7.62 x 39 reloading....

greywolf

greywolf

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Ok , who here reloads 7.62 x 39 that can answer a couple of questions ?
Many reloading sites , bullet mfg's , and reloading manuals have different specs for the bullets , which bullet do you use, .308 , .310 , 0r .311 and which grain , and why ? many manuals and sites claim all 3 are good , which do you guys figure the best ?
 
I'm partial to the Hornady books.The latest is a couple grains lighter in MAX LOADS due to the newer SST bullets so I was told by Hornady.I load for my son's Chinese /blade bayonet SKS and it shots both .310 and .308 bullets well.Get Hornady dies as they throw in both sized expanders. I load 24 gr Win 748 /123gr .310 and get tennis ball sized groups at 75 yards.IMR 4198 and .308 /150gr bullets the same but I'll have to get the specific load from my book at home as I'm at work.Off the bench I shoot through a hole cut in a lrg cardboard box so as the brass ejects upwards and forewards it hits the box and falls in a neat pile on the bench.A sandbag keeps things in place.JMO Harold
 
a lot of my confusion here is basically that most books and sites say it is a .311 bore, but hornady sells the .310 bullets , then sierra sells them as .311 , so i'm assuming either can be shot , Of course then lee throws in a monkey wrench and says if using a larger bullet (150 gr ) then you should go to .308
So , now we have .308 , .310 , and .311 all can supposedly be shot from the same rifle , BUT ! which is now inherently the best performing ? I like the tennis ball groups , or better (is there such an animal ? )
 
I have shot a variety of .307, .308, .310, .311, and .312's in my mini-30 (.309-ish bore), ranging from 110 to 150 grains. All worked just fine. The very best accuracy has been with the 150 grain .312 Hornady's, and the 123 grain .310 Hornady's -- but other than the 110 grain .307 CMJ's, anything I've ever tried has shot within the "tennis ball at 75 yards" criteria.

I have a bunch of WC-735 surplus powder I picked up a while back (about the same burn rate as H322). However much of that will fit in any given load, I stuff in there. Works great.

:)
 
The SKS are pretty consistant .310 but will accept .308 at least mine will.Never tried the .311-.312 Easy to load for pretty staight forward....................even with the PI$$ POOR trigger and my old eyes MO tennis ball is easily doable.A deer or coyote will be leaking...........................Harold if Hornady dies contain .310 + .308 expanders need one need to know more?
 
greywolf said:
great , now we get to add .312 to the fray:confused: Maybe I should also mention that these rounds would be going thru a norinco sks.
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Well, if you want to condense it down a bit -- that gun was designed to shoot a .310 123/125-ish grain bullet. So, it stands to reason that some .310, 123 grain Hornady SP's and a suitable powder is a great place to get started. After all the things I've tried (and I've tried a bunch), that's what I came back to as my "go-to" load for the 7.62x39.
 
Cerdan said:
Sorry to hi-jack but, where do you guys get your brass?
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Best deal going that I'm aware of, is Lapua brass from Hirsch Precision. Not quite as cheap as some other brands of brass, but not insanely expensive either, and it's head and shoulders better brass than any of the other stuff I've got in the x39.
 
brotherjack said:
Well, if you want to condense it down a bit -- that gun was designed to shoot a .310 123/125-ish grain bullet. So, it stands to reason that some .310, 123 grain Hornady SP's and a suitable powder is a great place to get started. After all the things I've tried (and I've tried a bunch), that's what I came back to as my "go-to" load for the 7.62x39.
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which is what i've been doing , but the manuals and web sites all say the bore is .311 . now the only reason i'm even splitting hairs over this is getting .311 bullets is far easier at the moment than .310 . I got the last box of .310 at cabela's last year and they haven't had any since , and I haven't seen it anywhere. Then I look and I see the same bullets , but only in sierra are .311. then I read that the .303 and 7.62x39 take the same bullets ..... .311 again , then i go in the manuals and they say anything from 308 to .311 depending on the grains . I understand that .310 is pretty much the norm , so I pulled a surplus bullet from different batches , now I have .308,.310.311 .312 AND .314 ??????? I'm now thinking might just as well slug the barrel and be done with it . Did I mention I hate slugging a barrel?:p
 
greywolf said:
which is what i've been doing , but the manuals and web sites all say the bore is .311 . now the only reason i'm even splitting hairs over this is getting .311 bullets is far easier at the moment than .310 . I got the last box of .310 at cabela's last year and they haven't had any since , and I haven't seen it anywhere. Then I look and I see the same bullets , but only in sierra are .311. then I read that the .303 and 7.62x39 take the same bullets ..... .311 again , then i go in the manuals and they say anything from 308 to .311 depending on the grains . I understand that .310 is pretty much the norm , so I pulled a surplus bullet from different batches , now I have .308,.310.311 .312 AND .314 ??????? I'm now thinking might just as well slug the barrel and be done with it . Did I mention I hate slugging a barrel?:p
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Why all the worry? .311's will work fine, and if they're all you can lay hands on at the moment, go for it. It's a 7.62x39, not a benchrest rifle. :)
 
brotherjack said:
Why all the worry? .311's will work fine, and if they're all you can lay hands on at the moment, go for it. It's a 7.62x39, not a benchrest rifle. :)
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i've always been taught to never put a round thru a rifle that is bigger than recommended,, so I never have . so i'm fine with the .308 , and the .310 , but the confusion started with the .311 and higher. Was just trying to make sure .311 would be ok as well . don't want to become another statistic the anti's will wave and say "see guns are dangerous for all no matter what" plus then of course the "what is the best load comes into play , because you do want the best accuracy , even tho it is just a "fun gun"
 
Hey OP, don't you find the .311 125g Sierra SPT bullets cost twice as much as getting loaded milsurp for that gun? Are you just trying to put together 50 or 100 hunting rounds or do you not have access to crates of cheap czech ammo?
 
greywolf said:
i've always been taught to never put a round thru a rifle that is bigger than recommended,, so I never have . so i'm fine with the .308 , and the .310 , but the confusion started with the .311 and higher. Was just trying to make sure .311 would be ok as well . don't want to become another statistic the anti's will wave and say "see guns are dangerous for all no matter what" plus then of course the "what is the best load comes into play , because you do want the best accuracy , even tho it is just a "fun gun"
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I've heard that said too ("never run an oversized bullet through your gun"), but I think by that it's meant "don't feed 8mm bullets to your 30-06". as I said earlier -- I feed up to .312's to my mini-30, which my crude measurements with a pair of calipers tell me is about .309-ish in bore size, with absolutely no ill effects whatsoever. Further, my 2 groove 303 Brit is really a hole of .303 in diameter with two wee little grooves cut into the sides which only get it out to .311 in diameter. So, for all practical purposes, I am stuffing .312 bullets into a .303 hole, with no ill effects. And if you don't beleive my thoughts on it, look up what P.O.Ackley had to say on the subject (not that I think Ackley is necessarily the best source for safety-conscious reloading info, LOL).

So, anyway, all that is a long winded way of saying -- I would personally have not the slightest qualms about shooting .311 or .312 bullets in your .310 bore SKS. If you lived near me, I would even volunteer to personally shoot the first 1,000 rounds or so, just to prove it to you. :)
 
I've started experimenting with a 26" barrel SKS we built up about 10 or 12 years ago. Fitted with a P-14 barrel,(.311) rechambered and turned, I load Hornady 150 gr .30 cal bullets on top of 23.4 grns of IMR 3031. Accuracy is about 2 min or less at all distances, ie a 5.4" group at 300m and roughly a 3.5" group at 200m. I'm quite impressed with the way this rifle shoots, I should have played with it years ago. Not sure how this load would work through the shorter standard length barrel. I think I'm getting about 2200 fps with this load out of the 26" barrel.

Scott
 
Can't answer that - it depends on your gun, the bullet you use and the load you choose, but I'd bet against a 0.308" bullet outperforming a 0.310" or 0.311". I'd have zero qualms shooting a 0.312" or 0.313" bullet in a 0.311" bore. People don't seem to realize that even a "correctly" sized bullet has some pretty violent squeezing going in when the rifling cuts 10 thou deep into the jacket - another 1-2 thou all around has been proven to not increase pressure.

I just got back from the range where I shot four different 7.62x39 loads in my JW-103.

The bullets were 0.310" or 0.311" in diameter size, and 123gr, 150gr, 174gr and 230gr in weight, and I used WC-735 powder in all. The barrel slugs to 0.3105 and today, the 0.310 123gr bullet shot best.
 
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