Reloading 7.62x39 SKS ammo
- Thread starter Cammy7s
- Start date
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
They are steel and should not be used for reloading! They are coated in a laquer, and I believe they have a military type flash hole for the primers. It can be done but don't bother.
Why reload when surplus is so cheap?
I guess if you are going for accuracy in a XCR, or AR it makes sense, but damn that surplus is cheap!
Why reload when surplus is so cheap?
I guess if you are going for accuracy in a XCR, or AR it makes sense, but damn that surplus is cheap!
I would only reload to get away from the corrosive ammo that all the surplus we see around here is made up of. Maybe for accuracy and more control but I am shooting an SKS so accuracy isn't really gonna improve that much just by changing ammo type.
Can I use the 7.62 x 39 cartridges that come in the 1120 round bulk case for reloads? I don't know if they are brass cause they are a green color. Should I stay clear of these for reloading?
Thanks!
Your surplus is berdan primed different than boxer primed and requires a little differ approach to reloading. At present I only reload boxer primed X39 brass,were starting to get some berdan primer coming into the US from time to time and I have a lot of Lapua berdan primed brass I might try to reload at some point.
I reload for several reasons for my SKS rifle 1. I always have ammo regardless of what going on with politics,imports or the market prices. 2. I can load better quality and more accurate ammo that suits my rifles than anything on the market and I can tailor individual ammo for specific needs for small to big game and target ammo.
Ammo does make differences,the SKS is not an inherently inaccurate,in fact not all surplus or commercial imported ammo is the same in every rifle. If you just slinging lead downrange then it makes no difference,if you want your rifle to be an accurate shooter then you can either reload or take some time and find which ammo shoots the most accurately in your rifle.
I tend to agree with most comments above. Firstly, stay away from trying to load the steel cases, it won't be rewarding when you compare saving a few hundred pieces of good loadable brass. Secondly, If you're shooting brass loads from your SKS, you might find them getting pretty chewed up. Its a brutal action on the empty cases.
Having that said, I reload for one or two reasons: For cost savings and/or better accuracy loads. On todays market, there is no cost savings. Perhaps this will change in the future as did many other surplus cartridges. There are several commercial available rounds worth looking into. Sellier and PRVI shoot very nice groups but they are loaded slightly hotter than does the milsurp stuff and therefore groups a little higher on the target. But all in all very good soft points for hunting. And further to having that said, I don't think its worth my time or bother to try to improve the accuracy (if its possible) on the PRVI soft points. The only reason I can think of to load x39 rounds it to get a heavier bullet such as a 150gr or larger, but if you sight in for a different load, then your zero goes to crap with the surplus ammo. See below if anyone thinks that the PRVI rounds are not accurate...
Having that said, I reload for one or two reasons: For cost savings and/or better accuracy loads. On todays market, there is no cost savings. Perhaps this will change in the future as did many other surplus cartridges. There are several commercial available rounds worth looking into. Sellier and PRVI shoot very nice groups but they are loaded slightly hotter than does the milsurp stuff and therefore groups a little higher on the target. But all in all very good soft points for hunting. And further to having that said, I don't think its worth my time or bother to try to improve the accuracy (if its possible) on the PRVI soft points. The only reason I can think of to load x39 rounds it to get a heavier bullet such as a 150gr or larger, but if you sight in for a different load, then your zero goes to crap with the surplus ammo. See below if anyone thinks that the PRVI rounds are not accurate...
I agree with the above as well. For me, I cast and load 155 and 180gr bullets for my 7.62 X 39 and .303 British, that way I am never out of ammo to go shooting and it is very acurate.
My supply of milsurp is going to get pulled apart, the powder will be reused in boxer primed cases with cast bullets on top and the bullets will go into my 30 cal supply. Pulling 400+ rounds is not a job I am looking forward to.
The last reason I reload is that I don't like to be forced to clean my rifle as soon as I get home or very soon after.
My supply of milsurp is going to get pulled apart, the powder will be reused in boxer primed cases with cast bullets on top and the bullets will go into my 30 cal supply. Pulling 400+ rounds is not a job I am looking forward to.
The last reason I reload is that I don't like to be forced to clean my rifle as soon as I get home or very soon after.
The main thing you have to be concerned with is bullet expansion if your going to use those bullets for hunting,the .311 150 gr. bullets are constructed a bit heavier than you standard bullet designed for the X39 so if you use those you need to keep you shots close I try to limit myself to 50 yds. or less which is not a problem since I hunt from a tree stand in thick cover.
If there just for general shooting it want matter,I load the Speer .311 Hot Cor and Prvi Partizan .311 BTSP in the X39 for my SKS rifle they shoot very accurately. If the Wolf 154 gr. works for you these loads will do equally as well,maybe better since you don't have the steel bullet jacket on the Wolf to deal with.
- Location
- Ottawa origanally Muskoka
Privi partizan and the speer hot core are the same copper over lead. So what do you mean sks50?
Just a word of warning: An old ad dangerous trick to hunt with surplus ammo is to cut the tip of the jacket off. NEVER do this as the base of surplus ammo is open and you can fire the core THROUGH the jacket causing a barrel obstruction. (Not that you would necessarily try this)
Just a word of warning: An old ad dangerous trick to hunt with surplus ammo is to cut the tip of the jacket off. NEVER do this as the base of surplus ammo is open and you can fire the core THROUGH the jacket causing a barrel obstruction. (Not that you would necessarily try this)
ciphery I suppose your asking me about the bullet jacket? The Speer and Prvi bullets are designed to expand more reliably in rifle caliber with a higher MV at point of impact at regular hunting ranges,the copper jacket is slightly thicker.
In other words at 100 yds. if the bullet isn't traveling at around 1800 fps. your not going to get proper expansion,it may expand somewhat or not at all and act more like a FMJ. Bullets that are specifically designed by the various bullet mfg. for the 7.62 x 39 Hornady,Speer,Barnes,Remington and Prvi all which are in the 123 to 125 gr. range have thinner bullet jackets and will expand more reliably with the MV the X39 generates.
This is why I stated that I like to keep my hunting distances short when I use 150 gr. bullets,mainly to assure I get good expansion. I haven't really had the opportunity to set up my chronograph at 100 meters,according to my load program I should have about a 100 fps. buffer using the 150 gr. bullets but from where I hunt it's not an issue anyways.
Here is a good example of what I'm talking about although the bullet construction is a bit different steel vs. copper so your mileage may very. This is a Wolf 154 gr. SP taken from a deer shot at about 80 yds. bullet struck the deer in the chest below the neck and logged in the left hind quarter.
As far as the old adage of cutting the bullet tip off to aid in expansion I agree most mil surplus FMJ ammo has an exposed base you never want to shoot jacketed bullets with lead exposed at both ends. There is a technique know as the 'dum-dum' bullet,it was a bullet used by the British in the 303 the bullets name comes form the arsenal in India where it was developed,basically they just took the FMJ bullet and turn it around to exposed the lead core base, This is not a new technique people that shoot subsonic rifle loads also turn the bullets base backwards to get more frontal impact from the slower bullet.
Here are two examples on is 30-06 mil surplus FMJ reversed and X39 subsonic load.
In other words at 100 yds. if the bullet isn't traveling at around 1800 fps. your not going to get proper expansion,it may expand somewhat or not at all and act more like a FMJ. Bullets that are specifically designed by the various bullet mfg. for the 7.62 x 39 Hornady,Speer,Barnes,Remington and Prvi all which are in the 123 to 125 gr. range have thinner bullet jackets and will expand more reliably with the MV the X39 generates.
This is why I stated that I like to keep my hunting distances short when I use 150 gr. bullets,mainly to assure I get good expansion. I haven't really had the opportunity to set up my chronograph at 100 meters,according to my load program I should have about a 100 fps. buffer using the 150 gr. bullets but from where I hunt it's not an issue anyways.
Here is a good example of what I'm talking about although the bullet construction is a bit different steel vs. copper so your mileage may very. This is a Wolf 154 gr. SP taken from a deer shot at about 80 yds. bullet struck the deer in the chest below the neck and logged in the left hind quarter.
As far as the old adage of cutting the bullet tip off to aid in expansion I agree most mil surplus FMJ ammo has an exposed base you never want to shoot jacketed bullets with lead exposed at both ends. There is a technique know as the 'dum-dum' bullet,it was a bullet used by the British in the 303 the bullets name comes form the arsenal in India where it was developed,basically they just took the FMJ bullet and turn it around to exposed the lead core base, This is not a new technique people that shoot subsonic rifle loads also turn the bullets base backwards to get more frontal impact from the slower bullet.
Here are two examples on is 30-06 mil surplus FMJ reversed and X39 subsonic load.
