I have the opportunity to get a WASR10. This particular WASR10 appears to shoot crappy wolf at around 4 MOA at 100 from the bench. I currently have nothing suitable for eastern whitetail deer. I could use an 223 AR15 or an M1 Garand. The M1 appears to be overkill. The brush and trees are so thick in NC that visibility on the ground appears to be 50 yards maximum, and visibility from a tree stand is around 100 yards maximum. Since 7.62x39 is nearly identical to 30-30 in ballistics, and 30-30 is an extremely popular deer caliber, I'm curious if an AK with perhaps a primary arms red dot might be a decent deer gun. 4'' as 100 yards where 100 yards is my maximum realistic shooting range seems like perfectly reasonable accuracy.

I've shot a few hogs with a Yugo M59/66 SKS and a Wasr-2 before.. no issues

Eta.. I also scored a head shot on one with a Mak 90 at about 50 feet away DRT.

For all the crap that people give the AKM, particularly the WASR-10, this rifle shoots about as well with wolf 7.62x39 as my M1 does with Greek HXP.

 




 

Some of that American brass ammo sucks in AKs...  maybe because of the projectile size.

Does NC have a bunch of silly ass East Coast nonsense about only hunting with a shotgun while wearing an orange vest and other faggotry?

I've killed several deer in the thick brush of southern Missouri with my WASR. In fact, many folks in the area use SKS's. I've always used core lokts and they have done great on deer within 100 yds

Yep, I don't hunt with it anymore, but my SKS was my first deer rifle and I killed quite a few with just plain old Wolf soft point ammo. I'm hoping to try our "alternative methods" season with my M92 PAP pistol this year.

No, there are no weapon restrictions, nor are there magazine restrictions. I could load up an AK with a 100 round drum during deer season if I wanted to during center fire season. Plus, if I read the regs right, you can buy four tags a year over the counter. Unfortunately there is no public land, but I have friends who either own land or have family who own land.



 

I know of a member on another forum that has taken deer with an AK105 (carbine version).  If memory serves me correct, his ammo was 7N6 and Wolf 5.45 HP. All kills was less than 100 yards.

I would try different HP offerings in 7.62x39, it's less than $5 per 20 round box. Once you find a load your rifle likes, please post a report of your success.

Look up Silver Bear Soft Point 7.62x39. That's the stuff you want.

Most Russian hollow/soft points don't expand, but there are several good reports on the Silver Bear stuff. It works well from what I've heard, but the Tula/Wolf HP/SP stuff doesn't do any better than FMJ.

Good hunting, my friend.

I came here to post this, all HP I've used in 7.62x39 perform nearly the same as FMJ, stick to SP

Post hunting pics once you've scored some meat!

if you can get your hands on old Wolf black box 154 gr SP- that would be one of the best choices. Out here people have used 16 inch 7,62x39 using that round with great sucess. I do believe that TULA also makes it.

A decent AK with a reflex sight would make an excellent deer rifle.
4 MOA is pretty much standard for most semi-auto deer rifles and also for lever actions.

For ammo I'd spend the extra money and get good quality American made soft point sporting ammo that actually expands.
I haven't seen any of the Russian soft point actually give any significant expansion and it's very unsporting to use ammo that won't expand and give a clean kill.

For a reflex sight, if you mean the Primary Arms version of the Aimpoint Micro sight, you might want to take a close look at the Bushnell TRS.
It's the same type sight, only it gets better reviews.
It's water proof down to 10 feet, fog proof, is shock proof enough that people are using it on shotguns loaded with buckshot, and has a 3000 hour battery life.
The Primary Arms says it's water proof but lists no actual figures on how water proof.  It has a 1000 hour battery life.

I recommend buying the Bushnell from Amazon.  This one is actually sold BY Amazon, not a third party, and gets a large number of good reviews with few bad ones.

http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Trophy-TRS-25-Reticle-Riflescope/dp/B00200E0HM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407174747&sr=8-1&keywords=bushnell+trs

I hunt with 30-06 bolt action so I would not consider .308 overkill. I don't have to trail deer, they are dead where I shot them. My brother hunts with .300 Weatherby. That is overkill. I have hunted with 7.62x39 and would feel just fine with a wasr-10 even with iron sights only. I have hunted with an ar-15 and while it can get the job done, I don't plan to do it again. Too much shrubbery and thickets to deal with for it. My opinion only, I know plenty of people take white tail with .223.

A lot of folks around here hunt with 12 gauge buckshot and do well with it. Happy hunting.

The AK does fine on E. Texas deer with Russian HP or SP.  My eyesight being what it is, I will use a low power scope this year.  No fault with the weapon, and haven't had a deer run so far when shot with the 7.62x39.

I think someone once posted some ballistic tests here on the site and the SP Russian ammo worked well with penetration and wound cavity.  Tula SP?  I've got a bunch of Wolf SP I got in a deal once.


Member -x- from Georgia used to post pictures of his deer kills using a 5.45x39 AK and the wound cavities were lethal for such a small round using 7n6 and Hornady rounds.

I have some Private Partizan PPU round nose soft point 7.62x39 that I am going to try out this Fall but it won't feed well in a semi-auto rifle.  I'll be using it in a bolt action 7.62x39 rifle.

I bought 40 rounds of Tula soft point 124 grain ammo. I looked for silver bear but Sportsmans' Warehouse didn't have it.

actually with your initial hunting license you get 6 deer, 2 hunters choice, 2 deer (not valid for antlered deer in western, north western, and central deer season, and then 2 antlerles), 1 bear, and 2 turkey tags  if you fill your deer tags, you can purchase additional antler less tags, until the season ends.

I use a 300 blk subsonic very very successfully on NC white tails. so can't see a single reason not to use a 7.62x39 AK

Alright Couch Commando.... Here's the "skinny"...

Ive used a WASR 10 with all sorts of ammo to kill deer, hogs, and all sorts of varmints and such.

Before I explain, very very first, the AR and Garand. Both will kill deer. Much to the argument of thousand here, I would say the AR is a little too light for deer unless you are all about shot placement and buying decent expensive ammo. You will wing a lot of deer with an AR unless you are a decent good shot and are willing to spend money on quality ammo. Garand is a killer. 30-06 will mess up a lot of shoulder meat if you're not into real good shot placement. But it will kill the crap out of a deer with soft point ammo DRT nearly everytime. Lots of energy.. I try for headshot when I hunt deer with a Garand and it blows their head open.

Start with the AK rifle: Yes. Your WASR is more than sufficient for the hunting you describe. I seldom see a deer over 100 yards due to the type of woods we have in Texas in my hunting area and yours sounds similar. 4 moa is good enough to get that shoulder broadside shot and make it count. If you like precision shooting, like picking which ear or eye you're going to hit, that's another story, but that's not what you're asking. Consider the side mount for a scope mount. Midwest makes an awesome one. Throw a decent scope on it and you have yourself a good deer gun for small dollars. Redneck up!

Now the ammo. I have shot a LOT of Wolf of all types. Soft point is most effective, but understand, it's cheap soft point and some of the time the bullet will look like a long string of melted candle wax, like a worm, when you're cleaning out the deer and find it. There is a name for this but I do not know it. It is a failure of the bullet to mushroom. It just simply gets skinny and reduces in outer diameter rather than retaining the outer diameter and mushrooming at the top. It is not ideal, but you still have a relatively good hit. You'll sometimes find the soft point part of the bullet, and the hard casing of the bullet, both in the animal but in different places. It makes less shock and a smaller wound cavity than better soft point ammo. But hey! I dug this out of a dead animal so it doesn't suck too bad!

Wolf hollow point is in 2nd place. Frequently it will just break apart into fragments. Most of the time you get good expansion and it stays in tact. But somewhere in the less than 50% range but greater than 10% range, you'll just have slivers of metal left and no bullet.

FMJ is FMJ. Pokes holes and doesn't do well relative to your other options. Ive shot pigs 2,3,4 times with FMJ from a moving vehicle across a plowed field and watched them keep running. Close enough to hit them with a rock. I could see the entry wounds. Bullets were just zipping thru them. They WILL die, just not "DRT" or anywhere you could find them. I shot a pig with a 30-06 FMJ out of a Garand in the hip while it was running and it was still able to see me, change direction, charge me and make it all the way to me before getting killed at close range. 30-06 soft point however would have blown his ass end apart and he would have been going no where.

Good hunting!

I just got a NPAP underfolder a week or so ago. I took it out last night with the cool weather after the rain just to play a bit and shoot a few hogs. I spotted a group about 160-170 yards away (I stepped it off after the fact). I wasn't able to get any closer because there were a bunch of cows around that would spook if I started walking closer. So I just put the AK up sighted in on one of the bigger ones and squeezed the trigger. Dropped the pig where she was standing. Was roughly 125 pounds. I was just using Tula FMJ. Pig was walking from right to left in front of me just on the verge of spooking (you know that stage where they can tell something is going on but they aren't sure yet what it is or how to respond). Bullet entered the right side just to the front of the shoulder deflected on something there and came out a few inches behind the shoulder.

Like I said, pig never really moved, but that is not typical experience with the Tula FMJ on hogs. I have killed three more with it a week or two ago that took anywhere from 2-4 to anchor them. I am going to switch to the Wolf military classic HP once I shoot up the Tula. Mainly just wanted to post this up to brag about the shot. I was pretty impressed with myself shooting offhand that far and dropping a pig with FMJ.