I filled my doe tags last year with a Norinco MAK-90 which is an AK clone. It is more than accurate enough for shorter range deer hunting and is beyond rugged. I have US made internals, US folding stock and furniture. Works great as a truck and ATV gun. pretty much goes everywhere with me.

I had a HK-91 which I shot dozens of deer with. Fantastic rifle. Had a scope and bi-pod and was as accurate as any bolt action .308 I've owned. I really regret ever selling it. Big mistake. Huge mistake.

I have a SKS which has been upgraded with a synthetic stock, scope and a bi-pod. I've shot a deer with it before. Surprisingly accurate too. I'm not a huge fan of the SKS as I prefer the AK but they do make for a cheap and effective deer rifle.

I know quite a few folks using military rifles to hunt deer. M-1 Garands, 03 springfields, HKs, british enfields, , FALs, mosin nagants, k98 mausers, armalite .308s. Just use high quality (not surplus or bulk marketed hollow points which do not expand reliably) expanding ammunition and you have very effective deer slayers which will take a beating that would leave most other rifles in pieces or hopelessly jammed.

Another plus with old military rifles like the enfield, mosin nagant and mausers can be purchased for well under 200 bucks and sometimes for under 100. A little cleaning and minor repars will usually get you a good accurate serviceable rifle.

 

Wow you had an hk-91 and you got rid of it? Gp put your steeltoes and kick yourself in the a$$. Hard. I think it would be goood to mention that with the AKs, try to find russian made with a milled reciever. Most of the chinese knock offs have stamped recievers.

 

Yup I sold it. I kick myself on a regular basis. A very dumb move. See, there was this girl......


I don't get all worked up over milled receivers. They are heavier and I've never seen any durability issues with stamped. I've found the chinese stamped receivers to be better quality than the romanian and bulgarians that you see these days. Heck lots of guys just buy the receiver flats, bend and heat treat them and assemble their own using whatever parts strike their fancy.

 

The 7.62x39 round is really boderline for deer, it is weaker than a 30-30 and not really a good idea to use. I have an SKS that uses 7.62x39, but I only use it for target practice/playing around.

I use an 7.92x57 (aka 8mm) Mauser bolt action myself and it is very simlar to the 30-06 if you buy the hot Norma rounds or similar from Europe, the Norma 165 gr hollow points rule. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I shoot a sporterized Winchester Model of 1917 Enfield 30-06 (a WWI rifle) with a Leupold 3x9 scope. My particular gun was manufactured in 1918. For a while I had no idea what kind of gun it was because all of the markings were under the scope mounts.

 

It's cool to have an old gun, eh? My Mauser is a sporterized 8mm made in WWII. I could buy a modern .270 or 7mm Mag or whatever if I wanted if I wanted the ultimate tight groups at 200 yds or ultimate power, etc for deer, but the 8mm in more than plenty and it's a nice, rare gun.

 

i recently posted a picture of my M-44 on my photo page if you want to look at it. just to tell you a little more about it, it was manufactured in 1942 in Russia, but was never issued in the war, although my brother has one that was. (w.w.2 by the way) it is the loudest gun i've (and other experienced hunters) have shot. you can feel the percussion about 15 feet away. it doesn't kick a whole lot, a little more than a 30.06 and a little less than a 50 cal. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] it came with a folding bayonet(which i do not use!), and has a 5 round clip. it was used as a sniper and scouting rifle during Stalingrad and all those good places, and that's basically it.

 

The 7.62x39 and the 30-30 are virtually identical as far as velocity, muzzle energy and energy at 100 yards in most of the loadings that I have looked at. Differences of 100 or 200 ft pounds either way as far as energy is concerned and velocity is within a couple of hundred FPS of each other.

I've killed deer with both and I can't see any difference between the two in actual use which seems to fit with what one sees in the ballistic tables. Either are ok at short ranges but not exactly optimal for any sort of real distance shooting.

 

200 ft-lbs of energy less is of course weaker, as I said. And the 7.62x39 is not as accurate either. You can certainly kill deer with it, but I wouldn't use less than a 30-30 personally, considering how tough deer can be.

 

boom! yea!, we got it!, hey?, whered it go?