Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7.62 x39 potential

It's no 30-30 Winchester despite what people always try to claim

The only reason I have one in a bolt is because of the gigatons of Chinese and Russian ammo my dad and I accumulated in the '80's and '90's. The Russian HP ammo will easily kill whitetail at 100 yards or so, but you better have turrets if shooting at targets much farther than that. It is a fun one to shoot with a suppressor......and also CHEAP.

I would think it would a right fine armadillo and soft skin zombie cartridge at 150 yards and under.

I ran into a guy shooting by the road up in the hills and he had one in a CZ that he loved and said he shoot lots of gophers with it. He said here try this out I got lots of ammo, I crunched a rock with it And that is why I posted this thread .Thanks for the response .I wonder why it hung on so long with the commies ?

Cause they were cheap to build and Russia gave the rights to make them to our enemies around the world. They require very little care to go bang, but that is about the extent of how great they are.

i love the m1 carbine. more of a nonsensical obsession. then again, ive never had to depend on one to keep me alive …

Had one in a mini mauser and barreled it in 270x39AI. A very accurate youth deer rifle. I have since rebarreled it to 220 Russian. I've seen a few that were barreled in 308 bullet size to make them a 30x39AI or 30PPC. The World Record 5 shot group was shot with a version of this. Group size is .007.

I have occasionally thought about buying a Ruger American Ranch rifle in 7.62x39, but have never found one with the price in sync with the condition. A couple had bores that looked like corrosive ammo had been fired in them and the shooters failed to clean them promptly.

I bought one of the short barrel RAR-Ps in 308 'cause it was too inexpensive not to buy, but I've not gotten around to shooting it yet. Bought it in 03/20, just before the COVID panic came down on us.

I bought a case of NORINCO SKSs in the early 1990s, most of which my FIL gave away to the better customers of his Pioneer Seed business. I heard that those farmers reported good results shooting deer from the cab of their combines, as the deer will just move a row or two out of the way until all of corn in field is cut. I kept one of those SKSs, but haven't shot it in ages. I have long thought that the semi-auto SKS was a better main battle rifle than the AK because the shooter had to aim the rifle, not just point and spray. I thought that those sub-$100 SKSs would become the dominent barn/farm/ranch/tractor/truck rifle when they flooded the market in the early 1990s, but I was wrong on that one too.

I agree, about the 7.62x39 being good with spitzer bullets but, when you factor in the LeverEvolution ammo in .30-30, it gets real pretty quick. Heavier bullet, and higher sectional density. Probably the best factory ammo for 7.62x39 is, the 150 gr. Spire Point Russian loads. Slower but, pack more of a punch. They may not even make them anymore.

Do you suppose you could soup it up with hand loads in a bolt gun ?

If it isn’t enough for what you want to do as is, get something else. Lots of choices out there; more than ever in fact.

For what it’s worth, the problem lies in bullets and barrels.

I went with 308 barrels which solved bullet availability and function. And accuracy. Some .310 barrels shoot ok with 308 bullets. Some don’t.

We can hear everything, you can kil anything with anything BUT this caliber should be put in the fun caliber to shoot but left out of the woods. Several years agio in MN we had lots of bonus deer tags, one of my cousins arrived on the scene with one of those on opening day , year I think was 1991, snow at waist in the woods, he shot 3 deer that opening morning all thru the ribs and all went and went and went, at lunch he was sent home for a different gun. No 30-30, not even a distant cousin to a 243 in deer killing performance, steel plate gun! And to all the genius' bullet selection doesn't mean nothing when they are not moving with enough authority to thump.

I gave the Ruskys more credit than they deserved according to most of the respondents ! Here I thought it was .308 ????

They used slightly bigger bullets. Depending on the ammunition manufacturer, and the barrel manufacturer and the condition of the firearm, groups go from so-so to awful.

A little uniformity and barrels in good condition make a huge difference.

For what it was designed to do it serves that function extremely well. It hits harder at distance than the 5.56 and has better penetration. There’s a reason we’ve been searching for a replacement to the 5.56 for years and not having replaced it does not speak to better rounds not being available and has everything to with military micromanaging a great idea into an abomination.

There’s a reason several of my rifles are in that chambering and only one is 5.56.

Never had a problem with the 7.62x39s I've shot
deer and hogs with
No, it's not a 7 mag
No, I don't have 300 yard shot opportunities
2 friends use scoped ARs in 7.62X39 for their
deer pig guns. They have no problems killing
their animals

Most every whitetail I've shot the last decade I
probably could have head shot with a 22

Use whatever you can use that'll do the job
with one shot

My scoped ARs shooting 123gr SSTs ain’t no slouch. I’d not want to shoot a 4 legged animal at more than 250-300 but a 2 legged out to 5 wouldn’t be hard.

Have you heard of a handgun cartridge called the 30 Herrett? My father used a 14" barreled Contender so chambered and he killed deer with it just fine. He used bullets whose expansion characteristics suited the modest velocity.