762x39 surp bullet swap

MudChucker said:
Having a availability issue with soft point rounds so was thinking to pull the bullets and replace with 140 gr 308

Thinking to reuse the old powder...re weigh etc...

Anyone have any thoughts ?
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ya.... try Budget shooters supply or The Shooting Edge or Cabelas or even Bartons in GP A.B., i have seen 7.62 123/124gr SP advertised and in person by all of the above.

dunno what exactly is in the steel cased ammo for powder so load workup with a heavier bullet would be required, not to mention neck sizeing steel cased ammo with a seated primer because if your 7.62x39 is .311 dia bullet a .308 bullet will drop rite thru the neck when you try to seat it.
 
I have some Norinco Sport red/white/green box non-corrosive that have their bullets tips ground off to expose some lead, thus converting them to Soft Points.

I don't know if they would expand though.
 
Its a good idea, I've pulled inexpensive surplus bullets and vice verse for loading. The problem here is that your bullet diameters are different.
 
Mudchucker, I've done it many times. At first I used to pull the bullets with an RCBS kinetic puller till I broke it. Bought a Lee collet puller to use in my press, much more user friendly and quicker.

I replace the FMJ bullets with either 125 grain V-Max or 150 grain soft points. I reuse the surplus powder, (23 gr.) with the V-Max. 26 grains of IMR 4895 with the 150 grain soft points.

Incidently, I don't shoot the 150 grain soft points in my SKS. I only shoot them in my Baikal break action. Groups so far, are nothing really to write home about. Okay for hunting, not okay for bench rest type shooting. The ones with the surplus powder and the V-Max group, much better in this rifle.

Next spring, I'll be playing with a Lee Enfield converted to shoot the 7.62x39. Stay tuned. :)
 
easyrider604 said:
I have some Norinco Sport red/white/green box non-corrosive that have their bullets tips ground off to expose some lead, thus converting them to Soft Points.

I don't know if they would expand though.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I was just leafing through my copy of the ABC's of Reloading last night and the author was quite adamant that this is a very dangerous thing to do.
What results have you got ??
 
easyrider604 said:
I have some Norinco Sport red/white/green box non-corrosive that have their bullets tips ground off to expose some lead, thus converting them to Soft Points.

I don't know if they would expand though.
Click to expand...
I am not sure if you have lead exposed or simply the steel core. Most surplus FMJ ammo for this round is a steel core with a metal jacket. While it may "convert" them to soft points, I don't think they are lead. But, not having any, I cannot say for sure.
However, that being said, I would certainly not use them for hunting if there were ANY other choices. And there are.
MudChucker:
Pull the bullets. Weigh the powder in 10 of them. Divide that by 10 to get the avg weight. Dump out ALL the powder of however many you have pulled. Then charge each of them with that weight, seat a 125gn bullet (your call on brand or type), crimp if desired, shoot them to see what you get. Adjust for accuracy from there.
To load the same powder using a 150gn bullet, simply dump out the powder and weigh it.
This is impt!! This is what I did the first time I worked this round up for my rifles. Cut the amount of powder by 20% (that was about 5 gn). In .5gn increments, work up your load until you get pressure signs. Back it off .2gns and I was good to go.
 
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rookie wildcat said:
I am not sure if you have lead exposed or simply the steel core. Most surplus FMJ ammo for this round is a steel core with a metal jacket. While it may "convert" them to soft points, I don't think they are lead. But, not having any, I cannot say for sure.
However, that being said, I would certainly not use them for hunting if there were ANY other choices. And there are.
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Cutting the tips on the FMJ bullets to expose the "lead" core to make a soft point, isn't something that should be recomended. There is a potential danger here.

In the Czech surplus, the thick bullet jacket is steel, the small center is lead. When you observe a pulled bullet, you can see the lead core from the back. If you remove the tip, the danger is that the steel jacket has the potential of sticking partways in the barrel with the lead core being the only thing that leaves the gun.

Like you pointed out, there are other choices.
 
So my first hurdle, nick sizing to 308 ...

I was thinking id figure out some way to shove the brass into a 30-06 neck sizer die but wasnt able to manage it. and Im reasonably certain that the 7.62 crimper die isnt going to crimp hard enough..

I made up a few rounds last night I'll try and shoot them this weekend and see what happens...

I think Im better off with some .311 bullets tho...
 
Not much of a hurdle to size the neck for the .308 diameter. Use your 7.62x39 die, but use the expander (not sure of the right name for the knob that sizes the neck from the inside) from a die that sizes for the .308 diameter bullet.
 
You can take the expanded frOm another die and put it in the 7.62. Personally I would recommend that you just buy a 308 expander for the type of die that you have. I know that lee dies come with a 308 and 310 expander for just such a reason.

Personally I just use a 311 bullet. I also use the powder that is in the case. I just take 1.5 grain away. I use them in my sks and they are fine. There is a bit of a pressure sign but it shoots really good in my rifle.

Also if your buying surplus ammo to save money then you might as well use the powder that comes with it. Other wise you might as well just buy brass and keep reloading it.
 
MudChucker said:
interesting...

so I take the 308 piece out of the 30-06 colet die and put it in the 7.62 die ?
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Yup. I bought an RCBS die set for the 7.62x39, down in the US, and it came with two expanders, the .311 and .308 diameters.

However, I would only do this with brass, not the steel cases that you would be replacing the FMJ in. The 125 grain V-Max is readily available in the .311 diameter as is 150 grain soft points. There is no plausible reson for using the .308 diameter bullets in the 7.62x39, and a couple of good reasons not to.

Play safe.
 
I'm not doing this to save money...I'm doing it because I'm reloading junky and availability of factory loads and components is low and needed some rounds for a friend that hunts with an sks


I'm using 308 because it's what I have on hand...

Going to buy some hornady though and make a hundred up... I will use the old powder but am not opposed to something else if I have it on hand... I have 6 pounds of varget that Id like to burn through...
 
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