter, that baby bolt was hard to work with gloves on!

The tool at hand a couple of times on a hog hunt has been the X39. The largest I've shot was right at 300, thick shields, and 125 ballistic tip. 75ish yard shot through both lungs, made it about 75 yards maybe, probably less come to think of it. The longest shot was a coyote on the other side of 500.

While I am picky about what and where I shoot, the x39 is 30-30 performance imho and for 200 pound and under deer, out to 250, not problems at all.
As to picking shots, well I do that with ANY round I have. I'd rather let em walk than make a bad shot. I will admit though my options for deadly shots at longer ranges and larger animals increase with the size of the gun, but moving from the x39 to the 308 or 06 doesn't do much for me, moving to 300 and 338 mags does.

I have not found the X39 lacking in anything we shoot deer/hog wise out to 200-250 yet, though my nephew( its his upper) is not the best of shots at times, but he muffs em with a 300, x39 and a 22lr so his issue is not the round but the indian.

I wouldn't even consider the 7.62x39. It isn't even on the radar. Accuracy, bullets, and guns chambered are less then ideal. For true low recoil the 223 with good bullets is a murderer. If 223 wasn't legal and I wanted the same kind of performance the 300 Blackout (300 Whisper) would be the next choice.

me neither, I would not go out and buy a 7.62 x 39 to hunt with. If I was cash strapped it would be a pawn shop 30-30 instead. If I had one and thats all I had I would use it. I do believe folks should own at least one in their life, I have one, its shoots just fine, the russian mild steel ammo penetrates stuff better than a 5.56 except maybe the 70 grain TSX which is also quite good but still does not have the momentum a 123 grain has. In the woods for deer a 5.56 is just fine. If you got it use it, get some copper bullets and not the mild steel bullets, if you don't get a 30-30 your 10 times better off.

I've taken a 6 point whitetail with an SKS at less than 100 yards, and it performed perfectly. I'd agree with those that say it is good for deer and such inside 200 yards.

Your SKS was a dud. I have 4 and scoped or with a reddot sight I can generally wear our a 3" x 5" index card at 100 yards without a flyer for 20 rounds or more using handloads.

US made 7.62x39s, Rugers and Savage rifles, use a .308 barrel. There are plenty of good bullets for that diameter. Reloadable brass is generally cheap too.

I think the big trouble with this cartridge is that almost everyone thinks of it only for use with an SKS or AK.

Well, a few things are in order, I think, to perhaps help clarify the situation:

First off, I bought a US made 7.62 x 39 AR Barrel (which I assume to be .308 & not .311 dia., as many AK barrels are) for less than $100 delivered to my door, I can build the upper & bolt for at or a bit less than the going rate on an SKS, although really, money is not the issue here. The reason is because this may serve as a backup hunting carbine for deer in the 150-165 pound class (165 is a pretty good size here in SC, two does I shot last year went 101 & 118, respectively) at under 200yds. 200 is the longest I will ever shoot anything here, and really, it more likely be half that.

I too think that if I use quality ammo (Like us or S&B Boxer Primed fodder), not imported junk of questionable bullet diameter and powder consistency/composition, then it should be OK. Not primary, as I have 270 & 308, but there if needed.

A word or two about AK's and SKS's. I have some familiratiy with the SKS, it is actually not a bad gun, but man, is that trigger pull heavy! That really limited choices past the antiquated sights make it tough to use. The AK is actually a great rifle, nothing bad to say, but you do have to remember it was designed so that people who did not know how to read could be shown how to use it, and another thing often overlooked is that Russian tactics of the time were that the SQUAD, not the person, fired at the target, so accuracy was less important than it is to us. So I think that both as a result get a much worse rap than they deserves

LMAO. I was waiting for someone to bring up the Blackout. It's slightly less powerful than the 7.62x39. Somehow the Blackout is a good choice but the Russian is a bad one.

i think the new rugers are .311 or so they say if you ask them.

Well I must just be lucky as I have killed many types of game with my CZ 527 M Carbine in 7.62 x 39 bolt gun. It has the prettiest piece of Turkish Walnut and a set trigger. Iy's topped with a Leopold 1-5 x 20 VX II scope, with Warnke quick disconnect rings! I have killed many deer and wild pigs , as I like to call them. The biggest was a nice black boar, 300 lbs plus! Shot a coyote once after one of our dogs too. This is a sow I shot on the run @ 100 and some yardsone shot a little far back, but only went 25 yards! [img][IMG]http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss33/otiscampbell62/sow.jpg[/img][/img]

My Remington 799 was actually quite accurate (1 MOA) with Wolf 154 gr softpoints. As much as I loved the idea of the gun, I could never really warm up to the rifle itself. The stock was clunky and the action didn't always feed smoothly. Even so, I shot the rifle a lot, just because ammunition was so inexpensive. The complete lack of recoil was nice too.

My deer camp compadres stoke their SKSs with 154gr Wolf and use them with great results on deer drives. Complete penetration is the norm on broadside and slight quartering shots. Again though, ranges are usually less than 70 yards, often MUCH less.

Scott, even though it is a re-invention of an old cartridge, albeit slightly less powerful, it's better 'cause it's NEW....

Did you notice any expansion with the 154gr Wolf?

I shot a box of it in my CZ and it really liked it but wondered how it would expand on game.

Sorry, I never recovered any bullets from the deer that were shot. They showed enough trauma that I'm fairly certain that the rounds weren't simply penciling through.

I was curious about the comparisons made to the 30-30. In an ultra scientific ballistics test, I fired a few rounds into a clay embankment. Did the same with my dad's 30-30 and 150gr Fed Powershok.

They both expanded well and penetrated to similar depths, but the 30-30 expanded a little more and penetrated a little deeper.

It was definitely not a perfectly controlled experiment and I'm not suggesting that it is definitive in any way. Just a fun day shooting and digging bullets ouf of the clay.

Cor Bon loads a 123 gr TSX in the x39. If that isn't deer medicine I don't know what is. It even shot 1.5 MOA from one of my AKs (gasp!) with a 0x red dot sight. Complete pass throughs with the deer I've shot.

I recovered one bullet from the two deer that I shot with the 154 gr Herters, that bullet had expanded to about the diameter of a penny. I never weighed the bullet, but it still seemed as if it had some good mass left in it. This was a 4-5 point dink buck at approx 120 yards at a slight quartering away angle, went about 40 yards and piled up. Left a fair, but not fantastic blood trail, of course was only bleeding from one hole.

The other deer fell within sight, smaller doe. No bullet recovery, and since she fell in sight I walked straight to her and didn't pay much attention to any blood trail.

I've got one of the Rem 799, 7.62x39.
After some tweaking and bedding it is one of my favorites.
I use the Winchester 123 gr. hp's.
I've taken several deer, hogs, yotes and bobcats with it.
Ranges from 10 to 175 yards.
Deer and hogs that are chest shot never travel over 20-30 yards.

I don't take, what are in my opinion, marginal shots, EVER. With any rifle.

No. As I can not even fathom a decent reason for a bolt gun chambered in 7.62x39 so I am not referring to that, the fact that one works in a rifle that is actually designed to be shot well and not for unskilled conscripts is why I would choose the Blackout over the 7.62x39. I would, and do, prefer the 223/5.56 for killing over both.

Deer and other game haven't yet had time to develop resistance to new cartridges.



Bruce

Can't comprehend some have such disdain for the 7.62X39, just because it was designed for another military? Deer don't know that either.

I can only comment that it is a fine cast bullet case and wonderfully accurate in the CZ-527.

That cannot be true! According to many sources, you have to use the newer cartridges because the deer have evolved - just like bacteria.

Most deer are 30 calibre resistant. You have to step up to 338 or else you will not be successful. Cervidae Magnumus and Cervidae Pistrix Pistrix are emergent species that cannot be felled by something as pitiful as a 30-30 or 308.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc CCCXXXVIII! Excelsior!

I am going to edvelop a a wildcat based on the 38-55, and reverse taper the front of the case to .375, trim off the rim, and design a raise or side-swing block rifle that you pop the cartidge in base first. i am going to call it the

.375 BARSNESS-BRANNON SUPER-BLOOPER