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Peter and the sibling comment to this one seem to be ill-informed about firearms. unless you are the worst hunter in the entire world, would never need such a

Peter and the sibling comment to this one seem to be ill-informed about firearms. unless you are the worst hunter in the entire world, would never need such a weapon for hunting. It's like a bow and arrow with a grenade on the end. This is false. An AK-47 shoots 7.62x39 cartridges, similar to .308 Winchester, which is a very common load for deer hunting. I own an SKS, which was the predecessor to the AK, and shoots the same ammo. It's very cheap, and like the AK is very reliable. This, plus some quirks of US gun control laws, have made this a very popular hunting rifle. The sibling comment said I know a guy who hunts with an AR-15. Is that necessary in any way? Actually, he's got it completely backwards. The loads used in an AR-15 are too weak to use in deer hunting, unless you're a damned good shot. It's a 5.56mm bullet -- essentially a .22 caliber bullet, but with a bunch more velocity to it. This standard NATO round was designed (or maybe later rationalized?) with two important features: (1) it's smaller and lighter, allowing a soldier to carry more of them; and (2) it generally does not kill its human target (and understand that deer are tougher than humans in this regard), and thus ties up not just the enemy's wounded, but also medical resources in caring for the wounded. The bottom line is that deer, and even more so, bears, elk, moose, etc., are really tough prey. It takes a lot more to take down one of them than it does to incapacitate a human enemy. Thus you need greater kinetic energy from your ammunition when hunting them. This, of course, says nothing about rate of fire. Semi-auto is very helpful to a hunter. However, full auto is not useful. But then again, it's not very useful to most soldiers, either. That's why the later NATO assault rifles -- M16A2 -- no longer feature full auto. They're selectable to single shot, or three-round bursts. EDIT, clarification: actually, saying that it takes more kinetic energy for large game is only part of the picture. The real key is energy transferred to the target. So a solid bullet that passes through the target does less harm than a bullet that fragments and gets caught up in the target, thus imparting all of its energy into the target.

peterwwillis 14y ago
What I was saying about the AK-47 is that it's overkill in terms of weapons designed for hunting deer. The AK is designed to work in the sand after being left in the desert for a year and shoot practically like new. The clip is (imho) overkill - you really need more than 5 rounds to take down a single buck? And like you mentioned, full-automatic is dumb for hunting (thought I might appreciate it if I suddenly discovered a grizzly in my tent at 3am). I'm no great hunter, but an assault rifle is IMHO not best suited for hunting game. Effective stopping power is important, but so is picking the right tool for the job.
- freehunter 14y ago
  you really need more than 5 rounds to take down a single buck? I have an SKS with 5 rounds in it. I don't need 5 to take down one, but it's not uncommon to fire two or three shots at once. It's nice to know that if you do that, there's still two or three left if the herd swings back around. Other than that, 5 rounds is the smallest magazine they make. Bolt-action is a great detriment when it comes to hunting.
  - peterwwillis 14y ago
    Like in my original comment, i'm talking about the AK, not the SKS. I think more than 5 rounds in a clip is overkill for this application. Five is a fine number for the SKS. I can see using an SKS for hunting, but an AK-47? "LOOK OUT, ITS BAMBIE! FLIP IT TO FULL AUTO, CLETUS!" And really, I believe if you're going to use something like a gun which has a huge advantage over every other traditional human-vs-mammal hunting tool, you should be using bolt action at the very least. Be sportsmanlike, don't go for that semi-auto crap (which I used to use). (p.s. you can use up to 10 rounds in an SKS with a stripper clip, but i'll assume nobody would do that for hunting)
freehunter 14y ago
Hey, another SKS hunter! Besides a 30.06, that's hands down the best hunting rifle I've ever used. It doesn't have the range or stopping power of a 30.06, but it's so much more reliable. If you need to get two or three shots out (depending on how many licenses you have) at a herd of deer... the SKS has never let me down when it comes to dropping my limit in a single morning. I've had the 30.06 jam up far too often. Back at the handgun comment further up the discussion, my grandpa used to carry a .22 pistol with him hunting in case the deer was wounded but not dead. I don't care much for pistols though.

peterwwillis 14y ago

What I was saying about the AK-47 is that it's overkill in terms of weapons designed for hunting deer. The AK is designed to work in the sand after being left in the desert for a year and shoot practically like new. The clip is (imho) overkill - you really need more than 5 rounds to take down a single buck? And like you mentioned, full-automatic is dumb for hunting (thought I might appreciate it if I suddenly discovered a grizzly in my tent at 3am). I'm no great hunter, but an assault rifle is IMHO not best suited for hunting game. Effective stopping power is important, but so is picking the right tool for the job.

freehunter 14y ago
you really need more than 5 rounds to take down a single buck? I have an SKS with 5 rounds in it. I don't need 5 to take down one, but it's not uncommon to fire two or three shots at once. It's nice to know that if you do that, there's still two or three left if the herd swings back around. Other than that, 5 rounds is the smallest magazine they make. Bolt-action is a great detriment when it comes to hunting.
- peterwwillis 14y ago
  Like in my original comment, i'm talking about the AK, not the SKS. I think more than 5 rounds in a clip is overkill for this application. Five is a fine number for the SKS. I can see using an SKS for hunting, but an AK-47? "LOOK OUT, ITS BAMBIE! FLIP IT TO FULL AUTO, CLETUS!" And really, I believe if you're going to use something like a gun which has a huge advantage over every other traditional human-vs-mammal hunting tool, you should be using bolt action at the very least. Be sportsmanlike, don't go for that semi-auto crap (which I used to use). (p.s. you can use up to 10 rounds in an SKS with a stripper clip, but i'll assume nobody would do that for hunting)

freehunter 14y ago

Hey, another SKS hunter! Besides a 30.06, that's hands down the best hunting rifle I've ever used. It doesn't have the range or stopping power of a 30.06, but it's so much more reliable. If you need to get two or three shots out (depending on how many licenses you have) at a herd of deer... the SKS has never let me down when it comes to dropping my limit in a single morning. I've had the 30.06 jam up far too often. Back at the handgun comment further up the discussion, my grandpa used to carry a .22 pistol with him hunting in case the deer was wounded but not dead. I don't care much for pistols though.