Just curious, but has anyone loaded the 125 Gr. bullets made for the .303 out of their 7.62X39 platforms? I have a Howa 1500 mini action which is, for me, a lovely little deer gun. It's lovely to carry when I'm pushing or scouting and accurate (sub MOA) with the Hornady 123 Gr. SST or Z-Max bullets. I have the latest edition Lyman reloading book and there's no data for the 125 gr. bullets. I have an almost full box of Speer 125 gr. Hot-Cor but my lone .303 doesn't get good accuracy with that particular bullet. I was debating about seeing how it would perform out of the Howa. That said, have any of you guys worked up a bullet/powder combination for those components?
125 Gr. .311 bullets in a 7.62X39
- Thread starter LawrenceN
- Start date
Well, thank you all for your input. I was fortunate enough to stumble across the complete manual for reloading 7.62X39 so now I have all the data I need to start working up trial loads with the different bullets and powders.
OP, that Howa will easily take substantially higher pressures than those listed for the SKS.
Most manuals are set up for the SKS pressure curve.
The bolt action rifles are supposedly much stronger, that's up for debate, but as the military accepts them, loads/pressures are kept within those limits.
The CZ527/Howa and even the Zastava Mini Mausers will easily digest hotter loads.
As for the .001 diameter difference, nothing to worry about, except it may not be as accurate in your rifle as .310 diameter bullets.
My Howa will shoot .308 to .312 diameter ammo well.
The biggest problem is that most 7.62x39 use large rifle primers the base expands at much more than SKS pressures. I previously had Remington brass which I can no longer find the used the small primer and could get 200 fps more than with the large primer. There is not enough brass around the primer pocket with the large primer.
This has been my experience.
Neil
I'm using Winchester brass, with large primer pockets. My loads don't give me any more measurable expansion than the small primer pocket cases I tried.
I actually traded off the Remington brass I had for the Winchester, because I have a lot more LRMPs on hand.
That works for you good. I was able to get 2600 with the 125 Sierras in the rp brass and only 2400 with the Privi bras and I had better accuracy with the RP. I just can't find any RP without paying $50 for a box of ammo. I'm not trying to start an argument just relaying my findings.
Neil
