Need information on reloading

[Gus]

7.62 x 39

Moon and I were discussing reloading in general and 7.62 x 39 came into the conversation. I thought this caliber used .308" bullets and moon correctly pointed out the russians actually used .311" bullets. My question is this, does anyone here reload or know anyone that reloads 7.62 x 39 and have they used .308" bullets? If so how do they preform, I once pushed a .308" 150 grain bullet through the barrel of a yugo M70 AK-47 that had signs of wear at the muzzle end of the barrel. It left what I thought were good rifling marks on the bullet, makes me think a .308" bullet should work in an AK-47 with 7.62 x 39 caliber ... what do y'all think ... thanks for the input?

Gus

7.62 mm caliber
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
There are many cartridges which use 7.62 mm caliber bullets. The measurement equals 0.30 inches. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, and was most commonly used for indicating a class of full power military Main Battle Rifle (MBR) cartridges.

7.62 mm refers to the diameter of the lands in the barrel (see article on rifling for description of lands). The actual bullet caliber is normally .308 in (7.82 mm), although Soviet weapons commonly use a .311 in (7.91 mm) bullet, as do older British (.303 British) and Japanese cartridges.

[Preacher]

I done a search back during the Gunco days and posted my findings. Let me take a look.

[Preacher]

Here ya go:

http://www.reloadammo.com/762rload.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/7-62soviet.htm
http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=66

[Preacher]

Gus, I overlooked the original question of using 308 bullets. I can't remember where I read it, but I have seen that it works OK. The process is called "Bore Riding."

Some folks do this on purpose because they say it is more accurate. But from what I have seen it is almost like the argument of which is better, the AK or the AR.

You may want to try doing a search on bore riding, bore rider...etc.

[9teen11]

If you use a smaller pill it is possible that it wont seal in the bore perfectly, meaning, there is not enough meat on the projectile to fill the depth difference between the lands & grooves. This allows gas to pass between the projectile & the bore & can prematurely wear our a barrel.

When we were shooting comp, we would always "slug" a barrel by drifting a lead projectile through it & then, using a micrometer, measure the rifled slug. We would then size a projectile 2 thou larger than the measured slug & get a perfect seal that way.

Having typed all that crap, Id be happy to shoot 308 through one. Come to think of it, Id be happy to shoot anything.

[5knives]

Some of the Chinese military ammo will mike ot at .312.

I'm still using up the Speer .311 bullets I bought 10 years ago, for what little reloading of 7.62x39 that I do.

Most people bothering to reload (which for years consisted pulling the fmj GI bullet, putting the powder back in and seating a 'sporting' bullet.) The Speer was a common choice and performed very well on game.

Only the Ruger mini-14 is/was bored for a .308 bullet, but handled the .310, .311 and the streay .312 quite well.

opionion seems to be that the tighter bullets were more accurate in the better SKS's and the rare bolt action, didn;t seem to matter with AK variants or the mini-14. .

I quit reloading 7.62x39 when the HP and the softpoints appeared, they met WI game laws and performed very well, (FMJ not allowed for hunting)

7,62x39 dies should work with anything in that range. Slight undersized bullets used to be intentional in some European military firearms, feeling was that while it increased blow by and reduced accuraccy very slightly, it reduced barrel wear. Dont know if anyone ever proved anything one way or the other.

1911 was typinmg while I was, yup! that's the drill!

Never bothered with any SKS or AJK type.

Regards,

[Gus]

Thanks everyone for all the information ... I now feel confident a guy could use a .308" bullet in a Russian cartridge that was designed to use a .311" bullet.

I'm not sure I'll ever reload 7.62 x 39 as the brass expense is ridiculous IMO.
I just wanted to have a clear understanding of what could be done. And yes I do realize that the .003" smaller ID will make for a less sealed fit in the barrel and some gas will of course leak by.

Hell there just AK-47's that ought to work just fine

Thanks everyone ... and AK enthusiasts please don't be offended by my last comment.

[Cephus]

Gus a .308 would be like what some call a bore rider that is where the only thing that it catches is the lands just enough for it twist !! There were some that used to use this method with the 50 and the leadloy(sp) bullets these were made from a soft steel !!
They did real well with them ,alot harder to work a load up for but they did work just fine !!

[WFO2]

I would tell you that what gave me a lot of info was to pull differant 7.362x39 bullets. Wolf , Golden Tiger, Barnal, Silver Bear, Brown Bear,Sellier & Ball and mic them . You will be surprised at what you find .

[WFO2]

Just an AK huh...Ok I will let that one slide............HA HA

[Moon]

I first heard of this discussion a few years ago when 7.62x39mm tracers were extremely hard to find and equally expensive. So, some schmoe on GoonsNet was asking about it and I believe the summary was very much like the one in this thread.

"Sure, the common-as-dirt .308" tracers will work fine. But don't expect any accuracy out of it. If you shoot a lot of them in a short amount of time, you'll probably ruin your barrel"