7.62x39 for deer hunting

[Montell C. Williams]

I moved to PA a year ago from TN and brought with me a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39mm I bought just for fooling around with cheap ammo. I have never shot a deer with any caliber less than .30-30 and was wondering how well this cartridge stacks up aginst the .30-30.
In TN I ran my own tests by shooting winchester 123gr softpoints through two one gallon jugs of water into soaked news paper and the 7.62s expanded nicely but didn't blow the jugs up as good as the .30-30 and had less penetration and made smaller holes in the news paper.
If you have actual experiance hunting with this caliber, please give your opinion. I know the ballistics but they don't always tell the whole story.

[knight0334]

The 7.62x39mm is about the same power level as the 30-30 Win. With the 7.62 not needing round nosed bullets for tubular magazines, its BC should be greater allowing for a little bit longer shots. We all know the 30-30 is quite capable of taking whitetail deer, so the 7.62 should serve just as well provided you use the proper type bullets.

[MarcS]

yep, their ballistics are equivalent.

[The Rifleman]

Save yourself a lot of time and money and just go out and buy a hunting rifle or continue hunting with the 30 - 30 rifle.

The 30 30 is a good deer round out to about 150 yards because that is all the further that most people will shoot at a deer in the woods anyways.

Your military rifle is just that. A military rifle.

It's not ment to be used as a deer rifle and is not powerful enough to harvest deer efficiently.

By the time that you go out and buy ammo for your gun that is legal - you might as well just use the 30/30 anyways.

Steel Jackets and tracers and non expanding projectiles are not legal for hunting in PA.

[MarcS]

oh god....here it comes

Save yourself a lot of time and money and just go out and buy a hunting rifle or continue hunting with the 30 - 30 rifle.

Save yourself time and money by going out and buying a new rifle versus using what you already have. Clearly your grasp of economics and a concept called "time" sucks.

Your military rifle is just that. A military rifle.

This is a CZ-527


Now that we've established you not knowing what the hell your talking about, let's continue.

It's not ment to be used as a deer rifle

take a look at that picture and tell me what it is meant to be used for? What do you hunt with that is more appropriate than a bolt action rifle with a politically correct wood stock?

and is not powerful enough to harvest deer efficiently.

7.62x39mm 123 gr. Super-X® Soft Point: 2033fps@100yards

30-30 Winchester 150 gr. Super-X® Hollow Point: 2018fps@100yards

both are making over 1000 ft/lbs of energy at 100 yards. About 200ft lbs difference between the two.

By the time that you go out and buy ammo for your gun that is legal - you might as well just use the 30/30 anyways.

or you can just go out and buy the commercial hunting load i described above.

Steel Jackets and tracers and non expanding projectiles are not legal for hunting in PA.

But the commercial hunting load i described above is. As are the many other commercial hunting loads available for it.

[The Drew]

Save yourself a lot of time and money and just go out and buy a hunting rifle or continue hunting with the 30 - 30 rifle.

The 30 30 is a good deer round out to about 150 yards because that is all the further that most people will shoot at a deer in the woods anyways.

Your military rifle is just that. A military rifle.

It's not ment to be used as a deer rifle and is not powerful enough to harvest deer efficiently.

By the time that you go out and buy ammo for your gun that is legal - you might as well just use the 30/30 anyways.

Steel Jackets and tracers and non expanding projectiles are not legal for hunting in PA.

Shades of Zumbo....

[JustinM]

Shades of Zumbo....

HAHA! I just said somethign similar in another post.

Now, now why do you suppose we would said the same thing?

[Yellowfin]

Your military rifle is just that. A military rifle.

So is an '03 Springfield, a Mauser, and an Enfield, all of the bolt action rifles were military first, not deer. Lever rifles were too, in the 1860's. And our military still uses the Remington 700 in .308. EVERY hunting rifle, even black powder, was at one point in time a military rifle.

[TonyF]

I moved to PA a year ago from TN and brought with me a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39mm I bought just for fooling around with cheap ammo. I have never shot a deer with any caliber less than .30-30 and was wondering how well this cartridge stacks up aginst the .30-30.

Those are nice rifles. The 7.62 x 39 is adequate for deer inside of 200 yards using good soft point ammo.

[Member0001]

Those are nice rifles. The 7.62 x 39 is adequate for deer inside of 200 yards using good soft point ammo.

From a good BOLT ACTION like the CZ.

Sorry folks, got carried away here, my bad.