Testing Military Style Semi Auto Rifles for Hunting – 7.62×39
My dad was not a hunter. In his home country, pig hunting was sitting on a tree limb above a game trail with a spear or a small explosive in an overripe tropical fruit. Don’t ask. My dad was a golfer. He used to say, “don’t worry about the golfer with a bag full of new clubs; worry about the guy with four clubs because he knows how to use them.” That philosophy holds with our chosen firearms. The more we use them, the better we are with them, so having an extensive collection of hunting rifles means you either use one rifle or need to reacquaint yourself with a rifle each season. I am trying to pare down the collection to a limit of three gun safes.
My constant companion during my teenage years was an air rifle until I was old enough to buy a firearm. I used that air rifle until the seals and springs disintegrated. The sights were never quite correct, shooting slightly right, so I had to “Kentucky windage” everything. However, thousands of pellets meant I knew exactly where to hold at any distance the pellet could fly.
For those who swore allegiance to our country and were trained to fight by Uncle Sam, you have had many hours and, at least, hundreds of rounds down range with an M16/M4/AR15 type rifle. You probably also had some experience, likely bad, with the AK round or 7.62×39.
I like the 7.62×39 round! In my opinion, the innovative gymnastics with the .300 BO and the like are all just trying to find a way to get as close to the 7.62×39 round as possible. The irony is that 7.62×39 ammunition currently being loaded fits in an AR15 action. Both factory rifles and upper receiver kits can convert your AR15-type rifle to shoot the 7.62×39. The main issue or negative with this setup is finding a reliable magazine.
I asked a few retired Tier One Master Sergeants who formerly could use any weapon systems they wanted why we don’t use the 7.62×39 as our mid-range caliber. Different reasons were posited, but the main reason was that we would admit that the Russian’s copy of a Nazi WWII round is the best Americans can invent. That’s not going to happen.
One other negative belief about the 7.62×39 round is its’ inaccuracy. A quote from a recent movie is that an “AK is only accurate within a phone booth.” This may be true in an AK-type rifle or pistol, but it’s not necessarily a fact for the ammunition alone.
Testing 7.62x39 Hunting Ammunition
Instead of taking one rifle and obtaining several different loads from different manufacturers to test the rifle’s accuracy, I took one type of soft point/hunting ammunition that is easily obtainable and fired three rounds from different rifles at 50 yards. My reasons for this were twofold. First, finding hunting ammunition is difficult for this caliber, and if found, the tendency today is to horde. Second, I went with the theory that if a specific rifle can shoot well with low-end ammunition, it is likely to shoot well with more expensive ammunition.
The ammunition used was Wolf Military Classic 124 Grain Soft Point. Testing was done on a rare, bug-free, cool Texas day. Weather or wind did not affect the bullet’s fight. A scope was used to assist in consistency when possible.
Rifles tested, in order, were:
- Century Arms Mauser converted bolt action rifle
- Kalashnikov USA KR-103
- M&M 10X
- Sig 556XI
- Palmetto Arms AR47
- SKS paratrooper with red dot
- Robinson Armament XCR
- Anderson, AR15 lower receiver with a CBC Industries 7.62×39, completed upper.
The numbers on the targets corresponded with each number for the rifles.
The Century Arms Mauser was interesting, but the action was not.
The KR-103 was standard No problems with reliability, but accuracy was not good. I expected more, but I don’t know why. It’s an AK.
The M&M 10X accuracy for 50 yards was acceptable. The trigger was very nice.
The Sig 556XI is more of a collector’s item, one reason the horrendous trigger. Despite this, it was accurate but was magazine finicky.
The Palmetto AR47 ran as expected and had decent accuracy. I used this rifle and scope combination to take to a Tennessee hunt.
The SKS shot well, considering the terrible trigger and the fact that it only had a low-end red dot.
The Robinson Armament XCR is very nice. One can convert the caliber with a change of the barrel and bolt. The accuracy was good. I have several preferring to have a complete rifle rather than conversion kits.
The big surprise was that the least expensive, assembled from parts, the rifle shot the best. I give all the credit to CBC Industries. This Charleston, South Carolina company is excellent from top to bottom with their service and, obviously, their products. The accuracy result with their upper was an excellent surprise. Full disclosure, they don’t know I wrote this, and I received nothing free from CBC Industries.
In conclusion, the best accuracy with a Russian-made steel case, soft point, and 7.62×39 ammunition came from an AR platform. I leave the decisions, political ripple effects, and individual conclusions to you. As for me, I need to test out some 7.62×39 magazines for reliability and “squirrel them away.” I can only hope that Mr. Stoner and Mr. Kalashnikov approve.
Philip Pines enjoys everything outdoors with a special fondness of the freedoms and beauty of Utah and Texas.