Surplus 7.62x54r Chinese vs Russian, Which is better? Where is it the cheapest?

ttttt

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Hello all,

Interested in which ammo is more accurate and reliable.

Also where to buy the cheapest. I have found 240 for Chinese and 250 for Russian, both incl shipping.

Cheers
 

Nice vid... The Chinese looked like it did way better for consistency...

As for where to buy cheapest? Assuming the $240 you mentioned was at TradeExCanada (they're a forum sponsor)... I went through about 30 different sites last night looking (need some stuff for the spring), and that was the best deal I could find. A couple of places had it a few bucks cheaper, but shipping was not included... Ended up being $15-$20 more expensive after shipping was calculated.

If anyone can find a better deal, let me know. Haven't pulled the trigger yet... Trying to hang on to some money for mid April when Disneyland comes to Calgary. (the AACA Gun show).
 
Nice vid... The Chinese looked like it did way better for consistency...

As for where to buy cheapest? Assuming the $240 you mentioned was at TradeExCanada (they're a forum sponsor)... I went through about 30 different sites last night looking (need some stuff for the spring), and that was the best deal I could find. A couple of places had it a few bucks cheaper, but shipping was not included... Ended up being $15-$20 more expensive after shipping was calculated.

If anyone can find a better deal, let me know. Haven't pulled the trigger yet... Trying to hang on to some money for mid April when Disneyland comes to Calgary. (the AACA Gun show).


Yes tradeex is where I found it for $240, canam did have it for 225 but they sold out before I could order.
 
If you are using it for SVTs then I would have second thoughts. Missfires are common as they have harder primers. They are great for Mosins.
 
If you are using it for SVTs then I would have second thoughts. Missfires are common as they have harder primers. They are great for Mosins.

SVT's are Military guns and have no problems setting off hard primers! If you do have one with that problem Something is wrong with it! The only thing with the SVT is that you may need to adjust the gas setting to get it to cycle properly when switching ammo types.
 
SVT's are Military guns and have no problems setting off hard primers! If you do have one with that problem Something is wrong with it! The only thing with the SVT is that you may need to adjust the gas setting to get it to cycle properly when switching ammo types.

I have had 2 SVTs that didn't like Chinese. My buddy has 2 and both have miss fires on the stuff and it is not an uncommon complaint. It is not the cycling, it is the strike. They all do fine with Russian ammo. I have never had a failure on any other maker but Chinese.
 
My SVT's did not like chinese. It was 55/71 headstamped. Worst ammo I have ever used. Stunk more than usual with FTF, stovepiping galore, and would jam the action because the casing was so thin it would meld to the svt chamber fluting. Didnt matter what gas setting. SVTs worked with ANY other ammo. Russian, Czech, MFs, lve.

Im talking a 1 in 3 failure rate here. And im being generous. I am so glad I did not buy a crate. Only 100 rounds, which was 100 rounds too much. If you do buy chinese make sure its not from the above factory. You will regret it.
 
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The only difference I notice is that the Russian ammo has a distinctive bad smell when fired, Chinese and Czech have a better smell when fired ;)
 
I have shot both Russian and PRC out of my 91/30 sniper and they both performed nearly identically to each other. I don't remember group size off hand but it was quite accurate, no trouble hitting pop cans at 100 yards.
 
SVT's are Military guns and have no problems setting off hard primers! If you do have one with that problem Something is wrong with it! The only thing with the SVT is that you may need to adjust the gas setting to get it to cycle properly when switching ammo types.

I have to agree with you. I had one misfire for the Russian ammo in the M38 and also one misfire with the SVT for the Chinese that day, when I did the video.

We had misfires back in my military days with both the 7.62 and 5.56 ammo. C7/C9 and C1/C2. GOOD CANADIAN SURPLUS! Made by the lowest bidder! LOL

The russian ammo seemed to kick abit more and smoked like cheech and chong! Smelled like an old outhouse to boot!

For the OP, try getting a few hundred rounds of each ammo and you can see what works for you.
 
That miss fire with the SVT was the 1st round in the magazine, others fired off with no problems. I ran it back in and she fired. That was probably after 40ish rounds being fired already when it happened. The russian (Corrected to Bulgarian) one wouldn't fire after recocking in the M38. A DUD!
 
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I have had 2 SVTs that didn't like Chinese. My buddy has 2 and both have miss fires on the stuff and it is not an uncommon complaint. It is not the cycling, it is the strike. They all do fine with Russian ammo. I have never had a failure on any other maker but Chinese.

Well I would not say that the Chinese ammo is held to a strict standard! There's a reason I shoot very little of it.

I guess it may be possible that some of it may have harder than Milspec primers but also bear in mind that we are shooting old Milsurp guns here that may be a little tired and may no longer have the power to set off a primer built to the harder end of the scale. So I might not blame it all on the ammo; especially if it all goes boom in the 91/30's.
 
I've heard with some SVT40's they don't have enough firing pin patrution to deal with the hard primers, somewhere in the nieghbor hood of .025" were as the 91/30 is in the .070/.075" range. Maybe I'm mistaken and someone with more knowledge on the matter can chime in.
 
I've had no issues at all with our 2 SVT's and the Chinese 55/71 stamped ammo. On my second case of it purchased 6 months apart. Accuracy is very good with it, both in the SVT's and Mosins that my son and I shoot. I have used a wide variety of what's out there on the market and have only had one FTF and it was a Czech ball round. There was a local chap here who had an SVT I saw at the range that would NOT fire Bell soft point hunting ammo. I swapped him Czech surplus stuff for it at the range and that worked fine in his rifle. His Bell ammo went bang perfectly in my SVT so I assume firing pin protrusion issues or spring issues was to blame.
Al
 
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