7mmx39 for Deer?

International Harvester

International Harvester

CGN Regular
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Republic of Saskatchewan
Well let the yelling begin. I was thinking of using my SKS in the bush for white tails this year. It has been surprisingly accurate and dependable at the range. I mean more accurate than my model 94. Plus I don't mind beating it up between the truck and the bush. I'm just a little hesitant to shoot a deer with the little 123grain SOFT POINTS I bought for it. Thoughts?

Cheers

'binder
 
Can't whine about the SKS as a deer rifle, especially if you have a decent scope or dot sight on 'er.
If you put the pill where it counts, it's meat in the fridge. Wouldn't push the range past 150 yds. though
to make sure.:)
 
My mini 30 is my GO TO bush gun and has accounted for many deer and a calf moose. As stated by Shell Shuker, anything under 150yds. is meat in the freezer.
Good Hunting!
 
PRVI makes excellent shooting soft points. That said, the 125gr bullet has a limitation in both energy and distance. I've taken deer with 7.62x39 and as long as you keep within 100 yards with a good shot, you won't have to chase a wounded animal too far. Yes, it will kill a deer, but its at the low end of power as far as a hunting bullet goes. I much prefer a higher energy bullet where the animal falls over within a few feet.
 
fiddler said:
PRVI makes excellent shooting soft points. That said, the 125gr bullet has a limitation in both energy and distance. I've taken deer with 7.62x39 and as long as you keep within 100 yards with a good shot, you won't have to chase a wounded animal too far. Yes, it will kill a deer, but its at the low end of power as far as a hunting bullet goes. I much prefer a higher energy bullet where the animal falls over within a few feet.
Click to expand...

Ack, that 125 Gr is little better than a 30-30, not much so. I make my own 150Gr Sp on a winchester case with 27 Gr of 4895. The ballistics puts it within the low 308 power. One of the sponsors has factory made 150 Gr but the shipping was pricey for my area of NB.

Edit, my home made 150s do not fed very well in a TAPCO mag.
 
The 25-35 was once a very popular deer cartridge,I would think the SKS would be similar.Unless people are shooting at long ranges,I doubt if it makes much diferance.Over 90% of all my deer were shot well UNDER 100 yards,not over 150 yards..the suggested maximum SKS range
 
The 123 grain bullet from a 7.62x39 performed better than I expected. I took a doe with a quartering to me shot at 92 yards. The bullet passed through the spine in the neck ( she had her head down feeding) , back out of the neck then clipped the offside shoulder through that and carried on into the bush . I was impressed at the penetration . This was a Hornady soft point in a handload that was giving me 2475 fps over the chronograph .
 
I hunt Vancouver Island deer with a CZ 527 using Winchester 7.62x39 123 grain soft points. I can rarely see 100 m in the thick stuff so any shot is going to be close range. During the year I often shoot MFS FMJ at the range. Make sure you zero for your hunting ammo because the difference between the MFS and soft points at 100m is pretty significant.
 
I knew a guy in Napanee that killed many deer with his Ruger Mini-30, his main concern was finding hunting ammunition since he didn't reload.
 
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