278yds with a 7.62x39= doe tag filled

[R.W.Dale]

I met with sucess today in filling my doe tag. I had just decided to head back from the blind for some breakfast at about 9 this morning. Mere steps from where I parked the van off to one side of the cow pasture some movement in the distance caught my eye. It was two does standing broadside down below the hillside I had parked on.  Counting my blessings for having had the foresight to put the range finder in my pocket. I immediately dropped onto my posterior and took a range reading on the largest deer which lasered out at 278yds downhill a goodly little bit. Uncharacteristically steady I put the rangefinder down and produced my AR in a STD sitting shooting stance. I had the rifle ZEROED at 200 meters so I put a little English on the crosshairs right behind the shoulder and squeezed the bang switch....
 
 Since I had left the 3x9x40 scope on 3x I was rewarded with a great view of the doe rear almost straight up on it's hind legs and stumble off into the tree line appx 50yds away.

  NOW THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP not the cartridge.

 Due to the great distance involved I took careful note of the location of where the doe entered the trees. Assuming she would have charged into the wooded area a goodly ways me and the wife decided to find the start of the boodtrail at the tree line and then wait 20 or 30 min. Well it turned out that the deer had lied down just inside the trees so when we arrived it bolted again into a recently clearcut area for a ways before expiring making retrieval a real chore.

 But once tracked, retrieved and field dressed  post mortum showed that my shot placment was almost perfect vertically although a tad farther forward than I would have liked. The 125grn Nosler B-Tip passed through the shoulder destroyed one lung and clipped the heart. I could not locate the bullet in the gooey mass but it was apparent it hadn't exited.

All in all not a shot I would normally take with a 7.62x39mm but in this one instance everything was perfect for me to attempt this shot. Calm wind, steady rest, known range and zero.

 The rifle used was a 20" Ar15 flattop chambered for 7.62x39mm, the ammunition was a 2400fps handload shooting the 125grn Ballistic Tip.  The deer weighed 98lbs field dressed.

[Cheesehead]

Very nice. And very cool to use the AR, the hunting rifle of the future.

Cheese

[Tn Jim]

Very cool Krochus! Congrats on the doe AND the use of the AR. Very good shot by the way. I'm curious about something though. What made you decide to go with the 7.62X39 instead of , say, the 6.8?

[R.W.Dale]

What made you decide to go with the 7.62X39 instead of , say, the 6.8?

Mostly because I really like the 7.62x39mm cartridge, so much so I have a benchrest rifle so chambered. I like the ability to buy sub $5 a box plinking and practice ammo and still have the option of high performance handloads with very common .308 dia bullets. Brass and dies are cheap and plentiful.

 Another reason is I had a 6.8spc TC encore bbl and I quickly learned that velocity and trajectory claims are grossly overstated for this round even in  a 26" encore  bbl. As loaded to fit in an AR mag my nosler ballistic tip 7.62x39 load matches and in some ways out preforms most  6.8spc hunting loads. If 6.8 spc could shoot 130grn bullets in an AR things would be different but as it stands the 7.62 can shoot heavier bullets with a higher BC and will match 6.8 in the velocity dpt with bullets of a similar BC and weight.

The 6.5 Grendel does offer some marked improvement ballisticaly over 7.62x39, However EVERYTHING related to this round is hyper overpriced.

[Land_Owner]

Congratulations.  That's a feat very few of us can boast.  Well done. 

My personal best is 236 yards DRT after a 244 yard'er with some tracking after the shot.  I like shooting them in the neck.  They don't take it well in the neck.  Aim small...miss small.  My Win. 270 Classic Featherweigh in 270 caliber is capable of much more, although I am not, so I have reached my limitation.

[Cheesehead]

Krochus,

I shoot 130 grain Corelokts in my 6.8 AR all the time, at targets so far. They are hand loads with a maximum charge of 2230, very accurate. Dead on at 100 yards puts them 8 inches low at 200 yards per my field trials. I have yet to chronograph this loading. It will be my deer round this year. By the way, excellent shot

Cheese