Best mould for 7.62x39?

[Oldman-Winter]

I bought a bolt action Mini-Mauser in 7.62x39 from a member of Cast Boolits and it has been fun to shoot. Now I would like to shoot cast boolits in it but do not have a mould. What mould do you recommend for the 7.62x39????

My intended targets are sage rats, rabbits, and coyotes.

[trooperdan]

Lee has a 312-155 that is a good choice. It was supposedly designed for the 7.62x39 cartridge by C. E. Harris. There is also a 312-160 as I recall, also by Mr. Harris for this cartridge. We recently did a group buy for a six-banger of the 155 gr design and I pounded out a few pounds of slugs this weekend in preparation for ground strafing the local fauna.

[Buckshot]

..................I second TrooperDan's suggestion of the Lee C312-155-2R. I have a small ring Mauser barreled to 30 Rooski Shortski (.300x.308"). They drop about .312" and I size'm to .309". One of the best loads I found is 28.0grs of surp 4895 and that slug.

http://www.fototime.com/D3BDA198A0C926D/standard.jpg

That would be the one on the right :-). That load is a full case with the slug sitting on the powder. Surp 4895 is maybe 50 fps slower then some H4895 I have. It's a combination of great accuracy (inch or less at 50 yards, apurture sights) and decent velocity, 1950 fps.

The slug is kinda pointy for hunting. Use a flat nosepunch and while the boolit is fully in the die, bear down on the handle a bit to put a mild FN on it. A slug that might do as well is the Lee C309-150F. That is if your bore and grooves will handle a .309" slug.

..................Buckshot

[Larry Gibson]

I bought a bolt action Mini-Mauser in 7.62x39 from a member of Cast Boolits and it has been fun to shoot. Now I would like to shoot cast boolits in it but do not have a mould. What mould do you recommend for the 7.62x39????

My intended targets are sage rats, rabbits, and coyotes.

I've had a Mini MKX Mauser in 7.62x39 for some years now. Got it for the grandson then let the wife shot it. She told me to go find him a different rifle!

The Lee 312-155 trooperdan mentions shoots really well in mine but it zips right the the critters you mention and is not a quick killer. The Lee 312-185 or any of the other heavies in .311+ are to long for the action. They really sit down inside the case and don't shoot that well even with the 1-9.5" twist because of rivieting. Mine also has the sloping throat of the typical combloc chamber. I use cast bullets at .312" in R-P cases with small rifle primers for best accuracy.

The two best bullets for the purposes you mention that I use are Lyman 311316, the 118 gr GC 32-20 bullet, and the Lyman 313631, the 105 gr SWCGC bullet for the .32 H&R. Over 9 gr of Unique they run in the 1650-1700 fps range and kill the little critters well. I prefer the 313631 SWC. A really fun plinking/small game load that is really accurate is the Hornady .314 swaged lead bullet or the equivelent Lee 314-90-TL over 2.7 gr Bullseye. These run 840 fps and are more fun than a guy ought to have. Just don't let the wife shoot them.

The usual AK/SKS SP bullets do really well in mine with the Hornady 123s shooting right at MOA over 22.5 gr H4227 in WW or IMI cases using the large rifle primer. They run 2411 fps. For a real sleeper bullet that is death and destruction on rabbits and coyotes pick up some Remington 100 gr FPSPs (if you can ever find them) made for the 32-20. At 2606 fps over 25 gr of H4227 in R-P cases with Rem 7 1/2 primers they turn rabbits into "bits". A bit of 'em goes here, a "bit" of 'em goes there! They also pole axe coyotes.

Larry Gibson

[Leftoverdj]

I got in on the group buy of the Lyman 311440 in a six holer. I've done just enough with it in my CZ 527 to be satisfied that it will shoot nearly as well as the Lee C312-155-2R. Since it is very nearly a .30 WC and weighs about 150 grains, and I was getting 50 yard groups at and just over 1" at 2200 fps, it'll be my choice for hunting with the 7.62x39.

btw, I've been getting pretty good results with 18-19 grains of WC 820 and even better with all the H322 I can get in the case, 27 grains???

[JDL]

Before I had Mountain Molds make a 165 gr. TCFP, I used the 311359 and got about 2" groups at 100. 17 grains of IMR-4227 gave me the best accuracy, slightly less than 2" and an estimated velocity of 1800fps. 18 grains gives 2.28" and chronoed 1908 fps. -JDL