AK47 for hunting
 

I just got an AK47. Can I use it for hunting? I shoot 123 grain bullets at about 2,500 fps (about). It puts out 1,555 foot pounds. Could I use it for deer, hogs, coyotes? I've heard the bullets start to tumble. What distance does the tumbling start?

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Check your local game laws first. Some states have a regulation about ammo capacity. Would be tough to find a 5 to 7 round magazine for the AK I think.

Also, make sure you use hunting ammo, not mil-spec ammo for hunting. It's got the power for short range deer hunting and for the other forms of hunting you mentioned.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I do have hunting ammo. I also have a 30 round magazine.[:o] Could you just load it as a single shot without the magazine?

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

It's easy to find the 5 round clips. They become 10 round clips if you take the stopper out. I have used the mak 90 (ak47) to take coyote and rabbits. If you stay within your acuracy range it will take deer.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I had a friend that used an SKS for deer, but here you are limited to 6 rounds in magazine and chamber, so we had to make a plug for the fixed magazine. There are several companies that are making hunting ammo, Federal, Remington, and Winchester that I know for sure. The milspec stuff won't expand on impact, and won't be very efficient killing game. I haven't personally seen any problems with the bullets tumbling durring flight (some military ammo is made to tumble on impact to increase wound channel). I don't know if you can get a scope mount or not, so that may limit your range more than anything else, but from what I've heard they are'n all that accurate, and that may be a limiting factor also. If you really want to use it to hunt, I'm sure that you can make it work.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I also have a folding stock on it. Does anyone know how to fold it down?

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

my question..

why buy a gun if you don't know how to work it?

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

zak123 most "folding" stocks have been drilled and pinned so they are permanently in the open position. Now as far as hunting with an AK, my question is why would you want to? The AK 47 is a fine combat rifle built tough and to loose tolerances to allow it to operate in almost every adverse condition. Its reliability does not however lend to its accuracy nor its handiness in the hunting woods. The battle sights are also not condusive to accuracy. The 7.62X39mm cartridge is a bit behind the 30-30 Win ballistically, but is capable of cleanly taking game within its limitations. Use your best judgement, but you can buy a decent hunting rifle for the cost of an AK variant.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

If you question the use of an AK for hunting you might as well question a win 94 as well- not really a tack driver, poor sights etc.
:D

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I borrowed it from a friend. I will not hunt with it after reading the reviews.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

zak123,

In direct answer to your question. Yes.....you can use an AK47 to hunt deer. There are considerations that need addressed before doing it however, (some have been mentioned).

First, make sure semi-auto's are legal where you are hunting. Next, check regulations concerning magazine capacity. If it is limited to a specific number....insure you don't exceed it. (Side note: The rifle does not meet legal requirements by just loading appropriate amount of ammo. You had asked if you could just put a single round in the magazine......NO. You have to actually "block" the capacity of the magazine......or obtain a magazine that already meets the standard.) Third.....sight in the rifle using a "soft point" expanding bullet. Fourth, insure you shoot the rifle at the range from field positions and learn at what range you can always hit a paper plate. Do not exceed that range in the field! (If by some chance you can consistently hit a paper plate at ranges greater than 150 yards.......not likely but possible.......do not shoot at deer, hogs, etc. further than 150 yards. The 7.62X39mm really starts running out of sufficient energy past that range.)

And your other question regarding bullets tumbling. They don't tumble in flight....unless they've been deflected in some manner. If they did....they would be completely inaccurate from that point on! (The reason a rifle bullet continues to accurately remain on it's flight path is because of the stabilization provided by the bore's rifling.)

If you do all of the above.....you can use an AK47 for light big game hunting. But as was said before.....there are better choices!

Good luck with your decison!

Dave

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

To answer you question about tumbling, the Russian 122 gr. military rounds really tend to drop off after about 300 meters. It's not that they tumble in mid-air, they just really lose energy and fall.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

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.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I've killed several whitetails with the 7.62x39, useing commercial ammunition and handloads. I never took a shot beyond 80 yards, and all were one shot kills. This was from a Ruger Mini-30. Finally traded the rifle, because it just wasn't very accurate. Groups ran about 4 inches at 100 yards with most commercial ammo, although some brands were buckshot type patterns instead of groups. One brand of Brazilian soft points did about 14 (yeah, fourteen!) inches at 100 yards.
I did everything I could think of with that rifle, tweeked the bedding, worked with a pressure point on the barrel, and a bunch of other stuff. I also tried just about every load combination you can imagine. Some of my best groups went two inches. For a sporter with a scope, from a rest, I just couldn't accept that level, and finally got tired of the rifle.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

zak123
Use something else for those animals. Take your AK or Mac 90 and load your 30 round clips and go do some rabbit shooting from the hip it's a blast. Careful though that barrel gets mighty hot and don't forget the regs in your state.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

With the right ammo and within practical ranges why not? I've killed a couple deer with a 7.62x39. They were close shots though with soft pointed ammo not military hardball. I prefer modern bolt actions with more powerful rounds, but I have killed deer with SKS's, Swiss K31's as well as other military arms. You can find a much better hunting rifle than one of the AK variants, but they will work.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Zak many thousands of deer are taken with arrows every year. Many thousands of deer are taken with handguns every year. The AK47 has a much better range than these. Go to the range, find your accuracy limits and stay with in that. Make sure you use the hunting ammo to sight in with and practice a lot.

We have a metal chicken at 200 yds and most guys can ring that thing 8 of 10 times with my mak90 or SKS standing up. That sure beats the ol muzzel loader I have.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

I haven't ever used a AK-47 for them, but I have used the round in MANY SKS's, I've used a few of them on deer, and most of them on coyotes, I've never taken one for hogs yet, but on deer it does well enough...my best SKS shoots 2MOA or better out to 250yrds (100yrds@2MOA=2" groups, 250yrds@2MOA=5" groups---I usually get sub 1" groups at 100yrds) with hunting grade ammo. I've successfully used it to a bit over 200yrds on deer, and to about 275yrds on coyotes. Don't use hollow points on deer, they're far too volitile, but don't use FMJ's either, remington corelocts (I hate saying anything good about remington ammo) do pretty well, they're not the most accurate round out of my SKS's, but they're probably one of the better bullets that are readily available for the 7.62x39mm.

Bullet tumble isn't specific to the AK-47, not matter what cartridge/gun/bullet/velocity combination you choose, your bullet will become unstable and begin tumbling at some point, in the 7.62x39mm, it's a little sooner that say it would be in a .30-06 (on average) because it's not as fast and often they aren't rotating as quickly (twist rate x muzzle velocity gives rotational "speed"). Don't take this into consideration much, your accuracy will suffer more than anything, hitting the target will be hard to do if your bullets are full keyholing (hitting perfectly sideways) in their tumble. If they're tumbling that bad, they're NOT going to fly straight, you might get huntable groups, but not likely. Test some different brands too (not surplus crap, real hunting ammo).

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Was it designed for deer hunting?

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Zak,
Listen, you can use it for hunting as long as Semi-autos are legal in your state. They are here in Maine as long as the magazine is blocked to hold no more than 5 rounds. Or get a 5 rounder from catalog below. (about $7)

Get a catalog from "Centerfire Systems," it is a company out of Versailles, Kentucky. You can get military surplus rifles, ammo, mags, tons of stuff from them. I get 7.62x39 ammo from them, with free shipping to my porch. They have the 5 round mags, and also a scope mount which is mounted on a new receiver cover. I have one on my AK with a 2.5 power scope. I can easily shoot 3" groups with this combination at 100 yards, standing, off hand. Also, Wal-mart carries Remington, (UMC) soft point ammo!

Good luck, Kevin

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Try to find some 154 grain ammo for it Cabela's catalog shows Wolf Brand ammo from Russia with a 154-grain softpoint bullet. This load should kill deer and anything smaller as well as any .30/30. Under any circumstances, use a softpoint or other type of expanding bullet for hunting. Make sure your magazine capacity is legal, as most states limit a semi-auto to five of six rounds for hunting!

Forget about the "tumbling" business- 7.62X39mm military bullets might tumble, but it happens when they hit something, like an enemy soldier. The .22 caliber AK 74 bullets are DESIGNED to tumble on impact, to increase the killing power. The 7.62X39 military ammo is not made on purpose to do this, but under some conditions it no doubt will tumble. However, it is NOT INTENTIONALLY understabilized!

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

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.

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Hi RonM,

Not exactly.......but it was designed for killing animals with nearly identical body weights!;)

When used judiciously.....it works!

Dave

RE: AK47 for hunting
 

Hey zak, don't be discouraged by the comments made here, you can always add a scope to the AK, or you can change out the sights for a better, more accurate sight...One of my SKS's had a HUGE peep sight on it (rear sight is a disk with a hole in it, but the hole was massive, almost should have been called a ghost ring), terrible for accuracy, I had a gunsmith replace it, cost me $15 labor plus $30 for the sight itself, went from 10" groups at 50yrds to 6" groups at 150yrds...with a scope, I get about half that.

THe 7.62x39mm is a FUN round, fun to plink with and fun to hunt with, better trajectory than a .30-30 (retains more velocity) and comprable energy, I've had a LOT of fun with all of mine, and taken several game species (I once put down a sick buffalo at about 75yrds with an SKS, one shot to the neck/throat). Only complaint from me about hunting with the AK, for the weight, I could carry a mid-weight bbled or "light" heavy bbled bolt gun that would have twice the range (more energy AND much faster), but then again, the AK's more fun to hunt with, and more than good enough for typical hunting ranges.