7.62x39 cast bullet load data

[roysha]

Before someone climbs all over me about asking this question, let me say I HAVE done a search and still can't find what I found earlier in the way of condensed information.
Now my question: A while back I found a site or a post with a full page and 1/2 of loads for various cast bullets in the 7.62x39. I thought I had bookmarked it but apparently I did not. Now, for the life of, I cannot find it. Can anyone help me out here?
I know there is a lot of individual information here on this site but I wanted to print out the data and put it in my loading record book for reference in my shop since I don't have a computer there. Besides, I'm an old guy and still like the hard copy.

[armoredman]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13453

That's where I started. Just cast up a bunch more tester 160 grain Lee boolits, gas checked sized and lubed!

[KYCaster]

There's a bunch of data on the CastPics site. (Thanks Buckshot :drinks:)

Jerry

[truckmsl]

15 grains of 2400 is an excellent place to start, and its one I always come back to, but I'm using a 135 grain boolit.

[JohndeFresno]

LoadData.com has a jillion cast loads.

If you check, they frequently have introductory specials where you can visit their site and have full access to loads for free, for a limited time. But their yearly subscription rate is pretty cheap; I subscribe each year. That is the most concise way to make printouts, because of the condensed format. And it represents data from most of the sources available anywhere (including the current reloading manuals that cost $$).

AmmoGuide.com (also a paid subscription) is also great, and has many useful features besides just the loads; but I prefer the sourced information of LoadData for the most part - e.g. Hornady Manual versus some individual shooter. Then, I compare the loads with a reloading manual to verify that they are not way out there, before trying them.

Junior Doughty came up with a phenomenal load - a .30-30 cast bullet load using the ever popular 173 grain Lyman 311041 ("31141" in many circles) cast bullet. And his load achieves 30-30 velocities, so he has a rapid-fire SKS rifle with 30-30 hog loads.

There are provisos, of course - verify that you have the CORRECT true caliber in your 7.62x39 rifle or carbine; work up the load slowly; use a correctly sized boolit. But I tried it, using a surplus powder (as he did) that emulates IMR 4064 in performance. My groups were tight and I found no leading in the barrel or at the gas port. I did notice that the cartridges came out pretty hot, so I'll probably back off for the next batch when I shoot next month.

His article is in his "hunting" section; but if you read halfway down the rather long article, you will see a photo of a .30-30 and 7.62x39 load, side by side, using the same cast bullet. The details can be found around that photo. See:
http://www.castbullet.com/shooting/sks.htm

[mike in co]

well 7.63x39 is a military round, and you are using cast boolits, so why not look ing milrifles with cast boolits (CB Loads / Military Rifles )??

what a novel idea

[Larry Gibson]

Junior Dougherty seems perfectly happy with his "30-30" equivelent 7.62x39 loads and if they suit his purposes then good on him. However, to give the 30-30 its due even with a 20" M94 Carbine barrel the 311041 and 1700 fps is just a starting load. The 311041 from either the original Lyman mould or the the GB Lee mould can be safely pushed with very, very good hunting accuracy to 2000 - 2100 fps. That is a far cry better than anything the 7.62x39 can do with the same bullet(s). Now Junior has a fine hunting rifle that certainly suits his hog hunting style but lets keep it in perspective as regards to the old 30-30.

I modified a Yugo SKS similar to what Junior did except I did not change the sights and I attached a CETME/FR8 flash suppressor. It is actually welded to the remains of the granade launcher. In the Yugo and my Russian SKS I've found the GB 150 gr WFN works quite well ove H4895 at 1900 fps. Still not up to what the 30-30 can do (2200 fps) with that same bullet but efective any ways to 200 yards. Both my Yugo and Russian SKS but 10 shots of that load into 2 -3 moa at 100 yards. I've modified the gas tube on the Russian to ease the violence of ejection and am contemplating D&Ting for a gas adjustment screw on the Yugo.

The SKS is a very good rifle, especiall the one Junior modified his for and developed decent loads for. I also find the GB 311041 to be an excellent bullet in other .31 cal rifles.

Larry Gibson

[32-20]

I may start down this path myself soon. Never reloaded for the round, but found a decent buy on some brass....so why not!

[MUSTANG]

Have yet to load for it myself; although I have collected brass and some potentially suitable molds over the years. Back in the GREAT ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN of the Clinton Administration I bought a like new SKS with foldable bayonet for $69 = simply cause Clinton wanted to say I could not. It's sit in the safe all these years; might be time this spring to get it out and play with some of the ideas contained in this thread.

[frkelly74]

I have been playing with that Lee 155 gr 312 boolit in my ar 7.62X39. I am using AA1680 and having some fun with it. This is one of the KM Tactical uppers with KM Tactical lower parts in an Anderson receiver. I put an A2 type buffer and stock on the rifle rather than the adjustable stock. I did not like that it rattled and it was not comfortable on my cheek. I have only shot it at the 25 yard range and find it pleasant to shoot and easy to hit with. The brass goes in a predictable direction and the bolt locks back on the last round. Recoil is slightly less than Factory loads. I also tried the tumble lube 160 gr boolit and had some failure to go into battery failures. Some of these resulted in bullets pulling and remaining in the chamber resulting in dumping the powder out of the action onto the ground. I intend to try some of the ranch dog 30 cal boolits at some point in this rifle.

[lotech]

HANDLOADER #177, eight or ten cast bullet ranging in weight from around 160 grs. to over 200 tested in a Ruger bolt-action.

[Larry Gibson]

Problem I encountered on my Mini Mk X 7.62x39 with the heavier longer bullets is when seated correctly they would chamber but extracting a loaded round with bullet only jammed things up as there was not enough of an opening in the action. Other actions [SSs, Mausers or Rugers, etc.] may have a long enough loading port though.

[lotech]

Problem I encountered on my Mini Mk X 7.62x39 with the heavier longer bullets is when seated correctly they would chamber but extracting a loaded round with bullet only jammed things up as there was not enough of an opening in the action. Other actions [SSs, Mausers or Rugers, etc.] may have a long enough loading port though.

I use a Ruger 77MKII. I have no ammo loaded up at the moment to check it, but I don't recall a problem with cartridge overall length when extracting a loaded round. I prefer a HP version of the Lyman #314299, about 200 grs. in ww alloy. However, your point is a good one that I had not considered.

[Mr Peabody]

I got a large volume of loads from Load data years ago, I think they added a few since then

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Have yet to load for it myself; although I have collected brass and some potentially suitable molds over the years. Back in the GREAT ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN of the Clinton Administration I bought a like new SKS with foldable bayonet for $69 = simply cause Clinton wanted to say I could not. It's sit in the safe all these years; might be time this spring to get it out and play with some of the ideas contained in this thread.
I did similar... "simply cause Clinton wanted to say I could not"
.
Except, I bought more than one. I won't say how many I bought, but if a good Liberal were to hear the number, they'd scream "That's too many!"
.
Anyway, one of the SKS's I bought, was a unissued Russian with Lam stock. My SIL currently has possession of it, as he liked it a lot. Let me tell you, them Ruskies sure did a lot better of a job finishing a war rifle, than the Chinese did.
.
Currently, there are no SKS's in my possession.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>

A while back I found a site or a post with a full page and 1/2 of loads for various cast bullets in the 7.62x39. I thought I had bookmarked it but apparently I did not. Now, for the life of, I cannot find it. Can anyone help me out here?.


SNIP>>>

In the Yugo and my Russian SKS I've found the GB 150 gr WFN works quite well ove H4895 at 1900 fps. Still not up to what the 30-30 can do (2200 fps) with that same bullet but efective any ways to 200 yards. Both my Yugo and Russian SKS but 10 shots of that load into 2 -3 moa at 100 yards. I've modified the gas tube on the Russian to ease the violence of ejection and am contemplating D&Ting for a gas adjustment screw on the Yugo.

The SKS is a very good rifle, especiall the one Junior modified his for and developed decent loads for. I also find the GB 311041 to be an excellent bullet in other .31 cal rifles.

Larry Gibson

roysha,
If I were to start loading for an SKS, I'd take a hint from Larry and use H4895

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I shoot 190gn (303 boolits) From my bolt action with 22gn of 3031.

https://i.imgur.com/A5KkvJ4l.jpg

[deces]

This thread reminded me of the one thing that I found about the Richard Lee's loading manual. You would think they would include load data for one of their most popular molds being for the 7.62x39, but no.

[Intel6]

I used to shoot the Lee 155 gr. bullet but have since moved on to the Noe 129 gr. sp bullet and a NOE Ranch Dog 150 gr. bullet in both my Yugo SKS and my Ruger American and CZ 527. The Noe 129 gr. is a great all-around bullet for general shooting and the 150 Rd shoots well also while really hitting hard. I PC and gas check the bullets and they work great.

Recently discussed the 150 Rd in this thread: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?448475-TLC313-150-RF-load-for-a-CZ-527M-7-62x39-to-hunt-deer


In the pic below L to R:

The NOE 129 gr. SP back before I started to PC
Lee 155gr. I used to use
NOE 150 gr. RD

NOE 129 gr. SP loaded
NOE 150 gr. RD loaded



309260

[Rapier]

I found some AR barrels that had .308 groove diameter with a 1-10 twist chambered in 7.62x39, just like the original Mini 30s. The older die sets came with a 308 expander ball. I had one of these ARs before and developed a 150 grain load using H-322. The load makes a similar round to a miniature 308 Win. The hard cast and powder coated plain base RCBS 150 or 165 style flat point should do real well with the 2,500 fps load.
I prefer the AR platform with a straight 10 round mag.

[Kosh75287]

I found some AR barrels that had .308 groove diameter with a 1-10 twist chambered in 7.62x39, just like the original Mini 30s. The older die sets came with a 308 expander ball. I had one of these ARs before and developed a 150 grain load using H-322. The load makes a similar round to a miniature 308 Win. The hard cast and powder coated plain base RCBS 150 or 165 style flat point should do real well with the 2,500 fps load.
I prefer the AR platform with a straight 10 round mag.

RAPIER, I'm a little confused. Are you saying you can get 2500 f/s with a 150 gr. cast in a 7.62x39, without straining things? Are the barrels you are using somewhat longer than the 16.5" AK/AKM pattern barrels?
I looked up data for 150 gr. projectiles in the 7.62x39 using H322, and Hodgdon lists 28.5/H322/150 gr. Hdy. SP as giving 2192 f/s from a 24" test barrel. Granted, the projectile listed by Hodgdon was a j-word, while you will be using PC'd projectiles, but will the added lubricity of your PC'd rounds get you another 300 f/s from similar or shorter length barrel?

I checked data using AA #2200 and found that 29.0/AA#2200/150 gr. Sierra SPT gave them 2291 f/s from a 21" barrel, which is closer to your goal, but still 8% under in terms of velocity.

This isn't a criticism, so much as my expressing concern that you might be pushing the limits of the platform, as you try to obtain "miniature .308 performance" from it.
I had a Czech Vz-52 rifle in 7.62x45 with which I experimented, and found that I could improve on the AK round by ~125 f/s in the same bullet weights. I got nowhere near a .308 nor even a .30-40 Krag, before getting pressure signs.

[405grain]

That 2500 fps figure sounded fishy so I ran the numbers on Gordon's Reloading Tool. Using a 155 grain cast bullet in the 7.62x39 with H322, to get a velocity of 2500 fps you would need a charge of 33.5 grains. This would give you a pressure of 82,912 psi. The maximum pressure for this cartridge is 51,488 psi, so this is a 31,424 psi overcharge! I seriously doubt that 33.5 grains of H322 would even fit in the case since the absolute maximum pressure load for this bullet/powder combination is 29.5 grains, and this would only give you a velocity of 2149 fps. (please note: I consider ALL of the loads that I just posted to be too high, and would consider them unsafe. I have only posted these loads to show that the claim of acquiring 2500 fps from this cast bullet/powder charge in 7.62x39 is unrealistic.)

[dondiego]

I used to shoot the Lee 155 gr. bullet but have since moved on to the Noe 129 gr. sp bullet and a NOE Ranch Dog 150 gr. bullet in both my Yugo SKS and my Ruger American and CZ 527. The Noe 129 gr. is a great all-around bullet for general shooting and the 150 Rd shoots well also while really hitting hard. I PC and gas check the bullets and they work great.

Recently discussed the 150 Rd in this thread: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?448475-TLC313-150-RF-load-for-a-CZ-527M-7-62x39-to-hunt-deer


In the pic below L to R:

The NOE 129 gr. SP back before I started to PC
Lee 155gr. I used to use
NOE 150 gr. RD

NOE 129 gr. SP loaded
NOE 150 gr. RD loaded



309260

Ha! I just glanced at your picture and I saw the blue projectiles and I immediately thought that they were inert military 40 MM stuff! I have some on my shelf!

[groovy mike]

I have found some decent loads using 2400 and 3031, but nothing that is really a tack driver. BLC2 works well for jacketed bullets. Since I have a couple of pounds on hand I'm wondering if it would work for cast boolits too?????

[armoredman]

Holy resurrected thread, Batman! But sure, why not? Can you find plated data for that powder? If so, use plated data for powder coated cast boolits. If you can't find any data, try writing the company.

[6622729]

Look up something like "single caliber manual 7.62X39". It was a booklet you can purchase but these days at least two sources have it posted online for free. I am casting 132-160gr boolits (NOE and Lee molds) for 7.62X39 and reloading Berdan primed steel cases. In fact I just saw I use the Lee 160gr round as my Avatar. I'm shooting 200yds in two different Howa mini 1500 bolt guns on 6"-12" diameter steel targets and have a lot of fun. It's cheap entertainment.