I've bought a Ruger Ranch 7.62x39 rifle for a cheap practice rifle and low recoil deer rifle. I've got Norma ammo coming that is brass cased and reloadable. My intent being to practice and break in the new rifle with this ammo while saving the brass to load.

Today I came across and bought four boxes of Hornady 123gr. SP bullets #3140. Hornady's info has this bullets as an interlock and rated for game up to 300lbs. Have any of you used it on deer sized game and what did you think of it's performance?

it'll work just fine... for most deer in the country....

even 300 lb northern MN white tails...

brother in law, when he was still in high school, that is all he had.. in a bolt action...

he shot several large whitetails up close to International Falls, using that bullet in factory ammo...

I have a good friend who killed a big 8 point last season at a lasered 297 yards one shot. He was planning to hunt close in brush that morning.
When I hunt with my CZ-527 it's loaded with this 165 grain cast bullets.

I just started shooting this new-to-me CZ last week and started with a few WW factory loads I had laying around.

100yds

I have the same rifle and the same brass.

It shoots 150 grn .308 Hornady SP bullets well. The RCBS FL die set comes with both .308 and .311 expanders.

I have not take it big game hunting yet.

I've got a T/C Contender stainless carbine barrel in 7.62x39x.308. I used 125 grain Hornady bullets.
Soup

SC or Tbone,

What is the bore diameter on your CZ rifles. The Ruger is .310.

Another question, are any of you crimping your bullets?

I have always wanted to try that cartridge out in a bolt action. If I had one, I would try out the 124 grain Hammer Hunter. Something about that bullet makes me think it would be a real performer and more accurate than the others.

My young grandson has killed three bucks with 123gr SST factory loads, including one that went 200lbs live weight by the boned meat formula. Those are also Interlocks. I don’t foresee a problem with the SPs.

You don’t need a cannon to kill deer. Pretty sure my son said those SSTs kept right on flying after hitting the deer. He’s planning on “borrowing” the little Howa when the boy outgrows it.

Pappy, I mainly bought mine with the grandkids in mind, but I was shooting it today in between shooting groups with 225gr. Whelen loads. I'm already liking it. I was shooting 1 inch five shot groups with it and thinking this going in my old man rifle battery.

I'm noticing my old man battery (guns for when I don't want to get hammered with recoil) is growing. They are in calibers such as .243, 25-06 and 6.5. My 33 year old daughter was shooting with me today and was ringing the 200 yard plate with the Whelen, but she was liking the Ranch rifle too.

My plan is to use the 123gr SST in my loads for the CZ527. The problem is that they are hard to find in stock anywhere. I picked up one box in a gun shop but it was $42. Now I don’t see anything but FMJ. I’m still working on a load but right now groups average between 1.5 to 1.75 inches with CFE Black.

Mike,

Like you, I've seen very few components for .310 caliber hunting bullets. I was at a shop picking up an Encore. While the owner was doing the paperwork on the gun, I was looking on the shelves. I found the four boxes of Hornady 123gr. SP and bought them for $20 a box. If I had come across the SST bullets I would have bought them. I would really like to find a box of the Barnes 123gr. TSX to try.

I've never loaded for the 7.62x39 so I'm doing a little research on it. I'm well stocked on RL7 and can get the CFE BLK locally. I shot a box of the Norma ammo yesterday so I have some brass and need to buy a set of dies to get started.

I have some of the PPU brass cased 123gr softpoint ammo and it shoots poorly in my CZ. At least I can reload the brass. I’ve also picked up a bunch of steel cased Barnaul 125gr softpoint. This shoots ok and produces about 100fps more than the PPU. My plan is to get a load to shoot at 2400fps and less than 1.5 inches at 100 yards from my 18.5 inch barrel.

Mike,

The Norma ammo I bought is loaded with a 124gr. FMJ at a factory spec. of 2430 fps. When I shot it at the range yesterday I got an average velocity of 2363 fps from the Ranch rifle's 16 inch barrel. I wouldn't think 2400 fps velocity would be a stretch in your rifle.

I'm sure you've looked at load data sources, but here is a quick link to a couple.

https://www.nosler.com/762-39mm
https://reloadingdata.speer.com/downloads/speer/reloading-pdfs/rifle/762x39mm_Gold_Dot__123.pdf

And a link from Sierra's website with an article by one of their ballistic techs.

https://sierrabullets.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/how-accurate-is-the-7-62x39-russian/