Semi automatics for hunting

GP,I must admit,you are right. :-)

Some might look it up.A few might even do some reading.

Curiosity is where you find it.

There are many old dusty books forgotten.Who but us ?
 
Semi-autos legal for hunting.... most states.

Do they allow semi-autos for ANY hunting? Like waterfowl with semi-auto shotgun?


I do use an SKS for hog hunting knowing that any shots will be close, and there is the potential for multiple targets at once. Not legal for Ohio deer, but I can see where it might be handy in eastern and southern heavy vegetation states.

I can't imagine any plusses for semi-autos where scopes, and distances are a factor, such as most western hunting, other than less felt recoil, but I think I'd much prefer lugging around my Model 70 over my M1 or M1A.
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This is in reference to PA. PA does allow semi-auto shotguns for small game, but you can not use the same shotgun deer hunting. PA does not allow semi-auto 22 rifles and handguns for hunting either. There is a movement to change that age old regulation.

I would choose a semi-auto (what ever flavor you like) for varmint hunting such as feral hogs. I think it's the perfect rifle for them. You are seeking humane kills and as many kills as possible.

Generally go with bolt action rifle deer hunting. It is mostly a one shot deal or perhaps two shots.
 
You can use a semi auto shotgun to hunt deer, it just has to be plugged to 3 shells. There have been so many changes in the last ten years, it really pays to read the hunting regulations before you go.
 
Ive always used my 308 bolt gun for hunting, but recently bought an Armalite AR10 that I plan to use this year. More and more hogs have been showing up at the place I deer hunt, so I think the AR10 will be better for me to have incase the hogs show up.
 
This is well said;
"I used a bolt action .270 Win a few years ago and it was a one shot and kill affair. Last year I hunted with semi auto's exclusively, it wasn't because I felt the need for "packing 10 rounds and blasting away" it was also a one shot and kill affair."

I sometimes hunt with a flintlock. It is one of my passions. Also I have killed a LOT of game with my Ruger #1 in 9.3X74R.
But in the last 12 years I have totaled up 33 kills with my AR15 in 6.8SPC and all but one kill was a one shot kill. The very first one was a 2 shot kill, and both bullet hit the antelope, but the 1st one was too far back.
The point is simple.
I can shoot my AR as slow as I can shoot my flintlock, and I should.
Shooting skill is what it's really all about, not the tool you use.
 
Shooting skill is what it's really all about, not the tool you use.
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Many folks seem to forget this or just get into the mindset that what they are using is the right way to do things and if you don't do it their way, then you aren't doing it right.

One thing I have noticed is that with the magazine fed bolt and lever gun users, they all load their magazines to legal capacity. They don't use them as single shots. If speed or convenience isn't valid for semis, then why would it be valid for bolt or lever guns? We could all hunt with single shot rifles, but most of us don't. A single shot cartridge gun is faster than a muzzle loader. A bolt or lever gun is faster than a single shot. A semi is faster than a bolt or lever gun. There is no real black and white difference, just differences by degrees.
 
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Three pages and yet, so far, no one has mentioned the one real advantage for hunting that used to be in all the books and articles. The SOUND.

Perhaps it's a sign of the modern era, and the general focus on firepower & military style arms over everything else, I don't know, but it seems to be.

Yes, a semi is usually faster to shoot follow up shots. Carefully aimed shots slows it down a bit, but its generally still faster than a manual repeater, in equivalent calibers.

One reason, perhaps the main one is that the semi is a heavier rifle, and one recovers from recoil faster because of that. There's no free lunch, however.

There are two basic types of semis used for sport hunting, those guns patterned after military arms (or arms that were meant to resemble military arms) and those designed from the beginning as sporting rifles.

The military style guns run heaviest, and there is little that can be done to lighten them, unlike the earlier generations "military guns" (bolt actions), which created an entire industry sporterizing them. If you WANT to lug around a 8-10lb semi when you could be carrying a 6-8lbs manual repeater, by all means, go ahead.

The sound of the semi is what old time gun writers thought of as the primary advantage. Specifically the sound of the action, being "swallowed up" in the sound of the shot.

The "boom" of the shot seldom spooks game (what's that?? Thunder??? :confused:). The metallic sound of the action being worked (a kind of sound not found in nature) often does spook game. (what's that?? I don't know, but lets get OUT of here! :eek:)

So, the sound of the action blending into the sound of the shot was thought to be somewhat of an advantage, something the game wouldn't automatically recognize as an unnatural sound, and one more important for hunting than the magazine capacity or the difference of a second or so faster aimed followup shot.

A 9lb semi is a joy to shoot, and a beast to carry. Since I carry a LOT more than I get to shoot, lighter and slower rifles appeal to me more for hunting game.
 
semi autos for hunting

I have a Remington 7400 in .30-06 about 45 years old.
Hunted deer with it a few times.
Had a follow up shot one time. Being semi auto cam in handy. Follow up shot real quick put him down.
As far as accuracy, it shoots, whatever the fac load was, five shots into a bout half dollar hole at 100 yards, with a Weaver 3x9 Variable steel tube scope.
It won't shoot dimes off a saw horse like the bolt action .270 Wby Mrk V though.
I have a Garand and thinking of trying it for deer if they get me back on my feet.
 
My AR Shorti is probably the lightest rifle I hunt with. The scope adds more weight than anything. The heavier autoloading stuff I own is .308, 8MM, and 7.5. I don't know about out on the plains, but on steep sided mountains, a gunshot pretty much sounds like a gunshot. There are so many calibers out there few sound the same anyway. The only difference is they don't know where it comes from. I have had a bunch of deer run towards me after shooting one. Many times I have heard a shot I thought was across from me on another hill and it came from above and behind me. Sounds like an old wives tale to me.
 
SA shotguns in PA

Just an addition to post #64 about the legality of semiauto shotguns for deer in PA: under "Permitted acts" - it is lawful:
" (1) Except in Philadelphia County, Ridley Creek State Park, Delaware County and Tyler State Park, Bucks County, hunt and kill deer and bear through the use of a muzzleloading long gun or a shotgun, at least .410 gauge (rifled barrels permitted), including semiautomatics which, upon discharge, propel a single projectile."

Pete
 
I'm a traditionalist, so I don't hunt with any semi-autos whatsoever except for birds and skeet. :D And even then, only because I haven't made up my mind which over/under I want to buy.

In fact, I find the optics of hunting with an AR rather gaudy and distasteful, but that's just me. Give me a wood stocked bolt gun any day. Decades old is a bonus. :cool:
 
Most will not even recognize the name Walter Mitty.
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Maybe not from the original short story, but there was a pretty well promoted movie just a few years ago.

Maybe not so much with deer, but with hogs, perfectly good, fatal boiler room shots are not always immediately fatal, and the hogs run and can run far. "Far" is relative to the junk you have to track them through, LOL. Sometimes the best way to keep from having to track them through the swamps, briar, and poison ivy is to put another round or two into them.
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I have been told by many with more experience than myself and my limited experience supports, fatally wounded animals will run much farther if you continue to shoot at them. Without further molestation they will settle somewhere to expire rather quickly. Let them sit unmolested for 20 minutes if you have doubts and can't see movement.
 
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I have been told by many with more experience than myself and my limited experience supports, fatally wounded animals will run much farther if you continue to shoot at them. Without further molestation they will settle somewhere to expire rather quickly. Let them sit unmolested for 20 minutes if you have doubts and can't see movement.
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Or if unmolested, the animal that you thought was fatally wounded (how fatally?) may be 20 minutes farther away. How do you know if it is fatally wounded or how fatally wounded until after you find it? Lots of folks think they have made great shots only to discover otherwise.

No, I would rather try for a physiological stop on hogs than to rely on a psychological stop based a self assessment of my shooting skill and terminal ballistics made at the time of the shot.
 
I am one of those folks. The only deer I hit with a rifle and lost looked like a hard hit. I actually had the time to shoot again and did not. It REALLY threw blood and crossed a creek. I can only think to this day that it doubled back when i was looking for a log to cross, fell into the creek, and was pulled under a log jam. I looked for hour and hours and just could not figure out what happened. After that, if it does not go down and I get a chance at a second shot, I take it.
 
Until recently, I have never had any need to hunt anything other than birds with a semi auto. When the hogs invaded my territory, that all changed. Mowing down 7 or 8 at a time is much easier with an AR than with a bolt action.
 
Or if unmolested, the animal that you thought was fatally wounded (how fatally?) may be 20 minutes farther away.
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There are a lot of different styles of hunting through the nation and this board really covers the entire world, so what I say may not be relevant for all. I'm also talking white tail.

I limit my range to something reasonable for the firearm in use. 200 yards being the longest max range for me. The longest shot I have actually taken was about 125 yards and that was almost ten years ago.
I've shot the firearm enough to be comfortable with it before heading into the woods. Dozens this season and likely hundreds overall.
I've put myself in a position that is physically comfortable in my stand or blind. Improvised rest if possible.
If any of this doesn't come together on the day of, I am going to limit my range further. For instance if using a back-up gun.
Puts me in position to take a shot at a 3MOA worst case and usually more like 12-16 MOA target. In a comfortable position, with a familiar gun, I am going to have a pretty good idea if it was a good shot or not when I pull the trigger. I'm using a cartridge in which I am confident of the terminal ballistics at a given range. Not saying 100% of my shots are perfect, but if I pulled it I should have a good idea before I can regain sight picture.

It could deflect off a limb I didn't see(I clear shooting lanes and stick to them). It could be a incorrectly loaded round. It could take a weird path once it hits the animal. My sights could be off(did happen about 5 years ago with a scope that must have been bumped somewhere in transport) Etc., Etc. but I believe that is all less likely than me thinking I had a good shot and it turns out I pulled it. I keep learning lessons though. For instance, I now have a much better case to transport my rifle to and from the field when using a scope and tossed the cheap rings that came with the rifle. If my scope is off it will be off for the follow-up also.

My lost deer crossed a river onto private property. Sucked. I looked into dark and came back the next day. I did find out the land owner found and shot it an hour or so after I took my shot.

I'm not saying semi-autos shouldn't be allowed. I'll never slug hunt with anything else again(hopefully never slug hunt again). The reduced recoil is reason enough for me.
 
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I make no personal judgements about what type of firearm or cartridge a person chooses to hunt with. Whatever firearm/cartridge combination he chooses is his business and none of mine. While I mainly hunt with semi-autos (M1A, 742, AR15), I have also used bolt and lever actions, and all worked equally well as far as killing the animal I shot. The farthest killing shot I took with a bolt was just over 300 yards, the farthest with a semi-auto was 250 yards, and the farthest with a lever action was 220 yards.
 
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