7.62x39 reload or not

[redriverhunter]

I have an ak47 and have never reloaded for it, and now I am considering it. I am thing about reloading for it because then I could load something like Hornady's sst. My question is there any true gain in doing so.

[BigAlofPa.]

I would say you will gain the same benefits as loading any other round. You can find what the gun likes best. Save some per round. The enjoyment of developing the load it likes best.

[one-eyed fat man]

Reloading is a rewarding pastime, and many folks revel in the quest for developing the "best" load for their rifle. The AK is a bullet hose. Most any steel case Combloc surplus blasting ammo is likely to deliver accuracy virtually equal to cartridges lovingly assembled from bullets, brass, and powder charges all weighed to the tenth grain.

7.62 x 39 loaded with a high performance hunting bullet would make a lot more sense in a CZ- 527 or Ruger Ranch Rifle.

[Wag]

Reloading is a rewarding pastime, and many folks revel in the quest for developing the "best" load for their rifle. The AK is a bullet hose. Most any steel case Combloc surplus blasting ammo is likely to deliver accuracy virtually equal to cartridges lovingly assembled from bullets, brass, and powder charges all weighed to the tenth grain.

7.62 x 39 loaded with a high performance hunting bullet would make a lot more sense in a CZ- 527 or Ruger Ranch Rifle.

This.

--Wag--

[Kraschenbirn]

Reloading is a rewarding pastime, and many folks revel in the quest for developing the "best" load for their rifle. The AK is a bullet hose. Most any steel case Combloc surplus blasting ammo is likely to deliver accuracy virtually equal to cartridges lovingly assembled from bullets, brass, and powder charges all weighed to the tenth grain.

7.62 x 39 loaded with a high performance hunting bullet would make a lot more sense in a CZ- 527 or Ruger Ranch Rifle.

'nother +1 here!

Also consider that, shooting outdoors, retrieving your empties will be a real PITA. I've had a Chinese Type 56 (AK-clone) and a couple of Russian SKS and all would launch brass somewhere in the general direction of the next time zone (EST) which, also, tended to somewhat 'perturb' shooters at the stations on my right.

Bill

[edp2k]

The AK is a bullet hose.

Myth, plenty of AKs have excellent accuracy when fed quality ammo.

Most any steel case Combloc surplus blasting ammo is likely to deliver accuracy virtually equal to cartridges lovingly assembled from bullets, brass, and powder charges all weighed to the tenth grain.

Another myth.

https://www.recoilweb.com/7-62x39-ammo-test-101531.html
http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333183

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Your gun. You'll never know until you try. Go for it. I loaded up some custom ammo for an SKS and got excellent results.

[Jniedbalski]

My sks really likes my loads. I use to buy the russsn steel core ammo late 80’s early 90’s . If I still could get it I would not bother to load for it. That stuff was accurate. But the steel case stuff you get now is not that accurate. My loads and my sks are a lot better and I can make up good soft points for hunting .

[one-eyed fat man]

Myth, plenty of AKs have excellent accuracy when fed quality ammo.

Isn't that article that uses a CZ 527 with a 40 power scope to evaluate the ammunition? The best steel case ammo averaged roughly 2 MOA?

The Russian military acceptance standard is roughly 5 MOA radius (15 cm at 100 meters.) In my experience, the typical SKS would consistently do about half that. It was an exceptional AK that could.

[Gtek]

I have a Ruger 77 that I have a loading for and it really shoots well. The blasters get blaster ammo, between the actions, triggers, stuff hanging off barrels, you know. Some of us are driven by the challenge and the lure to overcome obstacles, pick your poison and enjoy!

[Peregrine]

The answer to this in my mind depends in large part on how much brass you have lying around, and how much free time you have. No one on the internet can make judgement about the latter for you.

Myth, plenty of AKs have excellent accuracy when fed quality ammo.

How do you define excellent and what results have you been able to coax out of an AK? You can omit Valmets in this discussion as while excellent they're fringe cases and I doubt the OP is running one.

As an aside I can't help but notice that fat man's comment was entirely in the context of the AK, yet all of the links you provided to refute him presented results based on the CZ 527. I'm virtually certain that his comment that combloc surplus is equal to handloads in potential accuracy wasn't meant to be broadly applied to all platforms.

[RED BEAR]

I reload the 7.62x39 but i cast my own bullets for it and use surplus powder under $10 pound so i can save over the cheapest ammo if you are comparing reloads to quality ammo then yes you can save and load comparable ammo if not better . But if you are looking at the cheap wolf ammo then using jackted bullets you wouldn't save anything. I reload for everything i shoot except 22 lr.

[redriverhunter]

I may not have explained my question well enough. A present I have some I think 150 gn soft nose and 124 gn sp factory ammo Russian I think wolfe. I don't know if the 7.62 x 39 round would benefit if I would load up some with a Hornady SST for hunting pigs and maybe deer.

[Peregrine]

I mean you could just buy loaded Hornady SST Steel case stuff, it's not particularly expensive especially in the context of hunting applications. Try a box and see how you and the rifle like it.
I'd think it would make a lot more sense to load yourself if you already had the brass and wanted a project to try to see what the limits of what an AK can do are.

For shooting pigs just go buy a few boxes hornady loaded. By time time you buy the SST's, brass, and dies (I presume you don't have any or else you probably would have just loaded a few up without asking) the savings aren't there and the amount of extra accuracy you'll be able to wring out of an AK are going to be very marginal.

[BigAlofPa.]

While not an sks my mosin loves russian ammo. And they say there not tack drivers? 50 yards with the irons. One flyer though.

[RED BEAR]

Hey they were the most successful snipers of ww2 and almost all used the mosin. Russian marksmen used to compete with it i have always thought they were very accurate.

[WinchesterM1]

I have a AK I built that is an honest 1.2 MOA rifle and I have an AK that is minute of barn

My Ruger ranch rifle will hit a 2” plate at 400 yards in 7.62x39

[GhostHawk]

Even my Yugo SKS got a lot more accurate and tighter groups with some good loads.

I pulled 20 tulammo rounds apart once and was appalled at the variance in weight on both bullets, and powder charges. I am talking 3.6 grains difference between lightest and heaviest powder charge. Its no wonder they shoot all over the place.

Personally I like the Lee .312 185 gc over 20 grains of IMR 4895. Cycles the action perfectly, hits where it is aimed. With large enough cast boolits, BLL for lube and gas checks I had no issues with leading.

With boolits too small and no gas checks that thing leaded up to where you could hardly see rifling.

I see no reason not to load for it.

[BigAlofPa.]

Im still working on finding the right hand load for the old mosin. I'll nail it yet. I have them good enough for hunting now. So getting there. Going to run more grouping checks out to 100 yards with a bigger bullseye though. If that goes well im going to scope it. Side mount like the sniper version has.

[edp2k]

Isn't that article that uses a CZ 527 with a 40 power scope to evaluate the ammunition?

Absolutely, are you going to claim that the scope somehow increased the inherent accuracy of the ammo tested?

Yes it happened to be a CZ bolt gun, do you have a similar test with AKs which shows factory ammo shoots poorly?

Are you claiming that "everybody knows" that bolt guns always shoot better that semis,
because of course a savage bolt gun in 223 always shoots better than a AR15 in 223, right? (sarcasm )

The best steel case ammo averaged roughly 2 MOA?

Test was at 100 meters (109 yards), best steel case did 1.342 inches, best rusky steel case did 1.473 inches.
Not bad at 25 cents a pop for the rusky.

By all means, don't buy any rusky ammo, more for everyone else