I was curious about this caliber and bought a CZ 527 carbine last year to try it out as an all purpose varmint rifle that I could also take deer and feral hogs with. So far I have enjoyed excellent performance out of it. I took an average sized whitetail doe at 100 yards with it using Soviet (Wolf) soft point ammo. I forget the bullet weight. I took several coyotes out to 120 yards after mounting a 6X scope on it using the same ammo. Hide damage was minimal and I saw no difference in performance between it and my .223 Remington at that range. I go to Texas about every spring to hunt coyote, bobcat, Javelina and feral hogs. Ranges in the brush country (except tower shooting over a sendero) seldom exceed 100 yards. I took a 250-300 pound (estimate) feral hog boar with it using the Soviet hollow point bullet with a solid shoulder shot and put him right down. I really like this rig as an all-purpose varmint rifle that is capable of taking deer and feral hogs. I believe it is superior to the .223 out to 150 yards on game over 60 pounds. I also believe that for most varmint hunting that the .223 has about a 50 yard advantage over the 7.62X39 in the 200+ yard range. But at that range neither is as effective as many other rifles. It isn't a particularly well supported round by writers in the states because there is always something else that will do better... but as a compromise round which is very economical to shoot I have absolutely no complaints. When I go back to Texas next spring this rifle will be my choice. (Nice looking young lady!)