Good evening everyone. I have heard varying opinions on what ammo is safe to shoot in the ag42 rifle. Some say it is not safe to shoot commercial loads and that only military surplus or handliads should be shot through the rifle. I do not reload as of yet so I have shot 40 rounds of sellier and bellot ammunition and had no problem. What have your experiences been like? Have any of you had problems with shooting commercial ammo through them? Thanks for your input.
Opinions on factory loaded ammunition in the Ag42b.
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BlackPowderBurner
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- the chesterfield
I shot ppu through mine quite a bit with no issues. I kept away from federal as their primers are notoriously soft and out of battery detonations suck.
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
Do not shoot Federal out of it. I had a out of battery detonation due to how sensitive the primers are (not a fun day at the range). It is highly recommended to reload for that rifle as it was designed for two different versions of ammo at two different pressure curves with no adjustable gas system.
What means is when shooting ammo modeled after the M94 round you will have no issue, but when shooting the M41 round (or equivalent, most modern ammo is based off the M41 as it is a spitzer bullet) it can have very violent ejection and such from having the system overloaded with gas. It was a known issue in Swedish service and there 'solution' was to oil the rounds (which is never a good idea).
Even military surplus of the M41 variety isn't a good idea as again they used to oil the rounds to make them work.
Definitely reload recommended, even though that likely isn't what you want to hear.
What means is when shooting ammo modeled after the M94 round you will have no issue, but when shooting the M41 round (or equivalent, most modern ammo is based off the M41 as it is a spitzer bullet) it can have very violent ejection and such from having the system overloaded with gas. It was a known issue in Swedish service and there 'solution' was to oil the rounds (which is never a good idea).
Even military surplus of the M41 variety isn't a good idea as again they used to oil the rounds to make them work.
Definitely reload recommended, even though that likely isn't what you want to hear.
I'll have to start reloading then!
Yes. I just got one of the Lee Auto Bench Primers, and they say not to use Federal in the primer tray, load the primers singly if using Fed large rifle.
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
Actually military spec wouldn't actually be good unless it was M94 spec ammo which was a 156grn bullet at 2379 ft/sec.
I suspect that the AG-42b would actually have best reliability somewhere with a 140grn bullet with muzzle velocity at around 2379 ft/sec however it would take some experimentation to get the best load for it. It is really interesting as in service the Swedes never did develop the best load for the rifle (a flaw which lead to many issues with the guns).
I suspect that the AG-42b would actually have best reliability somewhere with a 140grn bullet with muzzle velocity at around 2379 ft/sec however it would take some experimentation to get the best load for it. It is really interesting as in service the Swedes never did develop the best load for the rifle (a flaw which lead to many issues with the guns).
Gas port mod. Instead of working so hard to emulate a single type of ammo: change one screw on the rifle, and shoot various types.
Normally it's heresy in 'surp world to suggest changing a beloved gem, but in this case it's reversible without altering the rifle itself.
Normally it's heresy in 'surp world to suggest changing a beloved gem, but in this case it's reversible without altering the rifle itself.
Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
The sight can be changed but the AG-42 has no gas adjustment system (someone mentioned the mod that can be done above, but a original doesn't have it). You have two different types of ammo operating at two different pressure curves meant to make the gun function with both.
What this meant in practice to make the lower pressure rounds function (m94 ammo) it made the higher pressure rounds over gas the system (M41). The Swedish solution in service was to oil the cartridges (which if that is your solution you are only remedying the symptoms of the problem not the problem itself) as they would otherwise have case head failures and all sorts of nasty failures caused by the system being overpressured.
The other issue is the amount of inertia the bolt moves forward with causes it to dent primers even with the spring loaded firing pin, this is why federal primers are a very bad idea for them as they are significantly more sensitive than standard primers and can cause out of battery detonations.
In service the Swedish never actually perfected these rifles and instead learned to live with their faults.
Going back to the OP...I've had my Ljungmann about 30 years now. When I acquired it both Remington, and Winchester made SP ammo for hunting, and it was at the closest can-tire. The Remington didn't cycle well, and occasionally the bullet would get pushed back into the case while cycling, the Winchester worked ok. The rifle came with Norma ammo too. I n'er really used the NOrma because even at that time it had $40 stickers on it (That was all launched by my brother!!!!). The Winchester and Remington was about $14/20, and surplus (Norwegian) was $8/15rds.
In the last decade I have launched S&B, and Privi quite happily through it.
In 3 decades the rifle didn't change, only my awareness did. I didn't reload so didn't care where brass landed, or how mangled it was when it fell back to earth. I didn't notice any single ammo made the action "violent" as they all seemed to. I had only 1 misfire (slam fire?), and that was during a time when I had no magazine. It was touched off when the bolt shut on a pre-chambered round. (Winchester ammo if that matters) The extractor broke during that event (It was close to the 100th no-magazine-fired round), and in the course of finding an extractor learned a lot about the rifle.
About a year ago changed out the gas-port screw (call me Bubba as the original screw got marred during removal), but haven't done too much with it since.
...kind of long winded, but personally I would have no issues running S&B, Privi, or even Winchester factory ammo through an un-altered Ljungmann. Have seen Winchester ammo pass through a Ljungmann(not mine) on it's way to seals a few times.
In the last decade I have launched S&B, and Privi quite happily through it.
In 3 decades the rifle didn't change, only my awareness did. I didn't reload so didn't care where brass landed, or how mangled it was when it fell back to earth. I didn't notice any single ammo made the action "violent" as they all seemed to. I had only 1 misfire (slam fire?), and that was during a time when I had no magazine. It was touched off when the bolt shut on a pre-chambered round. (Winchester ammo if that matters) The extractor broke during that event (It was close to the 100th no-magazine-fired round), and in the course of finding an extractor learned a lot about the rifle.
About a year ago changed out the gas-port screw (call me Bubba as the original screw got marred during removal), but haven't done too much with it since.
...kind of long winded, but personally I would have no issues running S&B, Privi, or even Winchester factory ammo through an un-altered Ljungmann. Have seen Winchester ammo pass through a Ljungmann(not mine) on it's way to seals a few times.
Colossal Ursidae
CGN Regular
- Location
- Ottawa Valley
Any chance you can share how you did that?
I'm quite interested as the rifle seriously destroys my brass' rims
I've been shooting factory PPU through mine with no issues. (I've been able to find it at gun shows with no issue ~$34/box.) I've just started reloading for it, using a 139 gr PPU SP (couldn't get any FMJ at the time) and IMR 4831. So far it seems to be functioning just fine. As others have said, avoid federal primers - if reloading, use CCI.
As an aside, always feed rounds from them magazine - the resistance of stripping a round from the magazine slows the bolt slightly and reduces the risk of slam fires. Also, mine still has the factory gas system.
As an aside, always feed rounds from them magazine - the resistance of stripping a round from the magazine slows the bolt slightly and reduces the risk of slam fires. Also, mine still has the factory gas system.
