Looking for the best option for a 7.62x39mm commercial loading that will perform best at lower velocities.  I'm a big fan of hunting with various and unique weapons and I'm planning on doing some close up pig shooting  with a gun that shoots a full power 7.62x39mm loading, but it only lets the projectile achieve velocities up about 1100 fps.   Therefore, I didn't know if there was a hunting 7.62x39mm projectile that had decent expansion at those low velocity's or if it would just be better using a basic soft point or FMJ.

I would use Hornady or Federal Fusion

No 30 caliber bullet that I know of will reliably expand at 1100 fps.  Maybe one of the new subsonic bullets for the 300 blk but even that is debated.  some say they work all the time others say they only expand half the time.  Most soft point bullets require at least 1600 fps to expand reliably.

Im currently running 220 grain .308 round nose hornady interlocks in my 7.62x39.  Velocity is unknown but definately subsonic and cycles my AR in 7.62x39 beautifully.

This load is also at the edge of stability as the holes punched at 50 yards are not quite perfectly circular.  Im anxious to try them at 100 yards to see how they perform.

The other load I've worked up is throwing a  .308" 150 grain nosler ballistic tip at about 2150 fps according to the loading data and holy crap is it accurate!  4 shots in 0.33" group and that includes the fouling/bolt seating shot.

I had previously played around with 174 SMKs in .311 with my old 20" YHM barrel and couldnt get it to group at all.

How does your weapon "shoot full power" loads yet only allow them 1100fps velocity??

As far as expansion goes, dont even bother at 1100fps, unless you want to pay for lehigh defense's quite expensive subsonic expanders.  As I mentioned, Im shooting something on the edge of ballistic stability, so I am relying on the long 220 grain projectile to tumble at first impact...

It's a RPG-7 subcaliber training adapter for my RPG-7 DD.   It has extremely deep rifling(on purpose) that lets a lot of the gases to blow past the round, dropping the speed to about 1100 fps.   This allows the round to have a similar ballistic trajectory of an RPG-7 rocket. It was developed to allow training of troops on firing it without wasting expensive rockets.  Much like how we use 9mm AT4 trainers to train our troops on shooting the AT4.

Pig hunting with an RPG trainer...GOLD!!  hahaha

Winchester PDX-1's may work.  It's hard to say though because there isn't very much testing or gel data out there for 7.62x39 at such low velocities.  You may just have to do your own back yard redneck tests with a few different loads.

I would pay to see the game wardens face... Lol

I think hornadys sst would be your best bet.

awesomeness btw

that is badass man first off

I don't know if they expand but I have been shooting 154 grain soft point steel cased rounds and out of a 16 inch barrel they get about 2100 fps and  expand into gel pretty good and are great accuracy wise verse the standard steel 123 grains
plus at 26 cents a rd cant beat it

This is a very timely thread for me. I'm buying a pistol-caliber carbine (PCC), a Kel Tec SUB 2000 in .40 cal, Glock magazine. But before that I had been thinking of approaching it from a different angle - using the same carbine I shoot my full-power 5.56 or 7.62x39 but just changing the ammo, which would have to be hand-loaded. Problems inherent in this plan mainly are operational - making it hot enough to cycle the gun with no mechanical changes but not exceed about 1350 FPS.A few years ago I was getting there when I discovered Tula 154 gr soft point that I shoot out of my AMD65 with an 11.5" original barrel with extension/brake. This works fine but is still too 'hot' to be considered a sub-caliber load. I guess using that as a starting point, a loader would pull that bullet and re-use it with a brass case and experiment until he got the action to cycle somewhere below 1400 FPS. There are many advantages to using the same gun and magazines you already have and are used-to for making it a RPC (reduced power carbine) with only an ammo change. If you are wondering 'why', it's because a PCC/RPC is the ideal personal defense weapon (PDW) and for shooting inside vehicles, buildings, apartments and outdoors in urban areas. Plenty of punch to be effective with decreased noise and over-penetration. More powerful than a handgun.
To the original question, it does seem counterproductive to me, maybe just dangerous, to go out for hogs with a PCC/RPC which may not incapacitate the animal without a very well-placed shot. I would want the heaviest full-power cartridge I could get for my caliber for a wild hog hunt.

I think that 220 gr is the one. 1100 FPS is about the speed of sound depending on altitude. Really, the Russian 9mm rifle (.358 rifle bullet out of a 7.62x39 case) is the model here but I don't care if I'm supersonic - I'm just trying to find an effective round for close-range targets without 'rifle' penetration characteristics that also cycles the action, fits the standard mag and loads with no problems. If I could buy them I would, and say to hell with the PCC. I guess I would try 1200 FPS first which represents half-normal velocity. So you can approximate energy at 705 Ft Lbs for the 220 gr at 1200 FPS. That's equivalent  to a 200 gr .44 Magnum out of a 7" barrel. That would be sufficient. Of course my load would be designed for the 11.5" AMD65 barrel so it would be faster out of your 16".