7.62x39?

[Rusty R.]

Could you tell me anything that i might should know about the cartridge? Mainly its plinking abilities and what kind of damage will it do to animals from Jackrabbits to Deer. Thanks

[MGMorden]

The steel cased Russian stuff will be a little less accurate than regular commercial ammo.  Any of it should be good enough for plinking though.

As to damage, expect performance similar to a .30-30, but just a smidge weaker.  Will take deer within shorter ranges.  I wouldn't want to shoot a jackrabbit with one .

[jim21]

Its really a nice little cartridge.My son uses it for deer hunting.(he already
got two with his SKS)I love it for plinking then a 223cal..Where can you
buy a box of shells for less then $2.50

[R.W.Dale]

The steel cased Russian stuff will be a little less accurate than regular commercial ammo.  Any of it should be good enough for plinking though.

As to damage, expect performance similar to a .30-30, but just a smidge weaker.  Will take deer within shorter ranges.  I wouldn't want to shoot a jackrabbit with one .

 I gotta disagree in my SKS's and my CZ527 the steel cased stuff is way more accurate than the brass cased domestic ammo. I was quite dumbfounded to see a rifle that shoots .50" groups with handloads spray an 8" group with remington ammo. The same rifle usualy runs 3" or so with ruskie fodder

 As for the original question The x39 is apropriate for any situation a 30-30 would be. With the Wolf 154gr load you would actually have a pretty good Improvement over 30-30 in terms of ballistics and downrange energy

[corbanzo]

A jackrabbit might as well be a jello mold with the 7.62, pieces flying.  With a good setup, the round will do just fine for deer hunting.  It was of course originally developed as a military round, but acts much more like a hunting round than the .223 that our gov. has adopted.

[missouri dave]

I'd like to reload this round. I think it's .311 rather than .308 does anybody make decent bullets for it. Someone (I think on this board but it could be one other one) had posted a handload using a 200 grain cast bullet on a light charge that was very, very quiet as well. Wish I hadn't misplaced that thread.

[Larry Gibson]

I'd like to reload this round. I think it's .311 rather than .308 does anybody make decent bullets for it. Someone (I think on this board but it could be one other one) had posted a handload using a 200 grain cast bullet on a light charge that was very, very quiet as well. Wish I hadn't misplaced that thread.

These loads are from several published sources and are close to max for the SKS, work up to them with your rifle as always. These are in W-W or IMI cases with WLR primers. If R-P cases are used with WSR primers the powder charge can be increased 1/2 gr.

For death and destruction on rabbits try the Remington 32-20 100 gr SP or one of the 100 gr .312 .32 H&R HPs over 24.5 gr of H4227. They will run 2600+ fps and turn rabbits into 'bits (a 'ibit of go here, a 'bit of 'em goes there)

Of course the standard load with 123/125 gr .310/.311" SP bullets (Win, Rem, Speer, Sierra or Hornady) of 22.5 gr of H4227 works well on rabbits also. This load will run around 2350 fps in your SKS. While this load will kill deer I personnaly think it may be a little light as the bullets expand rapidly at this velocity.

For deer I recommend the Speer 130 FP (a 30-30 bullet) over 28 gr of RL7 for 2340 fps. Start at 20 gr and work up to what your rifles action will function with and not batter it. While a .308 bullet it's long bearing surface gives it better accuracy than milsurp ammo and is sufficient for deer at the ranges it will be used.

Larry Gibson

[R.W.Dale]

I POSTED THIS PREVIOUSLY ELSEWHERE

It's been pretty hotly contested as to how much diffrence there is between loading 7.62x39 using .308 bullets vs .310-.311 so here it is. I tested this  and here are the results.

The rifle is a CZ527 carbine topped with a 3x9x40 redfield accutrac scope. The bore measures .300 land to land and .3105 in the grooves

The ammo was loaded with 150 gr Sierre soft points 10 rds of .308 and 10 rds of the same bullet sized .311. Cases were Remington CCI 400 , The powder was 23.5grs of Re-7 with a COL of 2.310

It was about 65 degrees today with a light varible breeze of 15 mph

Shot string 1
.308 bullets

1851
1826
1852
1827
1846
***************
Shot string 2
.311 bullets

1935
1904
1937
1912
1925
****************

Shot string 3
.311 bullets

1953
1888 !?
1915
1932
1925
***************

shot string 4
.308 bullets

1852
1855
1869
1844
1873

All velocities were taken at 25 feet.

As you can see there is very little diffrence in group size. About the only real measurable diffrence in using the .308 dia bullets is that they are somewhat slower in the FPS department.

Of course your mileage may vary.

[anweis]

My daughter is growing, and i believe that two years from now she will be ready for deer hunting. The 7.62x39 could be the ticket for her, because of not much recoil.  
It looks like the 150 gr. soft point bullets will work on deer up to 150 yards.
Did i get this right?

[prairiedog555]

I shot a big (240lb) ks. doe with sks wolf 121 gr. hollow pt.  the one with the pinhole in tip.
shot at about 10 yds, she was running uphill towards me, could only see brown in the 5x scope.
I shot, she turned around and was going down hill, fast, so I let off another one, hit her in the back leg, went down kicking, and went over to her and put another in the neck.
Dressed out the first shot grazzed the heart 1/4 in. deep and disintegrated, found copper all inside body.  I think that if I had not shot again would have been a long track.
anyway I don't know how other bullets do, but I would never shoot another deer with wolf hollow pts.
Another guy I was with shot a medium size doe at about 60yd. with the lead softpt russian.  Saw it strike right behind the shoulders mid high.  Lost that one, kept running.
I think the game deserves a quick kill like with my '06.  Starches them, never move except down. that is my experience.

[S.S.]

I would give it the same restrictions as a .30-30 Win.
200 yards (Though not impossible in the hands of a good shot)
Would be streching the humane limits a bit.
I would stay away from the Hollow point stuff for game.
Soft point only. The PMC or S&B ammo is pretty good stuff.
The HP rounds are great for Vermin though.

[prairiedog555]

When it comes to Russian ammo for 7.62x39, which seems to be best the 123gr hollow pt. or the 154gr. softpoint.
For accuracy
for killing power

I shoot an SKS

[Robert]

I guess it might have been me talking about the light loads.  I bought a 7.62x39 barrel for my Handi as soon as I could get my grubby hands on one. I had been doing extensive testing with my SKS before that.  This is a very diverse little cartridge in the hands of a re-loader.  It will handle the same bullets for 30-30 even in the SKS.  With cast bullets I have loaded up to 220 gr with as little as 4.0 grs of Red Dot in the .311 barrel. (DO NOT USE THIS LOAD WITH ANY JACKETED BULLET)  This was done with a cleaned barrel and slightly lubed and making sure there was plenty of lube on the bullet.  I keep 200 gr cast bullets loaded with 5.0 grs of Red Dot.  These work in both my Handi and my SKS with no problems whatsoever.  I have another light load that I use with 200 gr Hornady round-nose bullets, and I have taken deer with them.  I would have to look for that data since I moved....but it IS in my log-book, so if anyone wants the load, I will find it.  Please P.M. or E-mail me.  The Hornady 200 round-nose are great beacause they have such a long tapered shape...the nose fits insde the rifling so that they do not need to be seated too deep in the neck. However....they are not the most accurate bullets for that very same reason.....only about 1/3 of the bullet is supported in the bore, which tends to let the nose spin.  But they will certainly hit lung within 200 yds.

[prairiedog555]

I went out shooting my SKS today,  first time since I changed out the stock for a plastic one, $40 at Cabella's, and bought some Rem FMJ ammo.
It shot better, both with the Russian 123gr. HP, and even better with the Rem. 
Seemed to shrink groups by half.  Now shoots 1in groups at 50yd.  And the Rem. fmj is more consistant on 2nd and 3rd shots.
I think the stock was worth it.  Have a cheap Chicom 5x scope that is OK also.