Picket up spent case at the range yesterday and was surprised, don't laugh, it os VERY similar case to 6BR I was shooting. I mean, to the point where boltheads, extractors and magazines would probably work even in remington short action. Also, couldn't help but thought of it as 30 carbine on steroids. With such bullet diameter internal ballistics should be excellent. Must be fun cartridge to shoot and load for. Not that I never seen cartridge before, but after long time experimenting with many different cartridges this one made me think of what is possible. There must be good hunting loads developed for this one, right? Somebody somewhere must have rebarreled sks into precision shooting machine, tightly chambered, scoped and all? or built a bolt gun for this round?
7.62x39 cartridge
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MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Or you could build a tack-driving gun chambered in 6mm PPC, which is derived from the .220 Russian, which was based on the 7.62x39mm.
I have an old gun magazine somewhere where Robar modified a Rem 700 SA and chambered it in 7.62x39mm.
It was quite an accurate gun and they were touting it as a good choice for a police sniper round within ranges of 100 yards or so.
It hits with more energy than the .223 Rem and doesn't over-penetrate as much as the .308 Win at close range.
The 6.5mm Grendel is another round based on the .220 Russian/7.62x39mm cartridges that is creating quite a stir lately too.
I have an old gun magazine somewhere where Robar modified a Rem 700 SA and chambered it in 7.62x39mm.
It was quite an accurate gun and they were touting it as a good choice for a police sniper round within ranges of 100 yards or so.
It hits with more energy than the .223 Rem and doesn't over-penetrate as much as the .308 Win at close range.
The 6.5mm Grendel is another round based on the .220 Russian/7.62x39mm cartridges that is creating quite a stir lately too.
The 7.62x39 does not have stellar ballistics, it is comparable to the 30/30, but uses .312 calibre bullets, so you don't get the wide range of 308 bullet choices that are available. Plus most of the brass is milsurp steel cased berdan primed so its not easy to reload for.
tungngroove2000
CGN Regular
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I load for a cz 527 chambered in 7.62x39...I have 2 of them actually, one's a shooter and it' does "ok". it's not driving tacks but with the right loads it paper worthy to about 250 yds.
The only bolt guns I know of that were chambered in x39 were short, scout style rifles. The AIA one was pretty neat, based on a Lee Enfield action. The Soviets never really utilized it as a sniper round either, preferring to stick to the more powerful 762x54. Could be the rifles it was chambered in though.
MapleSugar
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Dies are easy to find for the 7.62x39mm, as well as bullets and brass.
I actually have some Redding dies, but have never used them.
Winchester and Lapua make brass for it, to name a few.
It takes a large primer and the same bullets as the .303 British and 7.62x54R.
In fact it nicely complements reloading for a Lee Enfield or Mosin-Nagant.
The standard 7.62x39mm M43 load has a 123 gr. bullet.
I have read of hunters reloading with 150 gr. bullets and using it successfully for hogs and deer sized game.
It doesn't have a flat trajectory, but it's reasonably accurate and has sufficient knockdown power.
Note: If reloading for a semi-auto rifle it would be wise to use CCI No. 34 military primers.
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