Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-30 vs 7.62x39 Pro's vs Cons

Agreed. And I've already got a AR-15 in 300 Blackout. I was just wondering out loud if I buy a 30 cal Supressor for it, could I also use it on the 7.62x39, too. While picking up the new rifle, they had a set of calipers, and we measured the inside diameter of one of the Sig Sauer .30 cal Supressor they had in stock.
It measured .375, so plenty of room for the .311 bullets of the 7.62x39 rounds. The Sig Supressor is just under $600 bucks. I plan to use it on my .223, 243, 300 BO caliber rifles as well as the 7.62x39 RAR.

I'm way to tight to buy a suppressor for each rifle.

You could just go around the ranch saying "PEW,PEW...PEW PEW PEW" at hogs and coyotes.

Nice to see some people still have a sense of humor.

I prefer "achoo" spoken with a sibilant hiss.

Too late, but I'll add my 2 cents worth anyway.

1. The .30-30 in a lever has a lot of nostalgic value to me, the 7.62x39 in any platform has none. I bought a Marlin .30-30 some years back and love it.

2. I don't need a 10-20-30 round mag in a bolt gun. Nor do I want one. For my Ruger .308 Scout I purchased both 3- and 5-round mags. Have not used the 10-round factory mag since.

3. The Ruger Scout .308 uses standard .308" bullets, which I use in a variety of other rifles - don't want oddball .311" bullets taking up space on my bench.

4. With a $30 suppressor attached, the Ruger Scout "has no recoil" according to my hunting buddy. An exaggeration, but recoil is really low - probably similar to a .30-30, maybe less.

5. For my first AR I went with a .300 Blackout. As a reloader, I'd do the same if choosing between a .30-30, 7x39 or .300BLK in a bolt rifle.

6. Only accurate rifles stay in my safe. I don't know if factory 7x39 ammo would meet my standards, especially the cheapo stuff. I know 7x39 handloads can be very accurate. The .300BLK factory ammo I've shot in my AR has been acceptably accurate.

7. If inexpensive, accurate ammo is desired, reloading is the way to go. I understand not everyone is interested in or capable of doing so.


chlinstructor made a different decision than I would have, but we have different needs/wants/priorities. Hope the 7x39 works out well for him and am looking forward to seeing the RAR's target groups.

I only have 20 years left of being young enough to shoot a gun.
I am not wasting the time I have on commie block ammo.

Recently I was watching a female instructor as her platoon was making its way along a creek bottom, she cut loose on them by yelling “bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”,“bang”.

She rattled on like that for five minutes alternating between full auto and semi.

I had to sit down on the track because it was so damn funny.

I'd take the .30-30 everytime but since you have multiple 30-30's I guess you're good either way.

I know people have had some issues with the RAR magazines so I can see where the Mini 30 mags are appealing, my Ranch in .300 BLK feeds flawlessly with five rounds in the magazine. However, I don't like long magazines sticking down below my rifles I use for hunting. When I used to coyote hunt with my AR I always preferred 20 round magazines or smaller. I couldn't imagine even using anything other than the 5 round magazine in the bolt action Ruger Ranch.

I think that the .300 BLK would be a more versatile rifle especially with suppressor use, but the ammunition is a little more expensive if you're buying it. .308 caliber bullets are far more plentiful for the reloader than what's available for the X39. The other reason is I imagine the .300 BLK is cheaper to find right now, I bought mine used for $500 but it had the Nikon P300 scope, muzzle brake, bi-pod, AR15 style soft case, and 250 rounds of 120 OTM and 220 Sub Sonic Remington ammo with it.

I used to have an older CZ Mini Mauser in 7.62 x 39. It was a beautiful little rifle, nice walnut stock and flush bottom metal. I messed with it for a few years, trying domestic factory ammo, cheap Chinese and Russian stuff, and all the handloading tricks I could think of. I never could get it to shoot any better than my SKS, so it went down the road. Are you guys with bolt 7.62's able to get good groups? Three to four inch groups just didn't do it for me.

I finally found time to shoot my Ruger Anerican Ranch in 7.62 x 39 that I bought after posting this thread. It's my first Ruger RAR rifle and I'm impressed with the way it shoots. Haven't found a super price on a Leupold 2 x 7 Compact scope I want to mount on it, so I threw a little Nikon 3 X BDC scope that used to be on one of my 30-30's. Which makes the 100 yard groups I shot after sighting it in even more impressive. All the loads I tried yesterday were the cheap steel case Wolf ammo from Russia. Most of the ammo grouped from 1.75 to 2".

And the best load for accuracy was the Wolf steel case 123 grain HP, which as you can see, was less than an inch.
Here's my 100 yard target with that ammo.



I guess I enlarged the image too much. Those squares on the target are 1"
I'll try some more ammo and some of the better American mfg ammo once I find a reasonably priced Leupold 2 x 7 or 3 x 9 to mount on it for night time hog shooting at the Ranch. My nephew popped two hogs with it last night at about 80 yards in one of our wheat fields. The Russian 123 gr HP put them down with no problem at that distance.

That's not bad at all. Should be good enough to kill a pig or two...

Agree with the small capacity magazines. For my mini 14, I have two Five rounders that we use. Yes, I have numerous twenty rounders, but they are for social work, should it be required. Bumming around the pastures, fives are plenty.

Jack

Pretty good shootin' for an old man.

Elk hunter ,

I won a T/C barrel in a $5 raffle . When I got it and saw it was 7.62x39 x.308 I was disappointed.
You have to understand that this bore will not handle the AK/SKS cheap ammo as it’s all .311 .
So I loaded some .308 -125 JSP and was much surprised . With a scope on it it shoots “ SUB MOA “, benched naturally for this old mans eyes . And it is very pleasant to shoot , a good setup for a youngster to start with.extremely accurate .Still the 30-30 is all over it . With that 125 grain bullet I couldn’t get what a 30-30 gets with a 150 grain pill . I’m guessing it was at best about 2250 FPS .
But to 100 - 125 yards with good shot placement it should be effective on our NE wt deer.

Good luck and good shooting.
Semper Fi
Soup

Fixed it for you

I was very pleased! Being a "cheap" rifle and ammo, I figured I'd be lucky if it shot a 3" group!