7.62x39 ammo for deer

S

sixgun67

New member
I have a Rossi single shot rifle, in 7.62x39 that I intend to use for deer hunting, at ranges of 100yds and less. I've seen ammo on MidwayUSA that looks appealing pricewise. Brown Bear 125gr SP and Golden Bear 125gr SP. They are the same price, and I'm wondering if there is any difference in performance between them. I see one diference in the cases, Golden being copper coated steel, and Brown being green lacquered steel. Any diferences other than that?
Sixgun
 
I don't know what size deer you are thinking of hunting, but I would recommend you find some of the Wolf brand 150gr softpoints. They are a little slower, velocity wise, but I think you'd get much more certain results using them. IIRC, I chrono'd them at around 2100 fps or so. Maybe a little less. This is pretty close to 30-30 class, and should be a deer killer.

I've shot a couple of 150# hogs with the 123gr softpoints, and was not impressed with the impact they had... range was only about 40yds. I'd go with the 150's.
 
As long as you place a good shot the Federal 123gr Hi-Shok work just fine on our smaller southern deer. Just me but I only use the foreign stuff for plinking cause I just trust American bullets to do what they advertise. I still remember when a lot of that Russan & China stuff was advertised for hunting when all they did was cut the point off a FMJ to show some lead.
 
Wolf 154, fired from a Romanian SAR-1, through two water filled 100 oz detergent jugs and 3" of Kansas City phone book. Recovered weight was 146.5 grains

wolf1542iu.jpg
 
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The deer in my area are not that large, and I've yet to shoot one at more than 28 yards.


k in AR, I've seen those poor examples of soft points. I won't shoot them in my rifles as I kinda figured the core could seperate from the jacket and leave the jacket in the barrel.

I use S&B SP for my 7.62x54r, and they work great. I may go with the S&B brand, but will try the Wolf first. I don't reload this caliber, so if I could get minute of deer with a steel case, all the better.
sixgun
 
7.62x39

I like the x39 threads for deer, as the boy and I both shoot same with a Mini-30 and a M77-II. We have had fine results, but have not shot any with import ammo. Mostly we used my reloads and a 135 gr Sierra SP, no longer mfg'd.

+1 on the import hollow points. My simple water jug tests show them sort of frangible. There are on line videos where some do not open up. Not for me.

There was a very good article done on the Brown Bear 125 gr SP being shot into ballistic gellatin and the results were very favorable. The bullet is not a FMJ/HP hybrid, but appears to be a genuine SP and expands nicely. I felt good enough about it, after reading the article once or twice, that I actually zeroed the Mini-30 for Brown Bear 125 SP, it and hunted it this year, but did not take any shots on those days.

Contrary to others, the 150 slug does not go fast enough to suit me from the x39 ctg. Especially the spitzers, which are intended for higher velocity. Now, the 150 gr FN/RN as for the .30-30 might be an interesting reload.

With a quality slug, the x39 will be plenty for deer, at woods ranges.
 
Some years ago, I was hunting with kid who hit is buck too low in the chest with a 30-30. I had him in a deep, super-dense thicket where 5-6 deer would just materialize at 7-15 yards and you had to shoot from almost ground level to kill them. He wasn't ready for that so the melee that followed was probably my fault.

The buck, when hit, jumped and bolted off a short ways, then turned toward property where only drunk friends of the landowner were authorized to hunt. I had already locked horns with them over getting on 'our side' so I wasn't about to let his buck get over there. We has a SKS as a backup, loaded with Wolf HP. I aimed for the back rib as the deer quartered away, instead hitting it in the right ham. The deer slowed a little and kept moving. I dumped/cleared the SKS, tossed it in the leaves and sprinted to within about 60 yards of where the deer would cross the last treeline onto the AA Hunting Preserve. As its shoulder appeared between the trees, I fired one 250 grain SWC from a 4" Model 29. That round took out the top of the shoulder, wrecked the spine and dropped the buck flat on his belly.

The Wolf HP had blown to bits and wrecked the ham; never broke the bone or exited. I never hunted with them after that.
 
The Rossi we have will not reliably ignite Wolf ammo. It works fine with domestic primers in the reloads I load for it. A starting hunter hunting with this rifle killed 2 deer using the Remington 125 soft point bullets in the ammo I loaded for him. His first shot was a measured 125 yards and the second was only around 50 yards. Bullet performance was about what I expected and was adequate for the purpose. Within reasonable range(under 125 yards), the cartridge/rifle will handle deer if aimed properly.
 
Stay away from the Bear/Wolf/Cheetah/Chipmunk/Ladybug 120-125 gr Soft Points.
They are too lightly constructed, in my opinion.

The Wolf 154 gr SP is decent.

The S&B 123 gr SP is acceptable.

The Prvi Partizan 123 gr RN SP is better than S&B (round nose design makes for more predictable/reliable expansion).

Winchester Super-X (silver box) loads all use Power-Point bullets. They'll be perfectly acceptable.

Remington Express (green/yellow box) 123 gr SPs are fine.

Federal's Power-Shok (blue/silver box) 123 gr SP is a Speer Hot-Core. It'll do fine.


My conclusion:
Buy any American brand with a bullet designed for big game, or the 3 import choices listed above.

Don't buy anything with a steel or "bi-metal" jacket (with the exception of the Wolf 154 gr SP).

Don't use any Hollow Points - even if the manufacturer claims it's a "hunting" bullet.
 
I guess I'll go with the S&B, as I already use it in two other calibers, and it is somewhat cheaper than big named ammo. I have a box of Win 7.62x39 that I bought 7 or 8 years ago when I thought I may use my SKS on a specific hunt. I never did, and the box is still sitting here untouched. Suprisingly enough, of the 20 rounds in the box, 19 are soft points and one is an fmj. I'd never seen a mix up like this before, with a big name.
sixgun
 
I've harvested white tails and mule deer using my SKS with 125gr wolfe brand ammo for years. FMJ ammo is a no no unless you have time to track your animal. Hollow point will destroy otherwise good meat. SP will work just fine. I've shot many deer from 100-200 yards. Just make sure you use non-corrosive primers.
 
Buy a box of each, buy a package of targets, shoot both of them up and then compare. That is your only criteria, what does your gun like best. Both are suitable but being a dinosaur myself with a bigger is better outlook and with the deer in my back yard I would tend to go with the 150's as suggested. However what you are looking at would work as well as long as the shot was put in the right spot. Don't overthink the problem.
 
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