Opinions on 7.62 x 39 Hollow Points Effectiveness on Game

[Speedo66]

Wants to sell that Chinese ammo?

PM to be sent.

 

[CapnMac]

SKS and 7.62x39 are just right for feral pigs. The hollowed point Russian stuff working as well as anything else, really--at least in my experience.

 

[FL-NC]

I have used that caliber with soft points from both Winchester as well as import steel cased ammo. Not getting an exit wound on a deer was normal. This means no exit wound, which means a very wanting blood trail, which means challenges tracking (and successfully recovering) deer.

 

[JShirley]

The cheap Russian HPs I shot back in the day were wildly expansive. I'd shoot Wolf 154 gr SPs if I wanted to hunt with inexpensive ammo.

John

 

[Bfh_auto]

My sks has killed one deer and 2 hogs with 122 gr hp ammo.
It didn't open very much. But it worked when the bullet was put in the vitals.

 

[M1key]

I don't hunt but I would try to find some of this:



M

 

[Caplock]

I shot jack rabbits with my SKS and wolf hollow points. Sometimes the expansion was pretty radical for hitting something that might only be 10 pounds.
Soft points or the SST is the safe bet for deer.

 

[B_Li_Ber_Tar_Ian]

I like the Tulammo 154 grn soft point or a federal fusion. The 122 grn hollow point, or open tip if you prefer, will kill a deer, but nowhere near as decisively as the soft point ammo. I have shot and killed 3 deer with the 122 grn, and it just isn't dependable enough for hunting deer. Never an exit wound with it.

Really???


Silver Bear 122gr HP, CZ 527 carbine

 

[JShirley]

Really???
View attachment 968850

Silver Bear 122gr HP, CZ 527 carbine

To be clear, that's the exit wound you're showing?

John

 

[dfariswheel]

There's a difference between hollow point bullets and modern soft point expanding hunting bullets.

In most cases the hollow point does not expand, it's used to shift the center of gravity toward the rear of the bullet.
This increases the ballistics of the bullet for better accuracy at longer ranges.
That's why a lot of high end Match bullets have a hollow point.
Usually hollow point bullets are actually full metal jacket bullets with a thick copper jacket with a small hole in the tip.

Modern sporting soft point bullets are specifically designed to expand on impact to increase the killing ability of the bullet.
These bullets are designed to rapidly and massively expand or mushroom on impact and are intended for hunting.

The hollow point bullets are for military and target shooting, the soft point for hunting.

 

[JShirley]

There's a difference between hollow point bullets and modern soft point expanding hunting bullets.

In most cases the hollow point does not expand, it's used to shift the center of gravity toward the rear of the bullet.
This increases the ballistics of the bullet for better accuracy at longer ranges.
That's why a lot of high end Match bullets have a hollow point.
Usually hollow point bullets are actually full metal jacket bullets with a thick copper jacket with a small hole in the tip.

Modern sporting soft point bullets are specifically designed to expand on impact to increase the killing ability of the bullet.
These bullets are designed to rapidly and massively expand or mushroom on impact and are intended for hunting.

The hollow point bullets are for military and target shooting, the soft point for hunting.

It's definitely true that Open Tip Match is a ballistic feature, but it's probably a dramatic overstatement to say in MOST cases, HPs do not expand. In the case of the Soviet 5.45x39mm, an open tip was designed to make the bullet yaw on impact and cause more damage. This is the only "hollow point/hollow tip" I'm aware of that's not likely to expand.

Hollow point bullets were originally designed to do more damage than FMJ. Even the Match Kings used by US snipers for years were only allowed because there was a legal opinion that the open tip was a ballistic feature, and the dramatically increased wounding was a side effect. The reason HP bullets may not be a good choice for big game is because HPs frequently expand too quickly , and in the case of cheap Russian ammo, unpredictably.

John

 

[JCooperfan1911]

7.62 Russian Short makes a sorry deer cartridge.

We owe the game a quick harvest and in my opinion the low powered intermediary rounds like the .30 carbine and 7.62 Russian Short were never meant for hunting. I like to step up to a full power .30-06 as being more than capable for the task at hand yet recoiling lightly.

Don’t make a close quarters military round into a deer hunting round. Not it’s forte.

 

[B_Li_Ber_Tar_Ian]

To be clear, that's the exit wound you're showing?

John

Correct

 

[adcoch1]

Really???
View attachment 968850

Silver Bear 122gr HP, CZ 527 carbine

That's how it's supposed to work! But no, that hasn't been my experience with wolf or tula hollowpoints. Haven't tried the silver bear up, just use soft points since they are predictable.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

7.62 Russian Short makes a sorry deer cartridge.

We owe the game a quick harvest and in my opinion the low powered intermediary rounds like the .30 carbine and 7.62 Russian Short were never meant for hunting. I like to step up to a full power .30-06 as being more than capable for the task at hand yet recoiling lightly.

Don’t make a close quarters military round into a deer hunting round. Not it’s forte.

You just couldn't be more ill informed. 30-06 Isn't what I'd call light recoil. And don't tell the 9 deer over the last several years that I used "underpowered" rounds for deer hunting. I've used with 100% recovery rate 7.62x39, 7.92x33, 6.8spc, 25GPC, 30 Rem AR, 25-45, 22 Nosler, and 6×45. Now these rounds were used within their capabilities with great succuess.

If you really feel like 30-06 is necessary to kill deer and anything beneath it is unethical you need to work on your marksmanship not using more and more powerful cartridges.

 

[stillquietvoice]

like to step up to a full power .30-06 as being more than capable for the task at hand yet recoiling lightly.

I disagree with 06 being a light recoiling cartridge as well. 20 ft lbs of recoil isnt light that's a step down from 7mm Remington magnum. Besides there are a metric ton of cartridges capable of taking deer of all sizes, like 250-3000, 243 win, 257 Bob, 2506, 6.5 x 55 sweed the list is long. The x39 is capable within its limitations.

 

[stillquietvoice]

I am getting to know my SKS better. I have just plinked with it. I find the TulAmmo from Russia is offered in hollow point bullets (122 grain). I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on it for any hunting applications. I must admit I am somewhat doubtful about how great they may be, but maybe somewhat better than FMJ's. I tried soft point American factory ammo and my rifle turned into a machine gun with its free-floating firing pin and soft American primer. Slam fire is possible when not using military ammo, so I was looking at the military type ammo with the HP. The foreign military stuff has never slam fired on me.
Anyway, any thoughts about the effectiveness of this type of ammo in HP are welcome. Thank you.

If you reload, you could find some milspec primers and replace the soft ones that are slamfiring or ding 122 soft points and replace the MIL bullet and go hunting.

I haven't had an sks or 7.62x39 in 2 decades, but I reloaded them with .308 diameter 130 gr varmint bullets from hornandy. They shot well in my gun about 2 moa from field positions at 10p yds.