7.62x51
- Thread starter stovepipe699
- Start date
Last stuff I sold was a dollar a round.
I don’t have high expectations for accuracy from it, looking for cheap non corrosive stuff to hammer milk jugs with my kids. I’m open to suggestions for better options.
There's a few options...
1. There's the Norinco 7.62x51 steel case, non-corrosive. I have shot a lot of this through my 308 bolt actions and it runs fine. Not match grade by any means, but reliable. If you buy them in bulk, it will be less than $1 a round generally, through retail channels
2. Secondary market - look for Barnaul/MFS 7.62x51/.308. Non corrosive steel case - good stuff for plinking. But it is not always available
3. There are some other options - there is excellent older Hirtenberger 7.62x51/308 Ammo from Austria...excellent accuracy and it's non corrosive, BRASS cased
4. Any retail channels of brass cased 7.62x51 will run you north of $1 a round, sometimes a lot more. It's brass, so it will be more, but it sounds like you just want plinking rounds
Bear in mind for many surplus rounds the projectile may be either steel or a bi-metal construction. Some ranges, particularly indoor ones, may not allow it, but if you are hitting milk jugs, sounds like it is outside on private land and won't have those restrictions.
1. There's the Norinco 7.62x51 steel case, non-corrosive. I have shot a lot of this through my 308 bolt actions and it runs fine. Not match grade by any means, but reliable. If you buy them in bulk, it will be less than $1 a round generally, through retail channels
2. Secondary market - look for Barnaul/MFS 7.62x51/.308. Non corrosive steel case - good stuff for plinking. But it is not always available
3. There are some other options - there is excellent older Hirtenberger 7.62x51/308 Ammo from Austria...excellent accuracy and it's non corrosive, BRASS cased
4. Any retail channels of brass cased 7.62x51 will run you north of $1 a round, sometimes a lot more. It's brass, so it will be more, but it sounds like you just want plinking rounds
Bear in mind for many surplus rounds the projectile may be either steel or a bi-metal construction. Some ranges, particularly indoor ones, may not allow it, but if you are hitting milk jugs, sounds like it is outside on private land and won't have those restrictions.
Correct, I’m on private land. I prefer to shoot soft point, i used to plink with Winchester superX and MF save the brass to reload, back when it was $1/round. I’ll watch for herternberger, it sounds interesting. Ive seen PPC on some websites and wonder how it is.
Do you mean PPU or PMC?
PPU is decent ammo with great reloadable brass. I believe it's Serbian, but don't quote me on that. I use the Rifleline and it does its job. I run PPU 7.62x51 (Rifleline) and also the .308 standard blue box, and 223 as well, it's been reliable
PMC is Korean and overall is excellent for the value, reliability and performance. They do make 308 soft points but again, not cheap and nowhere near $1 a round. The Bronze line encompasses multiple calibers and is generally very well regarded for the price point. I don't recall if they have any 308 match ammo but they do have 5.56 XTAC Match ammo...it's good stuff.
If you reload get the IVI ammo and then save the brass
You’ll be cheaper then a buck a round if you reload it
The pmc stuff is nice and the brass is good too
The hertenburger stuff is good too but some of it is berdan primed so not good if you want to reload it
You’ll be cheaper then a buck a round if you reload it
The pmc stuff is nice and the brass is good too
The hertenburger stuff is good too but some of it is berdan primed so not good if you want to reload it
Yes I meant to type PMC.
I do reload, and would definitely covet the IVI brass for my stash LOL! Its always bothered me when I can’t save cases because of berdan primers or steel cases, it feels wasteful LOL!
It bugged me too, so I saved a lot of Berdan primed brass, and…. Guess what? A fellow CGN’r posted about using shotgun primers in Berdan primed brass. The letter “C” drill to enlarge the hole works probably the best. Some brass actually has a dimple on the inner side of the base and it’s between the two nipples on the outer side. I’ve done a few and found it is much easier to center the C drill bit after you drill a smaller hole from the inside, unless you had a way to hold the brass while centering the C bit on the outside. Mine were all done with a hand held battery operated drill with the brass clamped with a small vice grip. I wrapped a piece of plastic from a margerine tub lid around the brass, then clamped the vice grip on.
Trust good old CGN’rs to come up with these ideas. I don’t load shotgun any much now and have quite a stash on hand.
I’ve heard there were ways to reload berdan, I knew the flash holes were different but not that the pockets were a different size.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Most "standard" boxer type primed brass is available with both large (.210") and small size (.175") pockets, and each has brass with both large diameter (0.070" -0.080") and small diameter (0.055" - 0.062") flash holes. So four choices - two diameters of Boxer primers, each with two diameters of flash holes in the case. The large diameter flash hole is most common with many large rifle size primers, although various "precision" brands are made with the smaller flash hole. Your "normal" de-capping punch will likely get stuck if you try to use it to de-cap a case with a "small" flash hole.
You will discover there are at least that many diameters of Berdan sized primer pockets - 5.00 mm, 5.50 mm, 6.37 mm, etc. - with various thicknesses of primer jacket material - so far as I know, they all have two smaller flash holes, with a centrally located "anvil" in the brass case primer pocket. RCBS (and likely others), at least used to sell a tool that would pry out the fired Berdan primer - I do not know what tooling is used to re-insert a fresh Berdan primer, since they come in many sizes. So you need to get a supply of the correct diameter Berdan primers for the cases that you have, then a way to remove the fired primer, then a way to re-insert that correct size primer.
For many years, there has been various Internet postings about how to attempt to convert Berdan primer pockets to use conventional Boxer primers. One in particular that I recall was of interest, but I never tried it. It involved swaging that case anvil to be flat - thereby closing off the off-set Berdan flash holes. Then a brass sleeve was turned and pressed in the pocket to make the primer pocket hole to be smaller diameter - then was drilled / reamed out to fit a conventional Boxer size primer - then a central flash hole was drilled. I had a supply of Portuguese surplus 8x57JS that was Berdan primed - I considered to do the above, except I discovered PPU 8x57 brass that was already Boxer primed. I suppose there are elderly and obsolete Berdan primed cases that do not have that option of "modern" Boxer primed versions.
There is / was also a "hydraulic" technique to remove the fired Berdan primers - case full of water - a snug fitting punch driven down into the case neck - hydraulic pressure would "pop out" that fired primer - water all over, apparently. Something that I never tried either, but Internet posters claim that it works.
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As usual, Potashminer, you are a wealth of information.
As a non-reloader (yet), I've always been curious about why berdan primed cases are generally and summarily regarded as a lost cause for reloading as opposed to boxer primed brass. My elementary thinking was "well, just get berdan primers". I have since found out easier said than done and the process is more complex and involved than I thought. Still, I am glad I keep all my berdan brass as it may be worthwhile trying to reload those one day.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I implied that "boxer" primer was "modern" - apparently not so. From Wikipedia, appears that Hiram Berdan of New York, USA patented the Berdan primer on March 20, 1866. From elsewhere on Internet, says that Boxer primers were invented by English guy Edward Mornier "in the 1860's" - so both priming systems seem to be similar age. Is maybe confounding - an American guy invented the Berdan primer, although most all American made primers today are Boxer style, and an English guy invented the Boxer style - Berdan style appears more common in "off shore" production these days ... I believe WWI and perhaps WWII ammo was commonly Berdan primed, by most belligerents.
howdy,just cracked open can of the norinco 762x51 non corrisve 2020 lot,from lever arms.good grouping from savage straight pull but every 2nd round tough primer and failed
,non milatry rifles just do not have the stuff to bust these caps.they look like there set back into the cartridge a bit more than commercial.this stuff is milsurp only i think.
,non milatry rifles just do not have the stuff to bust these caps.they look like there set back into the cartridge a bit more than commercial.this stuff is milsurp only i think.Attachments
Depending on the gun, you maybe able to find a stronger firing pin spring
just might be able to adjust pin spring in my savage impulse but i will just use hunting ammo any ways,this stuff is going to feed the likes of a t7 and such,also these are berdan primed which i believe are always very tough to pop.i guess pipliner has that info allready.thought i would throw my 2cents that you could waste 1000 bucks on chinese ammo is your just shooting classic hunting rifles instead of modern stock.
