"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
. ..
In article . net,
Maxprop wrote:

I paid only $140 some years back for a new-in-the-box, Russian-made
7.62x39
SSK. It's got a pivoting bayonet, and I bought five 30-round magazines
for
it, plus a case of Wolf (Russian) ammo--Berdan-primed, so picking up
brass
is a non-issue.

As a defense piece, it blows your AR-15 away in all respects, excepting
compactness. However I can obtain an aftermarket collapsible stock for
it,
if I really felt it were a necessity, which I don't.

Been there, too, Max. I have memories of shooting feral goats thru the
chest at less than 50m with one of those, using FMJ ex-mil ammo. Waste
of time, you needed to hit them multiple times before they fell over. I
bought it to play with and traded it when I got tired of it. Ditto with
a toy M1 carbine. A SAFN 30-06 was somewhat more effective.

Duh. Obviously the 30-06 is a far more potent cartrige than the 7.62x39.
And why would you use a FMJ bullet for shooting goats??? Someone drilled a
tiny hole in the nose of those things in order to pass them off as "hunting
ammo" but they are still non-expanding FMJs and worthless. My Wolf ammo is
jacketed soft-point, and far more effective for hunting, despite the fact
that I didn't buy the gun to be a hunter. I have a Sako .308 and a
Winchester Model 94 in .30-30 for that purpose. What the SSK does is
provide a play weapon for little money and cheap ammo costs. Great for
plinking, shooting rats, and just making noise. Alexander Kalashnikov
designed a very reliable, gas-operated, semi-auto action, and the rifle is
well-balanced and light enough to carry around for a day of plinking. No
other purpose for it, IMO. As an aside, the 7.62x39, at .30 caliber, is a
more reliable military round than the .223 Nato, which will deflect and
tumble if it hits tree leaves between the gun and the target.

OTOH the Ruger 44Mag carbine with 240gr JHP was a one shot drop every
time, as was a 6mm Rem with 85gr Sierra SP at 3300 fps for the longer
ranges. We used to shoot the crap out of mobs of feral goats at close
range until the survivors learnt better, then snipe them across the
ridges until they decided it was healthier back in the national park.

Where I live I dont' expect to ever need to shoot at people, and don't
plan on spending any time thinkng about it. However I know what guns
I'd be using and they'd be those that most efficiently killed animals
of approx the same size/weight.

I'm betting you've never used an 18" shotgun with 4 buck on those goats,
right? Well, I can assure you it's an excellent defense load within 50
feet. I have one because I replicated what several police officers have
told me is what they've used with literally 100% success.

Max