akbound

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

Aught Six

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.

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.

Charley

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.

Montana Bob

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.

diyj98

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.

rkbo

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.

Nomercy

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).

RonM

Was it designed for deer hunting?

mainehunt

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