Loading 7.62x39 Russian

BC38

BC38

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The one thing I'm short on for reloading this round is bullets.

I'm looking at a deal on some 147gr jacketed BT that I would load using data for 150gr jacketed BT.

These would be shot through a PSA AK and a Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 upper.

What I'm reading is that the 7.62x39 Russian AK round uses a nominal bullet diameter of .311

The bullets I'm looking at are 30cal - nominal diameter of 3.08

Are these bullets too undersized to properly engage the rifling for enough stabilizing spin?

I've read that slightly undersized bullets are less of an issue with jacketed bullets, so I'm wondering what (if any) experience the reloading gurus around here have had shooting .308 through a .311 bore

All input welcomed.
 
That is correct, ye olde com block has a slightly larger bore.
the typical bullet for this cartridge is 123 grain. Hornady produces a few offerings for this cartridge.


As for using .308 in it, we are only talking about .003"
Accuracy will likely suffer some, but not as much as would be the case with cast lead.
But then ... why compromise?
While it is not as popular, and the selection not as vast as those from the .308 shelf, Hodgdon lists 5 weights in suitable diameters.
You can play with it within these parameters and likely find things you will like.
 
My experience with the 7.62x39 has been with mostly cast but some jacketed bullets in two Ruger bolt-actions some years ago. Cast bullets had to be .310" or .311" for decent accuracy, but jacketed bullets of .308" to .310" (maybe .311", don't remember for sure) worked well. I don't recall any difference in accuracy.
 
Speer makes a 125 gr .311 SP with a cannelure in the right place for the correct OAL of the 7.62x39 ctg. Hornady makes one in .310 dia. I have tried both and the Speer .311 bullet gives more velocity and better accuracy. Bores of AKs probably run a bit large so if you really want 150 gr bullets most companies make them in .311 dia for the .303 British and Hornady makes a .312 150 gr bullet. Haven't tried .308 bullets but I wouldn't expect them to be accurate or yield good velocities.
 
Not a guru by any means, but I have shot 123 gr. and 150 gr .308 bullets through my SKS. The 123s shot typically for the SKS. I was not impressed with the 150s, though they were surplus, and not commercial. As alwslate said, if you're looking for decent accuracy, I'd try some .311 dia. first. If your BCA upper is .308, the 147s you're looking at might do well.
 
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The reason for the "compromise" is to be able to reload plinking rounds inexpensively. I'm not looking for long-range precision target-accuracy for plinking. I have a fair amount of factory ammo for that kind of shooting.

My goal, and my question, is more about reloading for range fodder so I can save my supply of factory ammo.

Doing a quick search on AmmoSeek, it seems like the few companies who actually do manufacture a limited selection of .311-.312 reloading bullets for the 7.62x39 Russian round (Speer, Hornady, etc.) all want at least 20-30 cents each for them. At that price the savings barely justify the effort of reloading.

The .308 bullets I'm considering buying are in the range of 9-10 cents each.

If the accuracy of a .308 jacketed bullet will get me within minute of bad guy, then they would be good enough for the range/practice ammo I want to reload.

But if they are going to "pattern" rather than "group" I'll pass.

Hopefully that perspective makes sense and gives a little more clarification on my original question.

Again. any additional feedback/experience anyone has to offer is appreciated.
 
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I've had two SKSs years ago; didn't care for them, but I did try a variety of cast and jacketed bullets in them. These all shot at least as well as the sardine-can 7.62x39 ammo.

An accurate jacketed bullet in my Ruger bolt-action was the 150 gr. Hornady roundnose .30-30 bullet. Max. load gave almost 2300 fps. I've seen good accuracy with many jacketed bullets, but I'm unaware of any that are cheap.
 
rockquarry said:
I've had two SKSs years ago; didn't care for them, but I did try a variety of cast and jacketed bullets in them. These all shot at least as well as the sardine-can 7.62x39 ammo.

An accurate jacketed bullet in my Ruger bolt-action was the 150 gr. Hornady roundnose .30-30 bullet. Max. load gave almost 2300 fps. I've seen good accuracy with many jacketed bullets, but I'm unaware of any that are cheap.
Click to expand...

You've hit the nail on the head - .310-.312 bullets are too expensive to make reloading range ammo much cheaper than factory ammo.

BUT, if jacketed .308 bullets at 9-10 cents each will even give reasonable accuracy, then I'm willing to give them a try.

I'm willing to "compromise" accuracy for economy - up to a point.
 
venomballistics said:
Access Denied
For a little bit of an initial outlay, you can meet those objectives fairly easily.
A six holer like this one can rain plenty of pills to support most blastathons in about an hour or two.
A good coating method and you're set
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's great - if you're already set up for casting and can just buy another mold. Obviously that's where you are - but I'm not, and the overall investment I would need to make to buy all the equipment (pots, molds, AND lead - which is becoming increasingly hard to find) to cast my own doesn't really appeal to me at this point. Not everyone wants to make the investment of both time and money to cast their own bullets. I know I don't. Heck, I can barely find the time to reload with commercial bullets, much less cast my own bullets AND reload.

But thanks for making the suggestion.
 
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You can find....

.311" bullets. I also load 7.7 Arisakas which use .312"as well as the 7.62 x 54 Russian and the .303 British (but I don't load that one).

I load 7.62 x 39 for my SKS and the problem isn't finding bullets, but finding the brass after the rifle ejects them into orbit.:confused::eek:
 
rwsmith said:
.311" bullets. I also load 7.7 Arisakas which use .312"as well as the 7.62 x 54 Russian and the .303 British (but I don't load that one).

I load 7.62 x 39 for my SKS and the problem isn't finding bullets, but finding the brass after the rifle ejects them into orbit.:confused::eek:
Click to expand...

LOL, I hear ya' on the orbital ejection...
As I mentioned earlier, .311 and even .312 bullets are available, but they are too EXPENSIVE - do you know anywhere I can find them for <10 cents each?.
The question I'm asking is, have you used .308 jacketed bullets to reload for your SKS?
And if so, what kind of results did you get?
But I'm also open to a source of INEXPENSIVE .311 or .312 bullets.
 
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I shoot and reload the 7.62x39 for my Stoner/PSA upper/lower AR15. I’ve reloaded and shot .308”, .310” & .311” bullets. The .308” were 125 & 130 grain while the .310”/.311” were at 123/125 grain. Bullet brands have been Berry, XTreme, Nosler, HORNADY and Speer (so far). I’ve chronograph most if not all of them. From my experience, the .308”/130 grain will run some 200 to 300 fps slower then the .310\.311” dia, 125 grain bullets - 1730fps on average. Now there is a 5 grain difference in weight but I wouldn’t expect that velocity differential. With a Speer .308”/125 grain and the XTreme ..310”/125 grain bullet the differential is only about 100fps lower with the .308” bullet. The Berry bullets are velocity limited to 2000fps. They go real squirrely at velocity near that speed. Accuracy suffers noticeably.
 
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Some 7.62x39 die sets (e.g. RCBS) include two expander balls, one in .311 and the other in .308. Using the latter and .308 bullets my Chinese SKS is acceptable for plinking out to about 50 yards. A .311 expander ball might not allow the case to grip a .308 bullet enough to prevent telescoping during the feeding cycle, nor enough neck tension for consistent burn.
 
FWIW, I wouldn’t bother with .308 diameter bullets in 7.62x39 if your interest is accuracy, unless your barrel is specifically made for them. I have no experience with SKS or AK type rifles but in the bolt action sporters and Ruger Mini that I have owned .308 bullets were a disappointment. I have Hornadys and Sierra SPs for the 7.62x39 and both seem about equally accurate in my rifles. The Hornady has a cannelure, which is nice to have when loading for the Mini-30.
 
Way back when Soviet-bloc rifles started arriving in the US (at bargain prices like $69 SKS or $99 AK type) a good friend got into them. He was not a reloader and asked me to assist.

First problem in the early days was finding Boxer-primed cases. The Berdan-primed can be reloaded with the proper tools and a supply of the correct Berdan primers, but those proved elusive. We located a supply of new cases, moderately expensive but he decided to bite the bullet (so to speak).

Next issue was bullet diameter, which as others have pointed out as being .311-.312" nominal standard. The old commie-surplus rifles had bore and groove diameters running at large as .317" or so, and that provides an additional challenge.

I was already casting bullets for .30 caliber rifles and .32-20 Winchester at the time and had a mold for a 115-grain RN-FP-gas check that dropped hard lead alloys at .313". I was using those as cast in .32-20, also sizing to .310" for .30 Carbine. With minimal trouble we ended up with a 7.62X39 load using that bullet at ~2100FPS and functioned well in both the SKS and AK rifles my friend owned.

Bullet casting today would require a significant investment in equipment as well as a period of time to master the art and science involved. I would suggest looking at some of the on-line sources for hard cast bullets ready to use. Several offer several diameters so it should not be terribly difficult to locate a few likely candidates. After trying a batch (perhaps 100 each) to work up a functional load you might consider ordering in quantities (500 or 1000), probably be able to secure your needs for around a dime apiece or so.

Load data is probably available from the members of the "cast boolits" forum. A quick Google-search should get you there and joining the forum is quick and easy. Lots of very helpful and knowledgeable folks there and several have probably already done exactly what you want to accomplish.
 
M29since14 said:
FWIW, I wouldn’t bother with .308 diameter bullets in 7.62x39 if your interest is accuracy, unless your barrel is specifically made for them. I have no experience with SKS or AK type rifles but in the bolt action sporters and Ruger Mini that I have owned .308 bullets were a disappointment. I have Hornadys and Sierra SPs for the 7.62x39 and both seem about equally accurate in my rifles. The Hornady has a cannelure, which is nice to have when loading for the Mini-30.
Click to expand...
Can you share some more specifics about this?
What kind of accuracy at what distance did you experience with the .308 bullets?
And for comparison, what were your results with the Hornady and Sierra bullets?
 
BC38 said:
Can you share some more specifics about this?
What kind of accuracy at what distance did you experience with the .308 bullets?
And for comparison, what were your results with the Hornady and Sierra bullets?
Click to expand...

All guns are different, but .308 jacketed bullets were accurate for me in a Ruger bolt-action. So were other diameters. Again, I'm speaking of jacketed bullets only. Cast bullets should be .310" or.311". I prefer .311".
 
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