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Old February 18, 2011, 10:17 AM   #14
bamaranger
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2009
Location: North Alabama
Posts: 8,273
deer

Bamaboy and myself have taken near half dozen whitetails w/ a 7.62 x 39 rifles, in our case a stainless "boat paddle" Ruger M77II bolt w/ a Leu 2-7x scope, or a Mini-30 w/ a 1-4x Leupold. The load in each case was a handload with the now defunct Sierra 135 gr SSP bullet and enough propellant to get same to an estimated 2300 fps from the longer barreled M77.

Results were positive, ie, two animals, were DRT, the others ran the typical 20-30 or more yards before collapsing. Recoil is naught, the rifles are incredibly easy to shoot. We zero them 1 inch high at 100, and find 1.5 MOA groups easy to obtain w/ the M77. The Mini does not do as well with groups, but still holds minute of deer. All of our use is at woods ranges and we have not taken a shot, past 100, in fact, as I ponder it, past 75 yds, some half of that.

Alas, the 135 slug is no longer made by Sierra. But...contrary to some posts prior, both Win, Rem and Federal make quality 125 grain loads that would be completely sufficient for deer. I shot the Mini this year with the Brown Bear 125 SP, but did not take a deer, no opportunity. I would avoid the import JHP's, reports are they are not predictable in expansion. My skimpy tests indicate they are frangible, others report they do not expand.
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