Anyone reload 7.62 x 39 ammo?

[Rule3]

I try to reload for every caliber I own, I never got the dies for 7.62 x 39 as the ammo was cheap and I do not shoot much of it.

Now that everything is outrageous or not available I have thought about.

But from what I have read most guns using this caliber do a lot of damage to the real brass cases. I guess the ejector really dents it.

So any experience here reloading for a SKS or AK??

 

[aphelion]

I only shoot reloads in my 7.62 AR.

 

[kwselke]

I try to reload for every caliber I own, I never got the dies for 7.62 x 39 as the ammo was cheap and I do not shoot much of it.

Now that everything is outrageous or not available I have thought about.

But from what I have read most guns using this caliber do a lot of damage to the real brass cases. I guess the ejector really dents it.

So any experience here reloading for a SKS or AK??

I've loaded jacketed soft point hunting ammo for my SKS. I have not reloaded enough fired brass to realize that there may be abnormal wear on real brass casings. If I just want to spray, the steel case FMJ is much cheaper. My hand loads are more accurate and effective. It is not hard to load for.

 

[Rule3]

I've loaded jacketed soft point hunting ammo for my SKS. I have not reloaded enough fired brass to realize that there may be abnormal wear on real brass casings. If I just want to spray, the steel case FMJ is much cheaper. My hand loads are more accurate and effective. It is not hard to load for.

Do you turn the gas off and single shot it?

I have never shot real brass out of any of them so I do not know or have not seen what it does to the brass. Only pictures on another forum. I am not a blaster, even with my 223 AR I just shoot like any semi auto rifle or handgun.

 

[reloader7.62]

I've reloaded for two different SKS rifle for about 7 years now a Chinese and Yugoslavian and have around 5 to 7 reloads on the brass and it's still doing just fine. Probably half that is with cast bullet loads which are much easier on the brass as the pressure curve on the cast loads with the powders and charge weights I use don't cycle the actions quiet as fast and hard and dumps the brass fairly close to my shooting position. The pressure curve the load creates determines how fast the bolt cycles which in turn determines both direction and distance the brass goes. You can actually tune the gas tube on an SKS rifle by drilling a series of hole in the tube to vent off pressure that affect the gas piston but that another story for another time.

SKS rifles are way over gassed as well as AK's but there designed that way so they cycle reliably in harsh conditions which in turn can beats the brass up more due to the force of ejection and slamming the next rd. into the chamber,this is mostly due to the bolt head and ejector force it hits the case head. The designer of these two weapons as well as many other military type rifle never took reloading into consideration when they designed those weapons. Never owned or reloaded for an AK so can't help you there as far as what it does to the brass.

I started reloading for my SKS rifle as soon as I made my first rifle purchase. I never want to depend on imports or market forces to determine if I have ammo for my rifles or not,plus I wanted more accurate better quality and cleaner ammo as well as being able to choose what type and weight of bullets I shoot. I have a nice stash of steel case ammo mainly Golden Tiger and Bear ammo as it shoot fairly consistent in my rifles from lot to lot,but I keep that stashed back along with reloading components I bough up years ago for a rainy day. Nowadays I just mainly shoot cast lead bullets,they cost me around 7 to 9 cents per rd. to produce.

Cast loads.

If I recall some of this brass pictured has five reloading on it,it's actually a pic I did for a bolt drop primer test.

 

[cjw3]

I reloaded a good bit of it up until just a few years ago. When I started with it in the late eighties you couldn't find soft point ammo for it, so I made up a few batches of that using everything from 110 grain bullets up to 150 grains. I loaded some 150 soft points for a friend who used them to kill a couple of deer. He said it seemed to do just as well as a .30-30.

In the several SKS (Chicom) rifles I had then, it didn't seem to matter that the .308 bullets I was using were a little undersize. Each of them did as well with them as with the factory .311's. I briefly tried cast bullets, but never found a load any of them liked. If I had stuck with it I might have, but I have other rifles that are much easier to work with for using cast bullets.

My favorite powder was AA1680. Like all the AA powders, it flowed through the measure like water and burned clean. I also used IMR4198 and it was fine, just not as easy to meter as the 1680.

To keep up with the cases and protect them from damage, I would remove the piston from the gas tube and operate it as a straight pull.

I had three of them at one time; I remember the last one I bought in the late 80's was $85 or thereabouts. I still have one and will keep it; they are nice little rifles.

 

[reloader7.62]

Beside cast a few different rds. but not all I load for my SKS rifles.

I like AA1680 but nobody carries it around here anymore and I just avoid hazmat and shipping fees whenever possible. I finally settled on Reloader #7 for all my J bullet loads and it works equally as well for cast loads in semi-auto 7.62 x 39 rifles. For cast load I really like Alliant 2400 I can use as little as 12.5 grs. in the Chinese rifle and it cycle all day long and drops the brass right at my feet MV 1450+ fps. on the chrono,if I step the load up to 14.5 grs. MV is around 2K fps. and the brass ends up about 10 ft. away. The Yugo can be a bit fussy with cycling at time due to it's more loose tolerances on the gas system arrangement but the starting charge of 18.0 grs. of Reloader #7 has a little higher pressure curve and takes care of that issue. My cast loads will shoot under 1" at 50 yds. with the irons all day long.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Been running reloads through a Mini-30 for many years. Including a gaschecked 150 gr. cast bullet. All work fine.

 

[bobcat7677]

Aye!

I bought all the stuff to do it during Mr. Clinton's tenure when prices on 7.62x39 went through the roof. Still have all the stuff, some primed and unprimed brass, ect, but have not actually loaded any for years now. When I did it before I would take the gas piston out of my SKS, put the gas tube back on and fire it single shot that way so I could easily keep track of the brass. Plus, by manually ejecting each case, the cases tended to take quite a bit less abuse. Never tried with an AK, but I imagine you could do the same thing (unscrew the gas piston from the bolt carrier). Mostly loaded 125gr SPs, but also tried 110gr HPs which made for a nice home defense round (hit hard, but tended not to penetrate much for a rifle round).

 

[Rule3]

Well if this "crisis" ever ends I will have to find some brass and get some dies and give it go.

You think cast bullets sized at .311 work better than 308-9??

 

[reloader7.62]

Well if this "crisis" ever ends I will have to find some brass and get some dies and give it go.

You think cast bullets sized at .311 work better than 308-9??

Before you buy a mold it would be a good idea to slug the bore to find out what the groove to groove dia. is. You want you cast bullets to be between .001" and .002" over groove dia. Both my SKS rifle have .312" groove bores I shoot a .314" gas checked bullet in both rifles.

 

[Czbilly]

Good Info. Keep in mind once you get set up you may add another gun like a CZ carbine to take this flavor also. It definetely takes the 311 bullets.

 

[Smithhound]

I reload for my AK, loaded enough to establish a reliable load using AA1680. I found that when the case is ejected it flips back and contacts the edge of the dust cover and puts a nice dent in the side of the case. My solution was to simply use some electrical tape over a cotton ball at the edge of the DC, dumb looking but works. I've never shot enough of it to have to worry about it tho', bought several thousand surplus rounds and have pretty much not played with it.
RD

 

[Rule3]

On another forum a guy said he used something like Shoe Goop or heavy silicone to cushion the area were the brass was hitting, same idea as yours.

 

[David Sinko]

My Polish AKM with NDS-1 receiver does not ding the brass at all. This is quite the exception though, as all others I've owned and used do inflict a dent of some kind. It doesn't matter though, as I can still get at least 10 loadings per case, and some do look pretty ugly.

While 1680 is a good powder, I think I've had better success with IMR4198. In fact, the one and only load I have ever found that is both very accurate and shoots to the same point of impact as all the cheap Russian stuff in every AKM I have tried it in is the Hornady 123 gr. SP with 25.5 grs. of IMR4198. That seems to be the one load that can do no wrong.

The CCI 200 is the only primer I use and there is no danger of slam firing.

I no longer trim my brass and I have not yet met a single AKM that seems to care. They are not picky about what they will chamber.

This is definitely a cartridge worth reloading.

Dave Sinko

 

[jbbatok]

Perfect time for this thread!!
I made this round a project about 15 years ago and don't remember any problems with mangled brass in the Russ. SKS I used as a test bed, although I had to use CCI mil spec primers to eliminate doubles.
I just picked up a CZ 527 so I'll be back at it shortly. Will probably start with WW680 as I have a good stash of it I bought when Winchester discontinued it.
Good luck to ya on your project, keep us up to date!

 

[Smithhound]

This thread, regarding the case dings, just goes to prove that every gun is different in what it will and won't do. I suspect my ejector is long, but this being a Chicom model I don't think they cared.
I need to get back to work on this round, I've thought seriously about tracking down a bolt action 7.62x39 to play with, but waffle when I think about it's ballistics being about equal to a .30-30.
BTW, I can't remember the poster who had the cast bullets shown, but those were some good looking cast bullets.
RD

 

[retarmyaviator]

Anyone know of a source for .310-.311 FMJ bullets? Hornady offered these at one time but has since discontinued them.

 

[jbbatok]

Anyone know of a source for .310-.311 FMJ bullets? Hornady offered these at one time but has since discontinued them.

Found some 125 gr Sierras in stock at Brownells yesterday , got ship confirmaion this morning .

 

[reloader7.62]

Anyone know of a source for .310-.311 FMJ bullets? Hornady offered these at one time but has since discontinued them.

Keep a check at Graf & Sons they carry several different Hornady bullets nobody else does. There currently out of all bullets in .310 dia. but they carry the Hornady FMJ as well as the V-MAX.