7.62x39 Hunting Ammo

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It's a mystery to me why no one offers 150 grain hunting loads aside from Tula. For a catridge like that that's never going to go very fast, you think people would try and cheat their bullets on the heavy side.

ApacheCoTodd said:
I'd use the Federal now. In the day, Norma sold x39 for hunting with their 180 gr soft point. I wonder if that's still available.
Lots of folk used it and and SKS with a magazine block/low cap on Forts Bragg and Campbell. GREAT *brush gun* combo.
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That's a big bullet for such a small case. I'm surprised that x39 can even be loaded that heavy.
 
NR53 said:
The Hornady SST and the Federal Fusion would be my top choices for factory ammo. For reloading I use the 123 gn Hornady SST and the 123 gn Speer Gold Dot.

ETA...Always wanted to try the Tula or Wolf 124 gn HP 8M3 on critters.
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8m3 would be great for smaller non-food animals. Probably not a good idea to use a high-frag/low-penetration round on anything big'n'mean or tasty.
 
Mosin Bubba said:
It's a mystery to me why no one offers 150 grain hunting loads aside from Tula. For a catridge like that that's never going to go very fast, you think people would try and cheat their bullets on the heavy side.



That's a big bullet for such a small case. I'm surprised that x39 can even be loaded that heavy.
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I'll see if my memory is correct and I can find picks. It was back in the day when Norma was about the only ammo for 7.62x54 as well.

Yup. Doing a little research, the old 180 was what we were using in the Mosin (I recall the Tokarev disliked it) and 125 grain soft point was the x39 ammo.

Todd.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
125 grain soft point was the x39 ammo.
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Thought so. The exceptional feature in Norma x39SP in its day was that it exceeded 1700J (1253ft-lbs) at 100m, making it one of the few legal factory loads for whitetail around here. Another was the discontinued Lapua 123gr SP. Current Hornady SST and Federal Fusion (both around 1140ft-lbs) fall short, so do Tula and Wolf. I've chrony'd Sako Gamehead and it's borderline legal on warm weather even though markings on the box suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, its terminal ballistic performance is great. S&B SP is hot enough to be on the safe side but the bullet doesn't quite qualify as premium.

With these legal limitations I prefer my handloads. They're pretty hot and I can use .311 Sierra 125gr and 150gr Pro Hunter bullets, both of which work great on whitetail.
 
hq said:
Thought so. The exceptional feature in Norma x39SP in its day was that it exceeded 1700J (1253ft-lbs) at 100m, making it one of the few legal factory loads for whitetail around here. Another was the discontinued Lapua 123gr SP. Current Hornady SST and Federal Fusion (both around 1140ft-lbs) fall short, so do Tula and Wolf. I've chrony'd Sako Gamehead and it's borderline legal on warm weather even though markings on the box suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, its terminal ballistic performance is great. S&B SP is hot enough to be on the safe side but the bullet doesn't quite qualify as premium.

With these legal limitations I prefer my handloads. They're pretty hot and I can use .311 Sierra 125gr and 150gr Pro Hunter bullets, both of which work great on whitetail.
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I recall, back in the day, that you had to show both your SKS AND the rounds used to the Ranger on Forts Campbell & Bragg. That Norma was DAMN expensive back then but an awfully fine hunting round.

Todd.
 
Mosin Bubba said:
It's a mystery to me why no one offers 150 grain hunting loads aside from Tula. For a catridge like that that's never going to go very fast, you think people would try and cheat their bullets on the heavy side.



That's a big bullet for such a small case. I'm surprised that x39 can even be loaded that heavy.
Click to expand...
Not really.

I shot 160 grain Hornady FTX bullets (intended for the 30-30) out of my 7.62x39 for years. Stupid accurate and very deadly on whitetails. If you handload with CFE BLK, you can push a 160 grain FTX to nearly LeverEvolution velocities out of the little case.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
That Norma was DAMN expensive back then but an awfully fine hunting round.
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True. Somehow I preferred Lapua at the time. The accuracy difference was negligible but Lapua brass was (and still is) head and shoulders above anything else for reloading the x39 so I wanted to use every possible opportunity for accumulating more. Even though every gun range at every garrison and military installment around here is littered with once fired Lapua brass, getting to scavenge them is sometimes a bit tricky. Rehearsals are great for that, nobody seems to care if you have a few pounds of brass in your gear bag when you leave. :)
 
My pet load is 26.5 gr A1680 with 125 Sierra Pro Hunter .311 Spire Point bullets. Very accurate in my Colt AR carbine and Ruger American bolt gun but I've never hunted with it.

M
 
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If your gonna be buying factory ammo for the 7.62x39 the best ammo you can buy to hunt with is the Federal Fusion. My 7.62x39 AR-15 has now accounted for 4 deer using the Fusion ammo, shots are kept 100 yards or less and I can't beat the accuracy I'm getting with the factory load. My wife used it a few weeks ago on a doe at 35 yards and the bullet broke a shoulder, made a mess of the lungs and bulged skin on off side. Deer fell in its tracks and didn't get up. Recovered bullet weight was 111grain from the original 123. 20191123_163016.jpg
 
Just got back from the range, and I gotta tell ya, my Howa mini 7.62x39 continues to impress. 50 ct. box of Hornady steel case / 123 SST is damn near a one-hole option out of that rifle. I put three into one ragged hole today right before I left the range. Not too shabby for a lightweight 20" barrel and 2-7x scope.

Day in and day out, that Howa mini 7.62x39 is the most consistently accurate rifle I've ever owned. Stupid first shot accuracy. Like usually within 1/4" of where I'm aiming. Followed by a few more in the same fat hole. It's the kind of accuracy that really inspires confidence in a hunting rifle.

Get this - a game I play with people at the range is to see who can "draw" the best 5-shot face at 100 yards with that little rifle. Two holes for eyes, one for the nose and two for the mouth.

When you can draw faces at 100 yards with a rifle you can hand to anyone to shoot, that's a damn handy rifle.

My Savage 7.62x39 used to do the same thing, but I enjoy the Howa a little more now that I have the stock shaped exactly how I want. This is the rifle I take head shots with. I won't do that with any other rifle I own, including my Tikka, which is damn accurate.

So, if you don't have a good bolt-action 7.62x39 yet, you really don't know what you're missing. ;)
 
FL-NC said:
I have used Russian soft point as well as Winchester soft point on white tails. Sometimes out of a SKS, sometimes a mini 30. Never got an exit wound with either round- unimpressed.
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The Tula 154 sp out an AK devastated the deer I've shot. Lung shots at 30 yards and there was a half dollar to silver dollar sized exits with lungs coming out the hole and busted ribs. Lungs were like Jell-O pieces inside when I field dressed it. Deer made it about 15 yards before expiring so they were easy to recover. Coming from .243 land I was much more satisfied with x39 as a deer cartridge and it's cheaper to.
 
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