Hunting with the 7.62x39

[troy fairweather]

My new CZ 527 carbine will be here next week sometime, so i am looking for a hunting round. When i was a kid my dad used Chinese copper washed hp's and they did very good on deer, they took out most of the deer shoulder and killed then on the spot. But its hard to find the Chinese stuff and i am looking for others.

The cz is made to shoot the steel case stuff its nice to have ammo for 30 cents a round. I will be reloading and the sierra pro hunter is at the top of my list, i use them in my 7mms with good luck. the pro hunter is only a few bucks more for 100 then most others.
For steel case i am looking at the tula 154 sp so long the p.o.a is close to the sights. the normal bullet weights are fine to, I just may have to find one with a non steel jacket. they dont seem to open in the gel but maybe the bones will no need for fmj's.

For the brass case stuff i like the ppu 125 sp, its like a round nose and look good for deer and should make a nice hole. The s&b sp seems good to they both are about $10-15 a box.Just like to know what u guys that hunt with the 7.62x39 use for deer or hogs. Range is 150 yards max. The ones that have the cz's i would like to know the point of aim with the different ammo and weights, i am thinking some starline brass, but the ppu loaded ammo is only a little more. thanks troy

 

[dh1633pm]

I too have a CZ527. Can't bring myself to put any steel ammo in the things. I use Federal Power Shock 123's. For handloads I use Speer 150 Grain Hot Cor. Had the rifle a good 10 years. Love shooting it. I purchased 250 Winchester empties a long time ago. Still have a good supply.

 

[MCgunner]

https://www.sgammo.com/product/tula...-soft-point-154-grain-non-corrosive-tula-ammo

This stuff is death to hogs. Only deer I've shot with my SKS I used handloads, but this stuff works so well and is so cheap, why bother with handloads. AND, it more accurate, bearing in mind, the SKS ain't exactly a bench rest rifle. But 2.5" at 100 yards beats 3-3.5" of anything else I've fired in the gun.

Longest shot I've had on a hog with these loads is 50 yards, killed him quite dead, over 200 lbs of pork. I'm sold on it. Don't have to be Tulammo, I've got a bunch of Wolf brand. But, it's all the same, Russian stuff. I've chronographed this stuff out of my 20" barrel at just shy of 2200 fps. That's decent for 154 grains. Compare that to .30-30, pretty close.

 

[troy fairweather]

https://www.sgammo.com/product/tula...-soft-point-154-grain-non-corrosive-tula-ammo

This stuff is death to hogs. Only deer I've shot with my SKS I used handloads, but this stuff works so well and is so cheap, why bother with handloads. AND, it more accurate, bearing in mind, the SKS ain't exactly a bench rest rifle. But 2.5" at 100 yards beats 3-3.5" of anything else I've fired in the gun.

Longest shot I've had on a hog with these loads is 50 yards, killed him quite dead, over 200 lbs of pork. I'm sold on it. Don't have to be Tulammo, I've got a bunch of Wolf brand. But, it's all the same, Russian stuff. I've chronographed this stuff out of my 20" barrel at just shy of 2200 fps. That's decent for 154 grains. Compare that to .30-30, pretty close.

ya i like that 154 and u are right about its so cheap u don't have to reload i have to see if i can get it around here in ny, i have not looked yet. 2200 is rel good for a 30 cent round i hope to get 2100 from my cz with them. do the seem to open up quick or slow thanks..

 

[caribou]

I shot my daughters CZ this summer, what a SWEET little thang! Id use it for a winters riding carbine, but Im afraid Il mess it up.

That set trigger is very nice!

 

[troy fairweather]

I shot my daughters CZ this summer, what a SWEET little thang! Id use it for a winters riding carbine, but Im afraid Il mess it up.

That set trigger is very nice!

nice to see u like it i have wanted for years. they do make one with a plastic stock to. what ammo do u use in hers.

 

[caribou]

Hers has a wooden stock and its been shortened to her length of pull, buy cutting 1-1/2 inches off and remounting the butt pad. PERFECT, in the Arctic with heavy clothing in Winter (of course) and in Summer, where we use boats most of the time and its rather cool.

The ammo she was burning up on 9 inch Steel gongs we set up at 50 yard intervals , across our small river.
She use's Wolf, and she scored good when she bought a case 1,000 rd for 200$, a price I wouldnt pass up, and her hunting loads are Wolf Softpoints, Im sure they too, were 125 grain, steel case poly coated and out to 300 yards "Ping" was most often possible. 200 yards and the 'Ping' was probable while at 100-150 it was boringly regular.
Her irons are set at 150 yards, but I wouldnt take on anything further than 150-200 yards due to the ballistic curve, and the single setting on the irons.
Her rifle came with a scope mount and rings so I put a 3X Leupold there for her, but after one session, she was back on irons.

Then her sisters took out their SKS's and the racket didnt abate untill dark....LOL!

We primed and painted the metals black, as we hunt often in the ocean and salt water spray, and Winters condensation on metals can be a rust maker unseen. Simple preventive, though not easy on the eye,its better than rust.
The one and only 'problem ' we seem to have had was the action tang set into the wood very tightly, and a crack started there. I glue/pinned it and relived the wood behind the actions rear tang edge and its been no prblemo , and all is well.

 

[courtgreene]

No experience with the gun, some with the round, but I’ll offer some advice on the reloading/ammunition questions. You mentioned brass and listed two brands, s&b and ppu. If you’re not married to one specifically, I’d go towards ppu. Their rounds shoot well enough, but the benefit with them is the brass. Ppu’s brass is great to work with reloading. On the other hand, two things I won’t buy based on the difficulty of reloading alone are federal and s&b. Something about the webbing makes them very difficult. I don’t know what it is exactly, and I’ve noticed in different chambering. They shot well enough and the s&b was particularly impressive, but reloading them was a chore. I still have unfired 8x57js because I don’t want that brass getting mixed in with others that work well.

 

[courtgreene]

Now that I looked at the gun, I think I’ve found my son’s first deer rifle.

 

[troy fairweather]

Hers has a wooden stock and its been shortened to her length of pull, buy cutting 1-1/2 inches off and remounting the butt pad. PERFECT, in the Arctic with heavy clothing in Winter (of course) and in Summer, where we use boats most of the time and its rather cool.

The ammo she was burning up on 9 inch Steel gongs we set up at 50 yard intervals , across our small river.
She use's Wolf, and she scored good when she bought a case 1,000 rd for 200$, a price I wouldnt pass up, and her hunting loads are Wolf Softpoints, Im sure they too, were 125 grain, steel case poly coated and out to 300 yards "Ping" was most often possible. 200 yards and the 'Ping' was probable while at 100-150 it was boringly regular.
Her irons are set at 150 yards, but I wouldnt take on anything further than 150-200 yards due to the ballistic curve, and the single setting on the irons.
Her rifle came with a scope mount and rings so I put a 3X Leupold there for her, but after one session, she was back on irons.

Then her sisters took out their SKS's and the racket didnt abate untill dark....LOL!

We primed and painted the metals black, as we hunt often in the ocean and salt water spray, and Winters condensation on metals can be a rust maker unseen. Simple preventive, though not easy on the eye,its better than rust.
The one and only 'problem ' we seem to have had was the action tang set into the wood very tightly, and a crack started there. I glue/pinned it and relived the wood behind the actions rear tang edge and its been no prblemo , and all is well.

thank for the info and how u use it up there.

 

[troy fairweather]

No experience with the gun, some with the round, but I’ll offer some advice on the reloading/ammunition questions. You mentioned brass and listed two brands, s&b and ppu. If you’re not married to one specifically, I’d go towards ppu. Their rounds shoot well enough, but the benefit with them is the brass. Ppu’s brass is great to work with reloading. On the other hand, two things I won’t buy based on the difficulty of reloading alone are federal and s&b. Something about the webbing makes them very difficult. I don’t know what it is exactly, and I’ve noticed in different chambering. They shot well enough and the s&b was particularly impressive, but reloading them was a chore. I still have unfired 8x57js because I don’t want that brass getting mixed in with others that work well.

mostly i will use ppu there brass is very nice for the cost. i have had some problems with s&b before to, the extractor cut on the brass for my 7x57 and 8x57 are not quite as deep as it should be. They will not go in to a lee or rcbs shell holder without some modding. thanks for the info.

 

[troy fairweather]

Now that I looked at the gun, I think I’ve found my son’s first deer rifle.

they make a youth to. I thinks its a 12.5'' lop but if he is bigger or a fast grower the normal carbine is good to.

 

[armoredman]

I use all kinds of brass for reloading for my CZ 527M, with mostly cast lead bullets, 129NOE or Lee 160s, powder coated, or Hornaday 125 gr spire point. Accurate little blaster - I agree on the 150 yard regular gong with irons. I do it from the standing position just because. However, a gunsmith buddy of mine mounted a Marbles adjustable rear sight instead of the stock fixed rear, so the blade is set with two settings - align with the top for jacketed, bury it in the bottom for cast. Works well.

 

[MCgunner]

ya i like that 154 and u are right about its so cheap u don't have to reload i have to see if i can get it around here in ny, i have not looked yet. 2200 is rel good for a 30 cent round i hope to get 2100 from my cz with them. do the seem to open up quick or slow thanks..

The bullet seems to open up well on large hogs just judging by the exit wounds it leaves, but I've never recovered a bullet to know what it looks like. It IS a penetrator and leaves a good exit wound.

I shot this guy in the left shoulder, low. Sorry, didn't get a pic of the other side, but he bled well.

 

[MCgunner]

When I was reloading 7.62x39, I got 50 rounds, IIRC, of IMI brass from midwayusa.com . I can't gripe about the brass. One neat thing about the SKS for a handloader, you can pull the gas piston out of it and turn it into a straight pull bolt action so it doesn't chunk the brass. Not an issue for bolt guns, of course.

This is my hog rig...

 

[eastbank]

two of my 7.62x39,s, a Chinese sks and a ruger 77/7.62x39. both are good shooters for different jobs.

 

[troy fairweather]

The bullet seems to open up well on large hogs just judging by the exit wounds it leaves, but I've never recovered a bullet to know what it looks like. It IS a penetrator and leaves a good exit wound.

I shot this guy in the left shoulder, low. Sorry, didn't get a pic of the other side, but he bled well.

View attachment 807251[/QUOT
i like when bullets exit,more blood

 

[FL-NC]

I killed a few with a Winchester soft point, as well as some chinese soft point. The thing is, I never got an exit wound with either, which means poor blood trail. Now I hunt deer with 243 or 223- always get an exit wound with either.

 

[Bfh_auto]

My new CZ 527 carbine will be here next week sometime, so i am looking for a hunting round. When i was a kid my dad used Chinese copper washed hp's and they did very good on deer, they took out most of the deer shoulder and killed then on the spot. But its hard to find the Chinese stuff and i am looking for others.

The cz is made to shoot the steel case stuff its nice to have ammo for 30 cents a round. I will be reloading and the sierra pro hunter is at the top of my list, i use them in my 7mms with good luck. the pro hunter is only a few bucks more for 100 then most others.
For steel case i am looking at the tula 154 sp so long the p.o.a is close to the sights. the normal bullet weights are fine to, I just may have to find one with a non steel jacket. they dont seem to open in the gel but maybe the bones will no need for fmj's.

For the brass case stuff i like the ppu 125 sp, its like a round nose and look good for deer and should make a nice hole. The s&b sp seems good to they both are about $10-15 a box.Just like to know what u guys that hunt with the 7.62x39 use for deer or hogs. Range is 150 yards max. The ones that have the cz's i would like to know the point of aim with the different ammo and weights, i am thinking some starline brass, but the ppu loaded ammo is only a little more. thanks troy

I killed my first deer at 120 yds with a Russian SKS and a 124gr hp.
This was before I learned that you need a scope and a magnum cartridge with expensive bullets to kill deer.

 

[Olympus]

Hornady makes a steel cased round loaded with their SST bullet. I bought a bunch when I had the same gun and it grouped really well. I never had a chance to hunt with the gun before I sold it.

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/7-62x39-123-gr-sst-steel-case#!/

 

[okiewita40]

My dear rifle is a Chinese SKS. I use the tula 154gr soft points. Complete pass through ss said before. I have plenty of blood trail to follow. Just have never had a deer run more than 40 yards after being shot.

 

[jtmaster6]

While my CZ 527 will shoot sub-MOA at 100 yards with Tula and the Red Army stuff...she really likes Hornady Black SST brass cased. This is my mid-range hunting round this season. The rifle has a Leupold VX-2 2-7x33mm sitting up top on Warne rings.

 

[illinoisburt]

When I was reloading 7.62x39, I got 50 rounds, IIRC, of IMI brass from midwayusa.com . I can't gripe about the brass. One neat thing about the SKS for a handloader, you can pull the gas piston out of it and turn it into a straight pull bolt action so it doesn't chunk the brass. Not an issue for bolt guns, of course.

This is my hog rig...

View attachment 807252

Not knocking on it, but how do you keep from getting scoped with the eye bell that high and far back? You must have an extra long LOP stock on that sks. Also, it tried a few different cover mounts years ago and never found one that truly held zero. What mounts are ypu using?

 

[MCgunner]

Not knocking on it, but how do you keep from getting scoped with the eye bell that high and far back? You must have an extra long LOP stock on that sks. Also, it tried a few different cover mounts years ago and never found one that truly held zero. What mounts are ypu using?

I had to drill and tap 4 holes on the mount. It mounts solid, not a receiver cover replacement or anything. It works well, but I can't pull the receiver cover to clean it so I just clean it with the bolt locked back. I can disassemble it if it ever were to give me problems, but I think SKSs were made to be dirty. I ordered that scope from some mail order outfit back in the early 90s before the internet. I have no idea of a brand name for it. It accepts Weaver type rings.

The scope has a short eye relief, not sure why, but it sits right on the gun. The gun has very little recoil. I don't think I'd want that scope on my 7 mag, but recoil ain't squat on an SKS. It's a heavy gun with a mild round.

I had another scope on it for a while that I did have to put a slip over recoil pad on to increase LOP so I could see through the thing. This one, I took the pad off.

 

[MCgunner]

Mmm, double tap, how'd I do THAT?