The 5.45x39 is on the same case as the 7.62x39.
No, not really. The two cases have little in common other than they are both Comm Bloc Ammo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45×39mm
The 7N6 ammo became popular in the US when cheap surplus came into Europe and American after the USSR broke up and when some semi-auto versions of the AK 74 were produced. Then later, other labels started showing up as well. Ones like Wolf, Barnaul, and Tula come to mind.
For a time, you could shoot surplus 7N6 for less than $0.10/rnd delivered to your door in original crates with two SPAM cans full per crate. That made it the equivalent of centerfire ammo for rimfire prices.
My daughters and many other kids went through crates of the stuff when it was cheap.
All the clones of AK-74 used the stuff and it was only natural that folks would start using it in AR rigs.
A few outfits made ARs that ran original Russian AK-74 magazines, and a few outfits made specific 5.45x39 AR magazines. At one point, S&W offered an M&P AR in 5.45x39 until around 2012.
As far as Boxer Prime brass, it was available before the embargo made the 5.45x39 less popular. I have a good supply of the Hornady 60 gr VMax bullets, their dies, and Boxer brass as well.
In a Service Rifle clone I had built, the surplus ammo will hold well inside a 10 ring at 300 yards, and roughly capable of about 15X out of 20. The handloads will clean it. In general, the 7N6 ammo is better than 75mm at 300 meters, which is second only to Swiss GP11 as far as I am concerned.
@bobcat93 , the only problem with these wars and the embargos is that you missed the heyday of this stuff. The AK-74 surplus ammo is above average stuff in the examples I have tested, and the Hornady 60 VMax ammo was excellent.
That said, the 5.45x39 has no relation to those other wildcats or the 220 Russian based PPC versions. In original form, it was steel cased. The brass versions came along later, and some folks did wildcats, but those wildcats are very rare and not the ones being discussed here.
Unless the ammo starts being produced in factories outside of the embargo boundaries and someone imports it, then I wouldn't worry about it.
