In the early to mid-90's, Ruger did a special run of a few thousand stainless bolt-action 7.62x39s for Davidson's, the wholesaler. I bought two of these and shot them a great deal with jacketed and cast bullets. Both were quite accurate. I still have one of the rifles, but seldom shoot it anymore.
As for deer and hog hunting, the cartridge is severely handicapped in terms of both power and trajectory should a long shot (over about 125-150 yds.) present itself. There are better cartridges available for such hunting.
