AR15 gets bloodied, 278yds with a 7.62x39

[krochus]

I met with sucess today in filling my doe tag. I had just decided to head back from the blind for some breakfast at about 9 this morning. Mere steps from where I parked the van off to one side of the cow pasture some movement in the distance caught my eye. It was two does standing broadside down below the hillside I had parked on. Counting my blessings for having had the foresight to put the range finder in my pocket. I immediately dropped onto my posterior and took a range reading on the largest deer which lasered out at 278yds downhill a goodly little bit. Uncharacteristically steady I put the rangefinder down and produced my AR in a STD sitting shooting stance. I had the rifle ZEROED at 200 meters so I put a little English on the crosshairs right behind the shoulder and squeezed the bang switch....

Since I had left the 3x9x40 scope on 3x I was rewarded with a great view of the doe rear almost straight up on it's hind legs and stumble off into the tree line appx 50yds away.

NOW THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP not the cartridge.

Due to the great distance involved I took careful note of the location of where the doe entered the trees. Assuming she would have charged into the wooded area a goodly ways me and the wife decided to find the start of the boodtrail at the tree line and then wait 20 or 30 min. Well it turned out that the deer had lied down just inside the trees so when we arrived it bolted again into a recently clearcut area for a ways before expiring making retrieval a real chore.

But once tracked, retrieved and field dressed post mortum showed that my shot placment was almost perfect vertically although a tad farther forward than I would have liked. The 125grn Nosler B-Tip passed through the shoulder destroyed one lung and clipped the heart. I could not locate the bullet in the gooey mass but it was apparent it hadn't exited.

All in all not a shot I would normally take with a 7.62x39mm but in this one instance everything was perfect for me to attempt this shot. Calm wind, steady rest, known range and zero.

The rifle used was a Model 1 Sales 20" Ar15 flattop chambered for 7.62x39mm, the ammunition was a 2400fps handload shooting the 125grn Ballistic Tip. The deer weighed 98lbs field dressed.

[Shawnee]

Sorry Krochus... you'll have to put that deer back. The 7.62x39 doesn't have a good enough trajectory or enough recoil to kill deer at 278yds.

Splendid shooting ! Congrats !

[nathan]

Those ballistic tip does wonders. In fact even if is in Russian 7.62 x 39 case, it still increases the ballistic coefficient performance.

[koja48]

Very well done. When the inventories return after the election panic, I reckon I need to add a 6.5 Creedmore DPMS deer rifle to the collection.

[krochus]

Sorry Krochus... you'll have to put that deer back. The 7.62x39 doesn't have a good enough trajectory or enough recoil to kill deer at 278yds.

OH I'll throw her back.....back into my gullet

[Al Thompson]

Excellent!

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

That is just outstanding and mighty fine shot; hella nice story. But as the man said, you must be making that up - surely you misplaced your decimal and mean to say 27.8 yards!

Don't follow so soon, guys! When will we learn?!

[Mp7]

clap, clap.

We´ll be here waiting for your next result,
when you show us with an SKS

[gallo]

Impressive! Were you in the sniper team in the military?

[Geno]

Impressive! Congratulations, and good dining.

[janobles14]

great job! someone needs to make this thread a sticky for the next time a person asks about using a x39for deer!

[PotatoJudge]

I could not locate the bullet in the gooey mass but it was apparent it hadn't exited.

That's been my experience with the Ballistic Tip as well.

[tmajors]

That pic kills TWO arguments. First being that the 7.62X39 isn't good enough for deer. Second being the AR-15 doesn't have a sporting/hunting purpose.

Kudos!

[jaholder1971]

I use Nosler 180 BT's in .308 and have yet to have a bullet exit either. Deer are always DRT and postmortem's sounds about the same.

[krochus]

Impressive! Were you in the sniper team in the military?

NO and nor did I play one on TV.......I did however stay in a holiday inn express last night

[Mike2]

Yum Yum!!!! Back strap........just doesnt get any better than that.

[Tacbandit]

Good job,.......Thanks for sharing.
By the way, there is something to be said for staying at a Holiday Inn Express
.......

[steve4102]

Hey krochus, nice job. My Ruger Mini-30 7.62x39 with custom .308 diameter bore drew blood this year as well. I also used the 125gr Ballistic Tip. My load is 125gr BT/26.5gr AA 1680/Lapua Brass/ Fed 210M for about 2480 fps zeroed at 125 yards. I took this little eight pointer at 158 yards. He ran about 30 feet and piled up. I also did not have an exit wound and I could not find the bullet.

[frogomatic]

took my first two deer with an SKS and the x39, glad to see I'm not the only one doing it. I've said it before, the x39 is an excellent cartridge within its intended range, mate it with a good rifle and quality handload, and you've got a real winner, as the two photos plainly show.

[krochus]

Nice deer Steve, nice rifle as well!

Those 125grn ballistic tips are great bullets provided you understand their limitations. If you want to be able to break both shoulders and still leave an exit they probably aren't the bullet for you. But slip one into the ribcage into the heart/lung area and you're deer won't be going very far.

[Blakenzy]

And who said hunters don't use EBRs?

Mail that pic to the Bradys

[Ignition Override]

Krochus:
I've never hunted and that looks like excellent shooting. Your location in nw AR is envious (hills, large forests, Buffalo, White Rivers etc).

With your skills and scope etc, would a generic Norinco SKS or Mini 30 have had a good chance of producing the same shot with basic Wolf jhp?

The question is not so academic, as my goal is to one day go with somebody to hunt for feral pigs; the meaner and more dangerous, the more I want to try it.
Just a middle-aged late-bloomer very frequent plinker who caught gun fever rather late in life.

[krochus]

With your skills and scope etc, would a generic Norinco SKS or Mini 30 have had a good chance of producing the same shot with basic Wolf jhp?

With factory loadings I personally wouldn't take shots beyond 200yds. But the platform will just depend on your ability and skill at placing shots and that will be the limit of your range. You could do the above with a Mini30 ranch rifle with a scope. But an SKS is likely not going to be up to the task unless you solve the optics mounting issue all SKS'i suffer from

[gvnwst]

Sweet shot krochus.

[grimjaw]

Sorry I'm late to this one.

krochus, you are a lucky man to even have a 278 yard line of sight shot in Arkansas that wasn't in the middle of a rice or soybean field. ;P

jm