Missed because of my rifle?

[foghornl]

My 1/50th of $1...

Too long a shot for the 7.62x39 round.

Longest shot I have taken with my Marlin .30-30 is a measured 176 yards.

Take your rangefinder with you on "The Hunt". If you think the shot is too long, it probably is.

I have hit the 'gong' at 400 yards with my .30-06 M1, not something I would even try with my SKS. Maybe with my Mosin-Nagant M-44 in 7.62x54

 

[mhdishere]

My turn to chime in. The only time you miss because of your rifle is if something is wrong with the rifle, and that something wrong is a result of a design or manufacturing flaw in the rifle itself. You maintain the rifle, you shoot the rifle. If you miss it's all your fault. You missed because you took a shot that was too long for you with your rifle. If you'd actually been lucky (and it would have been luck) enough to score a kill on the deer you wouldn't have given the rifle the credit, if the credit is yours so is the blame.

You said you couldn't get closer, but how were you going to recover the deer if you actually did kill it?

 

[TheOtherOne]

Bwana John said:
You should be ashamed of yourself.

I'll concede that you are a much superiour human being than I but I'm still not ashamed of myself.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Well, yeah, kinda should be. How many times HAVE you been deer hunting and how many have you harvested? We are all just here to offer up some advice based on personal experience (mostly) and the concession here is that you exeeded both you and your rifles ability to HUMANELY and QUICKLY dispatch the game animal. Not exactly braggin' material. I have harvested many deer and I don't think any of them were taken at over 150 maybe approaching 200. Where I hunt the most, it is unlikely to spot an animal at distances further than that. Hell, the first several seasons I never even SAW a deer. Too noisy, lazy, stinky etc. Hunting is definitely a skill that must be honed. Try again, learn from your mistakes, and from the mistakes of others.

 

[cordex]

TOO:
I've learned lessons the hard way myself. One of those things is that I won't shoot beyond the range I've practiced and will pass on a deer when I doubt myself.

 

[Dr.Rob]

OK all limits of the hunter aside, you are trying to hit a fist sized object (the heart) with enough force to completely destroy it.

I submit, without a LOT of practice, and a good scope that allows you to estimate the drop of the bullet at a given range that's a hard task, even on a stationary target.

I've shot and killed a lot of antelope at 300 + yards.. 400 is almost too far for me, and I've done it before.

7.62x54 is nearly as good as a 30-06, the problem is finding good accurate ammo.

Even a lung shot on a deer sized animal, you want to penetrate BOTH lungs, as an animal with one deflated lung can still move a long ways before it decides to lay down and die. That target is maybe 10 inches in diameter.

If you have to go through the shoulder you need enough punch to break bone, cut muscle and THEN penetrate to both lungs.

Thats a lot to ask of a 123 gr bullet at 400 yards.

Know your game, your gun and your limitations.

 

[wasrjoe]

7.62 x 39 is plenty of gun up close. 400 yards is too much for a rifle like that. Even with serious long range practice the robust AK action just isn't built for precision accuracy at that distance.

What about the 7.62x54 Dragunov?

The Drag is not an AK action. Based on, sure, but it's definitely not an AK.

 

[Dr.Rob]

No I said the Cartridge was fine... but even a Drag should be good enough for a precise shot at 400... it's the scope that isn't very good for that.

 

[JohnKSa]

The Other One,

The reason you're taking so much abuse is because it was immediately apparent from your first post that:

1. You were not aware of the limitations of the round.
2. You were not aware of your own limitations.
3. You were not aware of the limitations of the rifle.
4. You did not know the range.

Any one of those by itself is a recipe for wounded game.

Wounded game is bad for the following reasons.

1. It causes unnecessary suffering.
2. It often wastes game.
3. It cheats ethical hunters out of their hunt. If they see a wounded animal they will kill it and lose their tag in the name of humanity.
4. It will result in bad publicity for hunting if the animal is found. Bad publicity for hunting is typically also bad publicity for firearms, firearms owners and shooting in general.

Just curious--you say that you thought the deer was about 300 yards away--what kind of groups can you shoot with that rifle at 300 yards?

 

[goon]

You didn't miss because of your gun per se, you missed because you didn't respect your limitations.
I don't know how good of a shot you are but most guys couldn't make a shot that far under field conditions even with a scoped bolt action that still had the power to do the job at that range.
Add in that you are using a round with rainbow like trajectory at that range and that might not have had enough power to do the job if it did connect when it got there.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I am glad that you missed altogether.

I would suggest that you learn to stalk closer. Even when I am using a powerful rifle that might do the job at 300 yards or farther, I always get as close as I can. I know I am close enough when I can smell their breath.

 

[Heavy Barrel]

Why didn't you dump a whole clip on him.You may have got lucky and lobbed one in on him.Of course,he probably would have shrugged it off and went on his merry way.