ORIGINAL: cehjwh I own a Ruger mini 30 ranch rifle and plan to make it into a deer rifle. It is chambered in the 7.62x39mm. From the research that I have done on the round it ballistically compares to the 30-30 winchester. I plan to use remington's 125gr. pointed soft point for hunting purposes. I don't plan to take shots at more than 150 yds. with it.
The 7.62X39 round compares very favorably with the .30/30. Although the .30/30 starts off faster, it also sheds velocity much faster due to its' flat-pointed bullets vs the pointed ones of the 7.62X39mm. In addition, despite the use of light bullets in military ball ammo, the 7.62X39mm can shoot heavier bullets. Its' main limitation in this regard is the short magazine lengths encountered in the semi-autos chambered for it. However, I was able to develop a load for mine using the 180-grain Speer .311" roundnose bullet at a MV of 1980 FPS, which is as fast as the original .30/30 165-grain load of 1895, the load which produced the .30/30's rep as a killer of deer and larger game. Besides, there are a numer of good 130 and 150 grain pointed-bullet handloads for this cartridge, all of which deliver MORE energy at 150 yards and beyond than any .30/30 load using flat-nose bullets can provide.