Thread: 7.62x39 or 357mag/38special for goats and similar sized animals

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I have shot a lot of animals with the 7.62x39. Back in the days I had it in an AR, SKS, Mini-30 and still have a Ruger Ranch. It's my caliber of choice for anything inside 150m. The PU 123gr soft points (my ammo is branded Highland), or as per above, the Hornady steel cased training PSP work very well on goats and deer. Kills deer dead without a lot of hydrodynamic shock which means you can maximize your meat harvest. In comparison, my Creedmoor wastes a lot of meat.

Spent a lot of time testing all manner of ammo and projectiles in 9mm (.354") through a Marlin Camp semi on goats. I could never find a projectile that would open up effectively on a goat's light body, which meant that it was like drilling them with FMJ. Lots of follow up shots required. Shoot a few goats with the 357 Mag, but not enough to give comment, and haven't tested many projectiles.

At the end of the day you already own a 357, so nothing stopping you getting out and giving it a crack. For projectile performance, I would be punching them as fast as you can to maximize expansion and look for the softest projectile you can.

^^This... I've been using x39 on goats for a while, nice, light, well mannered and no performance issues at all with average cheap expanding hunting bullets. The FMJ is OK for plinking but not hunting, gotta go with the hunting stuff. Having got that out of the way, it's still one of the cheapest calibers to buy ammo for.