7.62x39 for hunting? Thoughts? Opinions?

[yumastepside]

.....getting back to the point of this thread, the 7.62x39 , I have found it a more than adequate round when used on appropriate sized game....No, I can only assume it's not the most appropriate round when hunting something that bites back, but for my use, fallow,goats,'roos, pigs and even rabbits and possums on occasion, it gets the job done if I do my job....bullet placement and shooting within a reasonable distance, it's not a 300yd cartridge.
The best things for me with this round are....a small, light, short barrelled gun....low recoil, low noise, even with the short barrel.......cheap ammo....20 rounds barely fills a trouser pocket......did I mention cheap?
I love my 6.5's , 9.3's and my 40's but this just a fun, accurate and pleasant round to use......within its limitations.

Roger

 

[TOBY458]

 

[TOBY458]

View attachment 255970

This is the result of a single round of 300 blackout through the boiler room. 110gr Barnes Tac TX at around 2350fps. The buck only made 40 yards before going down. Shot distance was 75 yards. Live weight for the buck was 195lbs. That said, the 39 has even more power. So, I'd say it's a fine deer round out to 200 yards or so.

 

[7x57Joe]

Nice buck Toby! I have a friend whose son has killed several nice bucks with his B/O. I've carried my CZ-527 carbine afield several times but, the deer hasn't cooperated, maybe this year.

 

[buffybr]

I have no love for the 7.62x39 cartridge or for the AK rifles.

 

[TOBY458]

Thats

Nice buck Toby! I have a friend whose son has killed several nice bucks with his B/O. I've carried my CZ-527 carbine afield several times but, the deer hasn't cooperated, maybe this year.

That's the same rifle I have. The 527 with a 16" threaded barrel. I use a AAC Cyclone suppressor on it. This is the first deer I've shot with it, but I've shot a few more with a TC Contender carbine I had in 300BO. It's surprising how well those little cartridges kill!

 

[crudeoildude]

always seemed to me to be a 308 round with only half enough powder designed to be used to put a lot of rounds out and maybe one would hit someone war round not a hunting round so many better one out there.

 

[Von S.]

Of course it's fine to not like a round for any reason you like, but be consistent ,anyway.

If someone says that the 7.62 x 39 is underpowered for a spindle leggef deer and then turns around and praises the 375 h&h as a powerful DG round it makes me wonder how they came up with that?

 

[Red Leg]

Of course it's fine to not like a round for any reason you like, but be consistent ,anyway.

If someone says that the 7.62 x 39 is underpowered for a spindle leggef deer and then turns around and praises the 375 h&h as a powerful DG round it makes me wonder how they came up with that?

Let's see .... because one doesn't have anything at all to do with the other? Back in philosophy class it was called a "non sequitur."

 

[Von S.]

Let's see Red,

Both of these rounds are fine for some things and piss poor for other, but should we realistically compare the all around capability of the 7.62 x39 leathality to a deer compared to the leathality of -375 H & H to cape Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino , the x39 is the winner.

Simply because you can kill something with a round that only hits with 3 times the animals weight in foot pounds does not mean that it's the best for the job.

 

[Red Leg]

One more time - I'll type slowly. To quote one of my favorite contributors on this forum, one could kill a cape buffalo with a frozen herring - but why would you want to. The 39 falls into that category as a deer round for me because of its trajectory and effective range. Not a single contributor here said it wouldn't kill a deer - so will a lot of things. But for the hunting I do, it is a pretty marginal choice where shots can be long or need to be threaded through small windows. Again, I said nothing about lethality - it simply is not a very good choice for shots over 200 yards (frankly 150). So I have no use for it. I did note that it might be a logical choice for someone hunting dense terrain like the Carolina Low Country, but even there, I personally would prefer a .308 in a similar package. As far as a fun inexpensive plinker - or as a ranch rifle in the truck - sure - absolutely. Though again, on my place, where the coyotes rarely stand around at 150 meters, I have a .223 handy.

Absolutely none of which has squat to do with the .375. It is indeed a 200 yard + capable caliber, which is proven on PG hundreds if not thousands of times every season. And if you wish to believe it is inadequate for dangerous game, that is your opinion. I think it is a singularly uninformed opinion, but you are absolutely free to have it.

 

[Von S.]

What you choose to wound animals with is inconsequential to this topic Red.

In many ways it appears that you feel that what I write is somehow aimed at you, it is not, but think what you will sport.

It appears that no matter how slow you type it still isn't helping you understand and this being a nice site with many nice people from around the world on it I'm afraid that if you want to act up like a child you're gonna have to do it alone.

By the way..... I liked what you said about shoving 380 grain bullets into the H&H. Sounds like what I said about it before you were born.

Have a nice day.

 

[EZRider]

Of course it's fine to not like a round for any reason you like, but be consistent ,anyway.

If someone says that the 7.62 x 39 is underpowered for a spindle leggef deer and then turns around and praises the 375 h&h as a powerful DG round it makes me wonder how they came up with that?

Are you so passionate about your belief that the .375 H&H is inadequate for hunting buffalo that you are compelled to insert your opinion on random, unrelated threads just in case someone hasn’t digested what you have written before?

 

[Von S.]

EZ.

Ok.....you got me!

I shall relent.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

I’ll stick with my 30-30.

 

[ChrisG]

So rather than a rebuttal on why comparing a .375 H&H for elephant is the same as comparing a 7.62x39 for animals larger than deer or smallerish blackbear... what I did was make a graph. Because it was fun... and I think it pretty accurately represents the opinions of most people who hunt these species a lot (I am not going to throw everyone of them in here but, this is generalizing). Plus... graphs are fun!

Keep in mind that any cartridge to the right of said species can be counted as more than adequate, any cartridge that roughly lands near a species can be counted as meeting adequacy requirements in most situations and any cartridge to the left of a species CAN kill the species, but has some moderate to severe limitations.

oops.. I forgot to add: