Savage 10 FCM Scout

[pricedo]

It's not that the 7.62 x 39 can't do the job but rather a matter of picking the best option for the job.
The job varies a lot from member to member on this board who could live anywhere in the world.
Then it depends on what you're hunting and where and what your options are.
I hunt in areas where fairly long shots occasionally occur and if I have a choice of other calibers my choice wouldn't be a 7.62 x39.
Of course if the 7.62 x 39 is the only gun you have that will be the one you're taking to the hunting field.
For relatively short-medium range hunting like hunting hogs at RDs ranch the 7.62 x 39 would be fine.
I always considered the 7.62 x 39 a "plinker" because of the limited availability of properly constructed expanding hunting bullets.
The milsurp ammo is all fmc which I won't use for hunting.

[Maximumbob54]

I don’t think anyone is trying to advocate for the commie caliber that it’s the end all be all cartridge. I know for living in the south just like the .30-30 it’s about all you would ever need from a rifle. Heck, the hogs here can be just as big as many of the deer. And I’ve seen plenty of HP and SP ammo available. It may just be a regional thing as to what sales according to what is hunted and how it’s hunted.

[Ranch Dog]

I always considered the 7.62 x 39 a "plinker" because of the limited availability of properly constructed expanding hunting bullets.
The milsurp ammo is all fmc which I won't use for hunting.

I think that is the general opinion, that all the ammo available for the rifle is the "Wolf" type brands but I have not had problems buying Federal, Remington, and Winchester jacketed lead core bullets here. What I didn't like is that that ammo is $20 plus a box but so is 30-30 Win ammo here on the shelf. Fellow 7.62x39 hunters browsing the shelves are who turned me on to the Priva Partisan round nose online.

I have also found out just how popular the cartridge is for hunting in this area; from the Rossi to the Ruger top breach rifles, the Zastava M85 Mini Mauser and Ruger Bolt rifles, and then the SKS and AK, a lot of people are hunting deer with this cartridge.

Now to the latest on my 10 FCM. It is on the way back to Savage for a review. The accuracy potential of the rifle isn't there no matter how or what I do which includes the use of 7 different brands of ammo. It has not been able to remain within my 2.5 MOA requirement on a consistent basis so I have stopped hunting with it. The chamber impression tells the truth and that is that the chamber is over spec and the barrel under. To help you visualizes, it is like you are shooting a bullet into the horn end of a trumpet. This might be Savage's attempt to use the shorter cartridge in a 308 Win action and barrel. In any case, the rifle (my rifle?) is not built to the SAAMI 7.62x39 spec. For me, there would be no way to design a cast bullet for this rifle. It would be physically impossible. Worse, than trying to address the issues with the Circuit Judge and cast bullets.

I contacted Savage Customer Service yesterday, the wait was about like Rossi CS, and they decided to have me send the rifle back to be review. They wanted the CAD drawings from my chamber impression which I included as part of my notes about the rifle. Now, I just wait to see what they do to correct the issue and that might take a while with the holidays. If this is how they build a 7.62x39, the rifle will be immediately put on the rack of my FLL. I hope this is not the case as I like the concept and quality of the rifle. Still, it haunts me that this is how they are made. If this is the case, I will go to the Zastava M85 Mini Mauser in the change out.

It is kind of bad when the Rossi Single Shot, which cost a quarter of the price, is shooting groups with the same ammo which are exactly a quarter of the size of the Savage. You would expect it to be the other way around. The only thing that needs to be cured on the Rossi is the light strikes on the CCI primers which will be dealt with as soon as hunting season is finished.

[Maximumbob54]

I bet they don't get many customers like you. It's going to be really hard for them to just turn around and say "It meets our spec" and not come out sounding foolish.

[akuser47]

keep us posted

[pricedo]

I bet they don't get many customers like you. It's going to be really hard for them to just turn around and say "It meets our spec" and not come out sounding foolish.

It seems the whole issue with this particular caliber is.......WHAT SPECS?

I'm no super-dooper gun expert but I do have eyes and ears with a still functioning brain between them and I'm not bad at observing and drawing the obvious conclusions and know a cluster *$#^&% when I see one.
First of all the 7.62 x 39 caliber designation is a misnomer right from the getgo.
The nominal caliber of the round as designed by the Soviets is 7.92 or 0.312 ".
I've never seen a cartridge where so many "liberties" are taken with the specs across the domain of rifle and cartridge manufacturers.
Ruger, Savage, Rossi and ammo manufacturers all seem to have a different idea of what the specs of the Kalashnikov cartridge are.
Apparently rifle manufacturers are making rifles that slug out at anywhere between 0.308 " and 0.312 " and ammo manufactueres seem to think that loading any bullet bullet in the same "grey area" of dimensioning will do.
Making rifles with barrels of an indeterminate sized bore and ammo with bullets of an indeterminate diameter for the same nominal cartridge is not a manufacturing paradigm that makes for accuracy.
I wish stakeholders in the manufacturing industry would decide once and for all what the 7.62 x 39 is and then manufacture rifles and ammo in accordance with that determination.
Most people buy the cheap SKS and AK-47 knock-offs along with the inexpensive "Wolf" ammo as Saturday afternoon noise makers and pie plate accuracy at 20 yards will do for that purpose.
Considering the "elasticity" of manufacturing specs for this cartridge serious hunters need to be especially diligent in matching gun to ammo to obtain acceptable accuracy & game killing proficiency.

[Ranch Dog]

It seems the whole issue with this particular caliber is......

No shades of gray here. SAAMI and CIP publish the chamber specification.

[pricedo]

It seems the whole issue with this particular caliber is......

No shades of gray here. SAAMI and CIP publish the chamber specification.

Now if we could only get the gun and ammo manufacturers on boad to faithfully translate the SAAMI specs into wood, steel, copper & lead.
The lack of SAAMI specs for the 7.62 x 39 doesn't appear to be the problem here.......consistent adherence to them across the wide spectrum of gun & ammo manufacturers apparently IS.

[Ranch Dog]

It seems the whole issue with this particular caliber is......

No shades of gray here. SAAMI and CIP publish the chamber specification.

Now if we could only get the gun and ammo manufacturers on boad to faithfully translate the SAAMI specs into wood, steel, copper & lead.
The lack of SAAMI specs for the 7.62 x 39 doesn't appear to be the problem here.......consistent adherence to them across the wide spectrum of gun & ammo manufacturers apparently IS.

Well, just like my experience with my other Rossi's, my R762MB was cut exactly to spec.

I've always thought the Rossi gun boxes rather "cheesy", but the Savage box was paper thin and very beat up so I chunked it when I received it. I sent the 10 FCM to Savage in the R762MB box just for grins! May be the specs of Rossi will rub off on the Savage!

[pricedo]

I have 3 Savage bolt action rifles (2 SS + 1 B) and they have been perfect and dead-on accurate from the minute I took them out of the box.
Owned Savage rifles in the past including 3 x Savage 99s and thought they were good but the Accu-trigger/stock has made shooting them significantly better.
Sorry your Savage experience was less than positive.
Such is not par for the course for Savage firearms.
Savage makes products that I WILL buy sight unseen.