ranges locally are 200 yards or less for the most part - I hear some of the old timers used to load these for Jr's and Reduced recoil at 200 - 300 yards
thoughts?
Why not? I use them in the 7.62x39 for hunting.
They will work, trajectory will be different than 150 gr, but if enough to make a difference is unknown.
I would use them out to 300 or 400 yards, no problem.
125 grain soft points work great in a bolt gun if you shoot a semi-auto you may want to go with a ballistic tip or hollow point. I shoot 125 Nosler ballistic tips in my ar-10 for rodents and coyotes, I also shoot Speer TNT 125 hollow points but they don't expand as well in a prairie dog. Both are very accurate rounds in my rifle