Heavy 7.62x39 loads

bunny

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Iam thinking of loading some 208 or 220 RN bullets for my CZ 527 7.62x39 with the idea of duplicating or coming close to duplicating the 300 whisper., assuming .308 bullets will shoot o.k. in the .310 bore.
Anyone try this? is there any published load data that is available? I have not had much luck in finding anything.
 
Try to use a flat base round nose bullet, to keep it as short as possible. You won't have a lot of velocity or RPM, so a short bullet will stabalize easier.

I did it once using cast bullets. The unsized ones were about the right diameter.
 
Out of a factory /26\ Chinese SKS I load .311 Sierra 150gr SP/21 gr -IMR 4198 At 75 yards all 4 rounds were touching off the bags.Haven't tried a repeat trial but it should be good for 100 yard deer.With the expander plug out of your die you can load .308 bullets and they shot fine out of the SKS so that might be worth a try.A 180gr RN may be short enough?Harold
 
I've wanted to try the 174gr RNSP that's used for the .303's I think that may be a interesting load to develop. I have tried remmy 150 FMJ's but can't remember/find the load data I used. I have a box of Wolf 154gr SP's that I have been saving since they have become soo hard to find.

It's quite fun to experiment (safely) reloading with heavy bullets; they make a great brush buster around here. Jump a moose or deer and your hitting em hard short range.
 
I have loaded 165 (Speer RN) and 180 grain (win PP's) in my sks. They worked well enough.

I'd just go ahead and experiment with most any bullet you may want to, honestly.
 
I've wanted to try the 174gr RNSP that's used for the .303's I think that may be a interesting load to develop. I have tried remmy 150 FMJ's but can't remember/find the load data I used. I have a box of Wolf 154gr SP's that I have been saving since they have become soo hard to find.

It's quite fun to experiment (safely) reloading with heavy bullets; they make a great brush buster around here. Jump a moose or deer and your hitting em hard short range.

I am thinking the 174 grain round nose would be excellent bush load. I have about three hundred rounds of 154 grain sp Wolf's and am trying to hang onto them. I am pretty sure that they would not expand much if anything though. They will punch through both sides of a good sized animal though. I think that any handload in the 150 grain range would be excellent for hunting. Did they not used to make a .308 inch 125 grain Nosler Partition? My dies come with a .308 expander and that may make a good load. But, a regular .311 150 grain soft point may still be better.
 
150 grain Sierra Flat based pro hunters work great for bears! We have taken a few with them.
One boar at 125 yards, complete penetration and lots of damage along the wound channel.
 
I have posted this several times now in various threads, but I'll do it again.

I hunt 150s all the time. Mostly Mexican Matched since brass is too expensive to leave all over a field or or bush, the way the SKS throws them around.

I have shot Sierra 220gn RN, .308" dia bullets from my SKS over 6-10gns of Unique. They ran from 700fps to just over 1100fps. Just at or below the speed of sound depending on the load. Nice and quiet, but would not operate the bolt in the lower velocity rounds at all, and the faster ones would, but not reliably.

I have loaded the 174gn Hornady RN into my SKS replacing the 123gn FMJ bullet in the Saudi ammo CanAm sold.

If you are interested, you can find the results here:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/747717-7-62x39mm-180gn-RN-bullets

I called them 180gn until I read the box again. They were 174gn Hornadys. I would probably use this round in my 799 for bush bashing, if it had iron sights, but it is still good in the SKS, at least in that particular one of mine, it's just not a light gun to carrry all day.
 
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I found one source listing the 220 Hornady with 16 grains of IMR 4198 for about 1080 fps, but not sure if I trust it. Opinions??
 
I found one source listing the 220 Hornady with 16 grains of IMR 4198 for about 1080 fps, but not sure if I trust it. Opinions??

Well, since 23gn of that powder constitutes a compressed load with a 110gn bullet, it is a pretty safe bet that you are well above the 'never less than 50% line' when reducing your loads. Probably pretty safe. I reduced the original powder charge(using 123gn bullets) in mine when loading 174gn bullets by only 2.5gns. Sent those along at almost 2000fps.
 
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