7.62x39

[PawPaw]

Funny how a 357 out of a lever action is a much-touted deer cartridge, yet the same bullet weight travelling 400fps faster is so-so

It's bullet design, not the round. I use the .357 with a 180 grain WFN cast bullet. Hits like the hammers of hell.

That having been said, for the smallish deer we've got in these pine thickets, I wouldn't feel undergunned with a 7.62X39. A small, light bolt action rifle in that cartridge might be just the cat's meow. I could think of a lot worse rifles to have in my hand than the Ruger Compact or the Savage Scout in 7.62X39.

 

[Jack O'Conner]

This Soviet designed cartridge offers moderate recoil and good deer killing accurasy & power out to approx 150 yards or so. Beyond this distance, there are better hunting cartridges. Winchester SUPER X Power Point ammo is quite good for taking down deer sized game quickly.

Jack

 

[Jack O'Conner]

This Soviet designed cartridge offers moderate recoil and good deer killing accurasy & power out to approx 150 yards or so. Beyond this distance, there are better hunting cartridges. Winchester SUPER X Power Point ammo is quite good for taking down deer sized game quickly.

Jack

 

[bamaranger]

cats meow

My Ruger M77-mkII may well be the very meow PawP is talking about.
Stainless,...... can handle SOME neglect like bloody fingerprints, going damp into the case, etc. The boatpaddle stock is tough........and light. The trigger was tweaked a bit by a local 'smith and is perfect. A 20'' bbl adds to the ease of carry. Recoil is nill, less than a .410 shotgun. And the rascal will shoot into about 1.25-1.5 w/ what ever you feed it.

Maybe the ideal boys rifle, and Dad likes it too!

 

[Lloyd Smale]

ive shot a couple with vmaxs. I know its suppose to be a varmit bullet but its worked great on deer for me.

 

[TheBear]

Its a great cartridge for reloading too, you can realy improve accuracy compared to factory loads. I managed to hit the small jägermeister bottles at 150yards with some of my own loads using a cz527 carbine with a 8x40 scope.
but you have to be carefull with bullet diameter, rifles made in the us have .308 barrel diameter all the others have .311 barrel diameter.

 

[FairWarning]

It can work fine within the given constraints, but I don't see the point unless it's all you've got. Most of the guns that fire it are rather crude and the round itself isn't worth spending a lot of money for.

I'd rather use a 12 GA or 30-30 for those situations. Or a .357 Levergun.