I Just Proved Myself Wrong about the 7.62x39 Caliber

J

Jamie Young

New member
I took my SKS to the range today after practically retiring the gun for the last few years. I've been telling TFL members for the last year that the 7.62x39 caliber is crap past 200yds and "I've Never Seen Anyone Hit Anything Past 200yds With It". Well Today I proved myself wrong.


I sighted in my SKS at 100yds and shot 4 MOA with it. I set up a target at 300yds and went back to the bench. I set the sights to 200meters and fired 20rds. I went down to check my target and "NOTHING" was on the target. I went back and set the sights on 300 meters and fired a few rounds but noticed dirt flying up above the target. I set the sights back down to the U and fired 20rds and walked down to my target. :eek: 20rds were about 3ft low!! WHAT THE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I set the sights on 100Meters and fired another 20rds. This time I had about a 21inch group at 300yds with a 7.62x39 gun. I think I proved the Meter marks on the SKS don't mean a thing but "YOU CAN HIT SOMETHING AT 300yds WITH AN SKS:o Its a lot of bullet compensation but its possible.

I guess the Moral of this Post is DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING SODA POP TELLS YA!
 
I guess the Moral of this Post is DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING SODA POP TELLS YA!
Click to expand...
I have known that for over a year now. ;) JUST KIDDING! The good thing is that you found out that you were wrong before you gave up and sold your rifle. Then you would have had to buy another to replace it.
 
soda
I can tell you that the SKS can hit and kill at over 200 yards because I seen it !!! saw a fellow Marine get hit and killed by a sniper in viet nam. we were in a paddie and this little bas***d started taking well aimed shots at us from a tree-line. He wounded 3 of my squad and killed one. I opened fire on him with the 60 and blew his a$$ out of a tree. when we got to his position which was about 380 yds from ours, we found him and a soviet made SKS. My buddy was hit in the chest 3 inches below his adams apple. If it wasn't war and us he was shooting at , I'd almost admire his skill as a rifleman. But some old wounds take forever to heal !!!!
 
Glad you revisited the ol' SKS. It can be suprising what type of shooting can be accomplished with one.

zane
 
Several things from the above posts: First off, a 21" group at 300 yards with use of a bench rest does not inspire confidence in the inherent accuracy of the gun/sights combination.

Next, getting hit at 380 yards means either the shooter was extremely lucky or the victims were unlucky--or both. IF SodaPop's group is at all representative, it's reminiscent of Billy Dixon's long-range shot at Adobe Walls: It's alleged he was trying for an Indian several yards from the one he actually hit.

Last, if you get enough aimed rounds fired, you may well hit somebody; and, most any hit will ruin somebody's day. Face it, there are enough accidental long-range hits from .22 rimfires, reported over the last fifty/sixty years, that we know even that pipsqueak can cause trouble.

And so we're back to what many folks here have said over and over: If you're going to hunt with one, stay with relatively close-range shots. A clean kill is important in the ethics of the hunt. If you're involved with self-defense, a hit is a hit is a hit; we're not particularly concerned with ethics. Two totally different situations.

FWIW, Art
 
My guess is there is a world of difference between the SKS that sodapop is shooting and a soviet model. I have heard some of the russian models could shoot quite well.
 
Lonnie Jaycox

Its not really the gun once you get past 200yds, its the caliber. I don't think a bolt action is going to do much better. I am pretty sure my SKS is about as good as they get. Its a Russian SKS made in 1952. I know if I had better ammo I might have been able to cut my group in half but with heavier slower bullets. You are BOMBING your target past 200yds with an AK or SKS!!!! I had a "known" distance to target and having to compensate so much over such a short distance isn't something I would want to think about in a combat or hunting situation.

I have grown quite a bit in the last year as far as my shooting ability (Honest to God from TFL alone). Having a bullet drop over 3ft and spreading out to 21in doesn't impress me. Once Again I shot my Mini 14 and put 40rds in a 12in piece of paper at the same distance. Bullet drop was 1/3 of what the SKS did. The .223 round makes hitting targets MUCH easier.

But back to my original post. But Its possible to hit "Something"!!!
 
It's been a few years ago, when a guy we only know from
shooting his obligatory 24 bullets a year showed up in our firing
rangewith a Valmet M76 and some 7.62x39mm ammo.

Anyway, he challenged a few very good shooters that he could reach the
same score with a SIG rifle and his Valmet and the prize was 100 Swiss
Francs. Three guys which I still consider very good shooters accepted
the offer.

That guy walked off with 300 Francs that evening and the said three
shooters were cussing the remainder of the evening.

Actually, it's rare to see an AK-type gun score as well as a SIG rifle
at 300m, but the guy did it. I've never seen him again in the range,
except when he has to shoot his 24 rounds every year.
 
Some years ago a friend and I took my Skuz, painted a 3-ft. concrete garden gnome blaze orange, and set it out about 400-420 meters distance.

With one shooting and the other spotting, hits came quickly and repeatedly.

The Orange Gnome never had a chance. :)
 
Unless some particular manufacturer has poor quality control, I see no reason for the AK round to be inherently inaccurate.

I mostly shoot bolt-actions with scopes (or occasionally iron sights). To me, the iron sights on the AK clones or an AR seem awkwardly positioned and coarse. I imagine that I would initially have difficulty in achieving accuracy...

Art
 
I shoot my Tikka .308 at 300 yards too, but if the best I got was a 21" group, I'd bend the barrel around the closest tree! :D
 
In an incident near here, a wife fired an SKS at her husband. The bullet went through two interior walls and the outer wall of their home, and completely through another house a 100 yards away, including two outer walls and an interior wall. Fortunately, no one was injured, not even the husband, whom she missed by a foot.

Of course the experts say that 7.62x39 is a weak, useless round. No better than a BB CAP.

Jim
 
Soda Pop, I'd say...

that you learning something and admitting you were wrong in the first place is a good measure of a real man.

21" at 300 yards would take some serious wind doping and trigger control to exact much good work. But there really aren't that many 300 yard shots in real life, either.
 
Jim Keenan-
Most modern homes can be broken into with an Exacto Knife. Drywall and aluminum siding have replaced concrete and brick so penetrating a typical American home isn't a hard thing:eek:
 
Nope but I'm skinny so I could dodge the bullets easier than I can dodge a .223 bullet. A 21in Group gives me lots of room to wiggle around between bullets;)
 
I have an AK and I love it. I went shooting with some friends a month ago. We live by a desert so we have lots of room to play with and no one watching. I have yet to fire the AK past 50 yards (I just bought it last month) so I don't know how accurate it will be. BUT, I do know about it's penetrative powers. 7.62x39 is an exceptional round if you're firing at somebody under cover. Everybody knows that espesially the countries that use the AK as a main battle rifle. Take Vietnam...so many US soldiers will tell you that they had a hell of a time hitting anyone at a distance because the foliage between them and the target. A mere vine or stick will cause a .223 to take off in any number of directions. Now the baddies were having a ball because they were firing at guys behind trees and still taking them down. I wasn't there so don't quote me, but this is the story I was told.
What I have seen with my own eyes is a 7.62x39 round go through a small business printer then through a full computer case and still keep going. Shot the same target with 30-06 and a 1911 .45 and the bullets rarely got past the just the computer case let alone the printer as well. I wish I had an AR with us to compare as I know that what we had wasn't much competition. That chance, I hope, will come some time soon. But, piont is: 7.62x39 is a good armor penetrating round. This thread is the first time I've ever heard anyone say other wise.
Another thing I noticed (off the subject)...The 7.62x39 bullet hit the printer (which has layers of plastic, sheet metal and gears & mechanical stuff totalling just under 12") with an entry "wound" the same size as the bullet. The exit "wound" was about 1" wide. It then struck the computer case (1" entry wound) and exited that with a hole about 2". That means that the bullet maintained a good velocity and stayed together after spreading out to....I don't know, but it had to be big. My question is this: If you were going against an army shooting at you with 7.62x39 would wearing body armor be a bad thing? Would it be better to be naked and have the bullet pass through you? I would imagine, based on this info, that a flack jacket or bullet proof vest might only be detrimental as the bullet would spread, penetrate the armor and make a hole twice the size adding to the tramma inflicted. Anyone here know anything about this or just want to speculate? Anyone here with conflicting data. I doubt anyone's fired a 7.62x39 a said anything but "whoa! Now that's a powerful round, man"!
 
.30-06 not going through a computer case???? huh?

I've seen .30-06 ball go through an 18 inch thich reenforced concrete wall. It is a lot more powerful round than the 7.62x39.

Other than this though, I agree with your idea. The AK round penetrates cover better than .223. I still think that neither round is ideal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top