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

Hi all,
With the price of 308 I'm not too keen on using it for shooting goats if I don't have to so I've been thinking about going out with another caliber.
I have a rossi 357mag that I use for Cowboy and I was wondering the ethicasy of using that to shoot goats/pigs even spikers(maybe) at
200 yards or less? Do you have some loads that work? I currently have a lot of titegroup. Is fmj, LSWC or LRN etheical?

And for 7.62x39, thinking about getting a bolt action rifle in that caliber for how cheap the ammo (and rifle) is same question as above, is FMJ surplus or LRN ethical? What's a brew that you like to use for these calibers? Is it even worth buying or should I just landlord some 38 special?

For reference I use a tikka t3 in 308 with sako ammo and 20 rounds of that is more expensive than 100 rounds of surplus 7.62x39 from rip off gun city can you believe it?

Cheers!

I wouldn't use surplus FMJ's on goats, they work but tend just to go straight through without expanding. Therefor can take a while for the goats to die.

Best thing for goats if you have lots to shoot is still a .223 and some SP ammo. Or reload for your .308, might load soft point ammo at the moment for $1.20/round for components plus the costs of reloading gear which would be cheaper than a new rifle.

quite some difference between 7.62x39 and 357 I would go with the 7.62x39 for goats and even deer close range - the 357 would certainly drop a deer but close up no real effective range at all - the projectiles you will get with the 7.62x39 in cheap ammo not really a hunting round but effective enough- try to hit some bone if you can - I mean how many deer shot in NZ early days with army 303 ammo thousands

Good to know the FMJ is no good. I might start keeping an eye out for 308 dies and some powder or a 223 of some sort. Cheers

When you say hit bone do you mean like the shoulder blade(s) or thicker stuff like the skull orspine?

yes as NZ 32 says they to tend to go straight thru - so a behind the shoulder shot into lungs is one I use all the time with my 222 the 7.62 x39 will go straight thru as the military round is not a hunting round - spine shot or base of kneck or come slightly foward on shoulder to connect with some shoulder blade -the only problem with a spine shot on a goat is you only have a small target go under or over spine and likely a wounded animal - but I have taken mates out who used a 7.62x39 on goats and yeah effective enough - but really a .223 much better and if you want in my humble opinion one of the best goat stoppers the 22.250 just my ears my ears man they crack - need suppressor - but my goat hunting now having shot thousands for work its just the odd tasty looking one for a curry- now just a thought and some one on here with experience will know how much effort is there in removing the projectile from the ex military and putting in a decent 30 cal hunting bullet say 130 grain - dont for Christ sake do what some of the old hunters did with 303 military rounds and cut a cross on tip of military full jacket to try and get them to open up more on deer - suprised more did not blow their head off - big risk of the jacket peeling back in barrel

Poked pretty much any 7.62x39mm round through chest or better still shoulders and no goat is going anywhere. If you find the Hornady training ammo in fifty pack it's loaded with a set type projectiles and simply awesome in wee norinco rifle. Actually didn't find any round poor killer but didn't like the china sport round. Norinco in yellow box was deadly on wallabies so goats be no trouble. Cut it short and suppress and the 308 will stay home if bush stalking. Get three round magazine made up for nicer carry. I do actually miss the one I had and regret selling it.

I use my 22-250 with sierra 55gr on 🐐 🐐 if I'm not carrying the .308 off to hopefully try it on some hoppers this afternoon.

Mate uses 357 mag for wallabies and deer, but 200yds is a ways out.

stick to 100m.

FMJ all good for animals out to 200yds, aim for bone if you can, head shots better :thumbsup:

Just use a 3006, ammo is cheaper than 7.62x39 lol

There was a pretty informed post on here a while back on the forumites use of 357 on deer. Just can't remember it lol

I have a ruger ranch in 7.62x39, great on deer and accurate enough even with the cheap chinese soft point ammo from gc.
Was consistently hitting rabbits out to 200m when i was sighting in

If you can access Chinese hollow point ammunition, there were cases of it back in 2019 it will do the business. I recall with sadness buying 1200 round wooden cases for $200.

357mag max load, 158gn Powder Coated lead flatpoint, will give you something a little over 1200fps according to Hogdon in an 18in rifle barrel. 16 in and 20 in about 100 something fps each way from that. I max load mine in a Rossi Puma 20 in and it kills goats well out to 120- 130m. Goats are not that hard to kill but be kind and make sure your shot placement is good at the distance your targeting them. I get between 1300 and 1400fps. That's a very traditional velocity for a largish flatpoint lump of lead and has put plenty of meat on the table from various calibres in the 32-35cal range. Just requires a bit of traditional woodsmanship and hunting ability to go with it. If you icome down a bit in range, under the 100m, the same bullet in hot 38sp case around the 1100fps mark will do the same job. Fallow are often not that much heavier or harder to kill than a decent billy goat. Anything bigger or even a heavy Fallow Stag, I would want to be under 50m. 357mag will do the job at that range. I take my 357mag out in preference to my 30-30 cause its just so much cheaper to run especially on goats. Its also nice and light to carry.

.357 will do out to 100 ok.
Other option if you aren't shooting many goats is to buy some .308 ammo from Belmont. Some stuff is around $2 per round, perhaps cheaper if you buy in bulk.
By the time you buy a new rifle that equates to a fair few $2 .308 rounds and then if it doesn't like the cheap ammo you'll be paying that much per round anyway.

If you were shooting quite few goats and the odd deer .223 not a bad way to go.

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.

357mag works well on goats and smaller deer out of a rifle. I mainly used 158 grain soft points. As others have said keep it under 100, the cartridge impressed me out of a rifle. Noise is minimal (for a centerfire), recoil is non existent and the animals fell over.

@Coote you still around bud???

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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.

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^^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.

I used .308 projectiles through my norinco....opens all sorts of options up.125 nbt and 130 speerhp being best two.

I liked my 7.62x39 on goats and small deer out to 200m, with my current .357 I'm only comfortable out to 100m but it does work well on deer with XTP hollow points.

Ultimately if I'm shooting lots of goats and deer for cheap, I'm grabbing my Howa Mini .223