I know there are some hunters here... I am one for one when taking a shot at a white tailed deer, and that was with a .270 that belonged to an uncle. I had never shot that rifle before that morning, and I dropped the buck cold with one shot. That was 2 seasons ago. 100% accuracy lifetime, I'd like to keep it that way. But I like a challenge. I got that shot because I had laid down on my stomach overlooking a bluff till an hour after daylight, when I got bored and stood up. Of course, thats when I spied a doe, so I tried to stalk her, I lost her, but came across a young buck who was more interested in eating than in paying attention to his surroundings. I took a wrong step, a twig snapped, he alerted, and I took the shot. I haven't been deer hunting since, but I'm going next weekend. I know the lay of the land that I'm hunting very well, and after the exhileration of the last hunt's stalking experience, I have no interest it taking a shot from high and safe in a tall stand, even though there are 4 beautiful deer stands on the property. I want a bigger challenge. The only rifle I own is a Chinese mfg'd SKS 7.62x39. It is the most accurate rifle I have ever fired with open sights. I can consistently put a hole in a quarter at 50 yards from a bench rest using the iron sights. I am confident in my ability to take a lung shot shot from a standing position from approximately 75 yards. So this hunting trip, I am considering using my 7.62x39 with the open sights. My question is, at 75 yards, will the energy of the bullet be diminished to the point that it wouldn't be a clean kill?
IMO, the chances are very high that, unless you were 100% accurate and lucky with shot placement (unlikely), you would not get a clean kill with the first shot. Go with the 270, a 30-06, a 308, or a 7mm (preferably magnum) to guarantee a humane shot and not a running, injured animal.
That's what I suspected, but am so fond of that gun, that I was harboring a romantic optimism for the story I could tell if I took a buck at close range with open sights and an underdog cartridge. But I don't feel like tracking a wounded animal either. I have access to any of those calibers, except the 7mm magnum. Which would be the ideal for a stalking strategy and a maximum of a hundred yard shot? My gut tells me .30-06, because it's the most powerful, whadda ya think?
Did you ever think of getting a tokarev svt? I have one, very fun. It uses the old standard Russian 7.62x54mm "Russian". I havn't shot mine in a while, just been too busy. Then there also the Romanian pseudo Dragonovs they have..basicly a complete kit out of the box with everything you can need. I was thinking of picking one up as a fun target shooter, but again, life keeps me away from the range. You can also get a Nagant rifle... I always felt the 7.62 was best in its pistol and long rifle forms, and less so in its intermediate form.
While maybe not quite the sledgehammer a .270 or .30-06 is, It will do anything a .30-30 has been doing for a hundred plus years, just make sure you use soft-point ammo though, and not FMJ! Accuracy will be your limiting factor. Wait, what am I talking about? Despite the fact that a skilled hunter can take a deer with a .22LR, you really need at least my Armalite AR-30 in .338 Lapua Magnum to even START!
Be careful of using anything other than the typical FMJ military stuff in your SKS. Hunting bullets may not feed all that well. I've had a number of semi autos that can only digest FMJ ammo. The softpoints and handloads of esoteric length just will not feed reliably. Hunting bullets of a different weight, ogive and length may also not be too compatible with the rifling. I've plenty of headaches with the .223 in that respect and the 308 russian may present similar problems. I assume that you're hunting in the Eastern part of TX? Are your typical ranges 100 yards or less? In Upper Peninsula Michigan a .30-30 or a .308 Russsian would do just fine. There's lots of Brush and woodland that gets in the way of longer shots. Any handloaders here?
I haven't hand-loaded for my SKS, since I don't see it as being a hunting rifle, and the fact that ammunition for it is dirt cheap. Most of my hand loading experience is for pistol ammo, the 357 mag and the 357 sig, primarily. The 357 mag is caveman simple to reload for, but the initial set up on the shouldered sig round gave me heart problems for a few days. All my rifle hand-loads are done by my father. He's got 40+ years of experience doing this stuff. so I outsource the work to the master. I have, however shot a LOT of rounds through my SKS, mostly FMJ, but ALL factory stuff, including hollowpoints (then again, not soft nose or anything), and it's been utterly error free. I ordered it a long time ago from some outfit in SN for $169, and fully expected to get some underbuilt pile of crap, but got a NICE (as nice a NORINCO can get) chrome-lined barrel, factory detachable clipped beauty. Again, it's a Norinco, but is by far the best SKS I have ever seen or shot...and I still don't consider it a decent hunting rifle.
my AK fires this round. Im willing to bet a well laid shot in any beast under the size of a rhinosceros will be more than enough to take them down. Deer and humans are well within that range.
Pick something with the muscle mass of say, a bear. I have put a 375 H&H into a pissed brown and got a surprised but dirty look in return. I have hit a brown so hard with this rifle that that it snowed for a ****ing week from his dander. And I still had to track his hurt ass over a few hundred miles of tundra. But anyway, if you want to hunt dino class **** with your 7.62X39, go for it. Just gimme film rights while you are trying to hose down a Rhino or whatever with it.
West Texas, an hour south of where the Red River meets the 'panhandle'. The terrain of the ranch where I hunt is so diverse that the ideal way would be to have a couple guns with you, say a .30-30 and a .270. While I was scouting some bedding areas last weekend, I had my eyes planted to the ground, as I followed some fresh looking tracks into thick brush a half-hour before dusk, and dammit if a buck didn't snort at me from 15 yards away and dart off in a flash of his white tail before I realized what had happened. If I had been carrying an open sighted .30-30, instead of a scoped .280, I might have had a shot. There are plenty of places on the ranch that would warrant a long shot, but that typically means sitting and waiting in a blind or a tree stand, and I just get flat bored an hour or two after daybreak.
Probably one of the best all around rounds is a plain ol' 308. Has excellent stopping power (1shot) out some distance and not bad to shoot. A 270 or 280 is not bad also. (270-280 better for distance, fields....etc). Stay away from those arm killers everyone sells like the 7mm Mags, 30-06..etc unless your just shooting super long distance.......its more "bragging rights" to say you have something that size or, if your going for much larger game where you just need that kind of energy in the bullet to take down the animal. You want the one-shot kill at all times, so you need the placement and energy stored to do it. The 30-30 is really meant for a short range brush gun, and nice in-fact for that 50-100yd kill. Heck, I've got a 6mm that can consistantly put a 5shot group under under 1/2" @ 100yds with loads I've worked over the years, but, you best place that shot real good just because the mass of the bullet is not there. (Also have a XP100 pistol I altered to shoot a Win284 that I use to hunt with) So if your doing open fields.................go for the 270/280. Possible fields and closer areas, get the 308. Bob
I have shot several semi-auto's and bolt action rifles. With the M16A2, I was hitting 9" bullseyes at 500 yards. Open sights. With my scoped Ruger 7mm with floated barrel and glassed stock, I can reach out to about 800 yards depending on load, weather, etc. Not that I go shooting that far all the time, but it is very relaxing. But after about 1 box of 20 rounds, I have to give it up or I will hurt my shoulder. If you are looking for shorter distances in the brush, a larger bullet like your 7.62 will do the job, but I just do not trust the accuracy of the SKS or AK. I think a 308 would be your best bet.
The humans part was in reference to the fact that the 7.62 round is the most widely used combat round on the planet. Not that we should be going out and hunting humans with it. Sheesh.
All of a sudden, the rhino is a metric. But what kind of metric, or shall I ask, what kind of rhino adheres to this new metric? What if I shot a North African Pygmy Rhino with such a round? What if I shot a Western African Rhino with it? Give or take several tons worth of ass and fat that draws a line between these two, how do we know what measurement to use? Rhino being rhino, as you said.
I never said it would take out a rhino. I said pretty much anything under the size of a rhino. The use of the rhino in the comparison was strictly analogous. Quit nit picking.
I apologize if I misinterpreted the meaning of your post. We were having a discussion about firearms, and yes, the 7.62x39 cartridge was developed for combat purposes. What bothered me is that you lumped humans in with the hunting discussion. It's things like that which cast responsible gun owners and hunters in a bad light. Your comment was exactly the type of thing the lefties like to grab onto to make their arguments for gun control.
