Practical Dope on the 7.62X39

[oldrodder]

I've been reloading for some 40 years and this is my first venture with this cartridge. My rifle is the Norinco JW-103. I bought the Lee 311-155-2R mould and loaded a few test rounds that I hope to shoot tomorrow. I also have a Lyman 31141 2-cavity mould that I would like to use in the 7.62X39. I can't find any data for a boolit weighing 175 grs with the gas check. I've never strayed from published data in the past and I'm hoping someone here has experience with heavier bullets in this calibre. I've slugged the bore and it comes in at .3120"
Thanks for your help,
Mike

[Outpost75]

Unless your #31141 casts large enough on the forepart to actually contact the lands when inserted into the muzzle, nose-first to check fit, I would not hold much hope for it shooting very well. But heavier bullets in 7.62x39 boltguns are no problem. My Sako rifle has a long, gradual throat like an 8mm Mauser and I can seat #314299 out long, so the GCis at the neck-shoulder junction, and the bore riding nose is engraved lightly upon chambering. A nominal caseful of 4895, Varget, 4064 or RL15 gives 1800 fps from.my 65cm barrel with 4-5" ten-shot groups at 200 yards.

[singleshot]

I've been reloading for some 40 years and this is my first venture with this cartridge. My rifle is the Norinco JW-103. I bought the Lee 311-155-2R mould and loaded a few test rounds that I hope to shoot tomorrow. I also have a Lyman 31141 2-cavity mould that I would like to use in the 7.62X39. I can't find any data for a boolit weighing 175 grs with the gas check. I've never strayed from published data in the past and I'm hoping someone here has experience with heavier bullets in this calibre. I've slugged the bore and it comes in at .3120"
Thanks for your help,
Mike

How fast do you want to push it? Does it need to cycle the action?

First comment, your boolit is likely too small. It will need to be .313 for your bore.

[bruce drake]

well iv had at least 1 got with my winchester brass and 16 grains of 2400 behind a 110 fmj , but it seems my lee size decapper dusnt like my brass and wont fully seat into hte die so only half extracts the primer..... which makes it stuck in the holder... i think its the bulged area on the primer pin is to wide and just wedging with the thick brass.. i may have to file it down a hair and see if that works ..... otherwise reloading is gonan get dam expensive to keep buying new brass

Just loosen the teardrop on the top the decapping pin then bring it down about 1/8 of an inch and it should finish the primer removal.
Bruce

[oldrodder]

Unless your #31141 casts large enough on the forepart to actually contact the lands when inserted into the muzzle, nose-first to check fit, I would not hold much hope for it shooting very well. But heavier bullets in 7.62x39 boltguns are no problem. My Sako rifle has a long, gradual throat like an 8mm Mauser and I can seat #314299 out long, so the GCis at the neck-shoulder junction, and the bore riding nose is engraved lightly upon chambering. A nominal caseful of 4895, Varget, 4064 or RL15 gives 1800 fps from.my 65cm barrel with 4-5" ten-shot groups at 200 yards.

Outpost & Singleshot,
The mould is oversize and drops a boolit of .313" Not concerned about cycling as my rifle is a bolt gun. I have all the above powders except the Reloader15. I'm more interested in playing with the various moulds that I already own. What about W-748 as I have several lbs of it. When you say a"Caseful" do you mean to the mouth or the shoulder junction?
Thanks for the advice,
Mike

[Outpost75]

The part I am concerned about being undersized is not the driving bands, but the bore-riding forepart.

Poke a bullet into the muzzle nose-first, remove it and look to see if the forepart is marked by the rifling. If the nose enters the muzzle all the way up to the first driving band without feeling any resistance, you can forget about anything better than can plinking accuracy.

By a "nominal case full" - I mean zero airspace with the bullet seated, but without powder compression.

[armoredman]

gevanzeggalar, I can tell you I still have some brass from when I started loading 7.62x39mm about 10 years ago. I don't load hot, and even though they've been tossed out of SKS, AK and vz-58 actions many of them are still good to go. Just watch for stretching and trim when necessary. I had one I finally tossed in the scrap bucket for a tiny split on the case mouth - it had so many ejector marks on the rim I couldn't count them all.
If you load hot or have a brital action, the life span goes down. Loaded with cast boolits through my CZ 527 carbine...I really have no idea how long they'll last, but it will be a while.

[badbob454]

I've been reloading for some 40 years and this is my first venture with this cartridge. My rifle is the Norinco JW-103. I bought the Lee 311-155-2R mould and loaded a few test rounds that I hope to shoot tomorrow. I also have a Lyman 31141 2-cavity mould that I would like to use in the 7.62X39. I can't find any data for a boolit weighing 175 grs with the gas check. I've never strayed from published data in the past and I'm hoping someone here has experience with heavier bullets in this calibre. I've slugged the bore and it comes in at .3120"
Thanks for your help,
Mike

i have had good luck in my sks with mynoe bullet and 4227 imr powder start at 15 grains though ...
16 grains 4227 Imr boolit 314-175 saeco clone only these were plain base unsized @183 gr. weight , very accurate 1 foot @ 400 yards in my sks , this is good enuff for hog hunting .. so 16 gr 4227imr in a 7.62x39 in a russian sks , yugo owners may need another .3-.5 grains to work in theirs' they have a stronger recoil spring roughly same point of aim for the factory 154 gr soft point made by tula @ 400 yds, maybe a couple inches'' lower

[Ed in North Texas]

well iv had at least 1 got with my winchester brass and 16 grains of 2400 behind a 110 fmj , but it seems my lee size decapper dusnt like my brass and wont fully seat into hte die so only half extracts the primer..... which makes it stuck in the holder... i think its the bulged area on the primer pin is to wide and just wedging with the thick brass.. i may have to file it down a hair and see if that works ..... otherwise reloading is gonan get dam expensive to keep buying new brass

My standard system is to decap with a dedicated decapping die (either Lee or Lyman and not the sizing die, I remove the decapping pin from the sizers, and most often the entire spindle with expander button/ball), clean the cases, size (full length or neck, as needed), prime with a hand primer (currently doing 1k .30 carbine a few hundred at a time), expand the neck with the appropriate Lyman M die. It might be more labor intensive, but it has worked for me for a few decades.

[singleshot]

Outpost & Singleshot,
The mould is oversize and drops a boolit of .313" Not concerned about cycling as my rifle is a bolt gun. I have all the above powders except the Reloader15. I'm more interested in playing with the various moulds that I already own. What about W-748 as I have several lbs of it. When you say a"Caseful" do you mean to the mouth or the shoulder junction?
Thanks for the advice,
Mike

Well, in that case you're in for a treat! My favorite load in that cartridge is a 200 gr. cast with 6.0 grains of Trailboss behind. It's quiet as a 22lr and as accurate with "drill bit" penetration. If you don't have Trailboss, 5-6 grains of any fast shotgun powder will work. What am I doing?!?! The easiest thing for you to do is read Mr. Harris' excellent writeup of this subject at the top of this thread. That's where I got started and all of my favorite loads stemmed from that article.

[kens]

I have a interesting gun, can you guys chime in on.
It is a small ring mauser with a 7.62x39 barrel, it is .308 groove. It was a re-barrel kit from many years ago from Navy arms or Numerich.
It shoots mil-surp ammo, but will not chamber a Lee 7.62x39 boolit, the throat is too short.
It will chamber the Lee 185 gr .303 boolit. (this appears to be a bore rider)
It will chamber a Lee soupcan if crimped in the top groove.
Since I already load 5.0gr greendot for pistol, could I load 5 gr greendot for either of these boolits?
Also I got RL-7, and IMR 3031, what kind of loads would work with these powders?

[Driver man]

I own a jw103 and use 10grains of unique with cast boolits 170grain to 205 grain no gas check . I have mixed results, accuracy with 170grain is very good to 100 metres. About 60mm. A good lube is needed and boolit position needs to be worked up. I have had a problem with the rear mount on my 103 and intend to fit a brass bush and bed it at some stage. I use the same loads with the SKS and cycle it manually. A really good close in bush rifle.

[oldrodder]

I own a jw103 and use 10grains of unique with cast boolits 170grain to 205 grain no gas check . I have mixed results, accuracy with 170grain is very good to 100 metres. About 60mm. A good lube is needed and boolit position needs to be worked up. I have had a problem with the rear mount on my 103 and intend to fit a brass bush and bed it at some stage. I use the same loads with the SKS and cycle it manually. A really good close in bush rifle.

I'm still playing with developing a load for my JW-103. Everything I've tried so far has trouble staying on a 8.5 X 11" target!!! I'm trying some .312" 150 gr. Hornadies next, then some 175 gr cast.
Mike

[kens]

what is a JW 103?

[robertbank]

Google is your friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norinco_JW-103


Take Care

Bob

[chrispy]

I'm still playing with developing a load for my JW-103. Everything I've tried so far has trouble staying on a 8.5 X 11" target!!! I'm trying some .312" 150 gr. Hornadies next, then some 175 gr cast.
Mike

Same problem I had with mine, that's why I got rid of it, got an AIA Mk10a2. Never looked back.

[russs]

Looking for LOAD DATA help.
I have H335 and IMR 4064 powder.
Looking for a light load that will cycle a Chinese SKS, not throw the brass far, and shoot a 160 gr. no gas check, PC coated bullet.( lee mold TL312-160-2R )
I just started casting for this bullet.
The only thing I have seen on the post is "Rangefinder" with an AK shooting 173gr bullet with 16gr H335, but I don't know if that is a light or heavy load for H335 powder. Any other help with loads for these powders?
Thanks
Russs

[Outpost75]

RL7 and 4198 are good choices for full power loads.

[savage1r]

So, I just wanted to post the video I my load testing in this thread because this is the discussion that really inspired me to try out the loads discussed for myself. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this through the years. This goes out to you.
http://youtu.be/Ars50sbBS24

[badbob454]

nice video savage 1 thanks for sharing , my loads are above i went withh 175 gr AND 183 GR boolits , a nice wheight and speed compromise the 200 gr is probably superior to the 300 blkout ...