7.62X39 Ammo

jimmyj

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Hi:
Planning of shooting a Chinese SKS Rifle. I heard that some brands of this caliber has lacquered cases and will gum up the bore and action ?
What is a decent brand of 77.62X39 Ammo ?
Thanks,
jimmy
 
For an SKS or AK, almost anything will work. Yeah some of the commie ammo can be messy but their guns were designed to run that stuff. I have never had a problem with commie ammo in commie guns. Back in the day when we could get ammo from China, it was like $50 for 1,000 rounds of the stuff. It was ugly, copper washed steel cases with steel core projectiles. It still shot fine though. Try running it in an AR15 and that's when you start having problems.
 
I think most any ammo will work in an AK/SKS, even the older corrosive but just clean it properly.
Current stuff I run is Wolf and Tula with some Monarch occasionally. Whatever I find cheapest. I think most of it is poly coated now but I wouldn't balk on the lacquer stuff at all.
 
What Kurac said! Those rifles will run on stuff that would choke just about anything else. I've been buying Winchester and Hornady soft nose ammo for social use and they seem safe to fire with the no spring inertia fireing pins the SKS and AK's use. For range work I buy the surplus Russian stuff, amazingly dirty but it works. As Kurac said keep that overseas 5.56 stuff out of a AR-15.
 
The cases are lacquer coated because the cases are steel, to keep them from rusting. The coating burns off in firing but will not gum up an SKS.
 
Regarding 7.62x39 ammo, the folks on the various AK forums love Golden Tiger. It's a 124 grain FMJBT round with a lacquered steel case and non-corrosive primer. The casing neck and primer are sealed for improved long term storage. It's made in Russia by Vympel. Right now, it's hard to come by. I've only seen it on one internet ammo website.
 
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I've shot a variety of Russian and Chinese non corrosive ammo in my
SKSs and AKs with no problems. The various coatings on the steel
cases are thin and don't build up in the chambers. The only ammo that
has caused me a problem was S&B commercial 7.62X39 that has a
rather thick coating on the steel cases that caused some rounds to
stick in the chambers.
 
The older Wolf ammo had the lacquered casings, and it was notorious for jamming ARs. AKs will eat anything ... the newer Wolf variants function flawlessly, and run ~ $225/1,000.
 
Regarding 7.62x39 ammo, the folks on the various AK forums love Golden Tiger. It's a 124 grain FMJBT round with a lacquered steel case and non-corrosive primer. The casing neck and primer are sealed for improved long term storage. It's made in Russia by Vympel. Right now, it's hard to come by. I've only seen it on one internet ammo website.

Golden tiger is indeed the "cat's meow." Down to 1000 rounds and very hard to come by. Would you car to share the website where you saw it?
 
Golden tiger is indeed the "cat's meow." Down to 1000 rounds and very hard to come by. Would you car to share the website where you saw it?

I still have some South African and East German 7.62 x 39, I thought those were the cats meow.
 
The design of the SKS is such that it was meant to run in conditions that most other guns would choke on. Steel cased ammo is what is was designed to shoot, and the poly coating is a contemporary upgrade.

The Ruskies being very practical sorts, designed the SKS where it does not require any precision tolerance machined parts which during war time conditions, when push comes to shove, repairs or production can be done in some pretty crude conditions resulting equally crude parts... the saying "close enough for government work" rings true for the SKS.

The SKS is the Timex watch (for those not old enough to remember the advertising... It takes a licking and keeps on ticking) of gas operated rifles.

Find the best bargain on 7.62x39 and have at it.
 
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Commie guns were designed to shoot steel cased ammo. The older Wolf ammo had a coat of lacquer on the cases. The newer production Wolf has some sort of powder. It is a lot cleaner.

American guns are where you get into trouble with it.
 

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