Rocketvapor
Gold $$ Contributor
Your Wolf must be the newer Boat Tail stuff.
Watch the factory and country of origin.
Last edited:
Question on reloading a 7.62x39 that is already super accurate
- Thread starter NDAR15MAN
- Start date
Your Wolf must be the newer Boat Tail stuff.
Watch the factory and country of origin.
test sponsored by Federal, Hornady and Winchester
1 3/4 at 100 yds with an SKS off a bipod is not good accuracy?
it is very rare for one to shoot that well. the bad part is you cannot compete in bench rest match with it
It's not for competition by any means. Just a shooter. If I took time, worked on it, and reloaded for it, I'm sure it would do better but still not nearly good enough for any match so not worth the effort. I did change the stock and reworked the trigger. It's an even 3 lbs now, was 4 lb / 14 oz stock.1 3/4 at 100 yds with an SKS off a bipod is not good accuracy?
it is very rare for one to shoot that well. the bad part is you cannot compete in bench rest match with it
I bought it in 2003 and 2004. I have 2 different boxes but they both say 123 grain. If I remember, some of the cases are greenish and the other are grey. I would look but they are in the bottom of a gun cabinet with a lot of stuff on top of them.
The lightest bullet's are Lapua 100 grain cutting edge. I use them but they are .308 diameter. You need .310 or .311 so you are stuck like Chuck. 123/125 grains are your lightest options. I have a Howa mini action bolt gun 762×39 with a Krieger barrel 308 bore. So i can shoot 110 grain bullet's. This combo is crazy accurate. 1/4" or thereabouts on the regular. You won't be happy until you get one of these. Hahaha.
I like that idea of shooting few hundred rounds of the corrosive ammo and shooting about a box of good old hornady ammo to clean up the corrosive stuff in barrel. Does this really work. Any one else have some thoughts on doing this ? I know you still have to clean barrel and every thing up but i think this process would help in the cleaning process ? MD
Having some experience with old surplus weapons, I would still recommend cleaning the barrel within 24 hours after shooting any corrosive ammunition and not rely on other ammo to neutralize the corrosive salts.
Almost all primers are slightly corrosive, even on "non corrosive" ammunition.
I usually give my Chinese SKS a thorough cleaning after each outing since it is stored for months between trips and gets a steady diet of commie x39. This is the one caliber in my arsenal that I do not yet load but do plan to add it in the coming months as the budget allows.
Almost all primers are slightly corrosive, even on "non corrosive" ammunition.
I usually give my Chinese SKS a thorough cleaning after each outing since it is stored for months between trips and gets a steady diet of commie x39. This is the one caliber in my arsenal that I do not yet load but do plan to add it in the coming months as the budget allows.
By far the best most accurate factory ammo I've every shot in my 2 SKS's was the Hornady SST steel cased ammo,.. Unfortunately they don't make it anymore.
I could hit a 20" gong at 330 yards 6 or 7 times out of ten. But this was with a PEEP sigh that replaces the original ladder rear sight, yet retains the ladder as one piece replacement.
Edit:... I took the one SKS with the peep sight and Hornady SST factory ammo deer hunting in the deep brush.
It was the most comfortable rifle I've ever carried and I felt extremely under-gunned in the deep brush.
I could hit a 20" gong at 330 yards 6 or 7 times out of ten. But this was with a PEEP sigh that replaces the original ladder rear sight, yet retains the ladder as one piece replacement.
Edit:... I took the one SKS with the peep sight and Hornady SST factory ammo deer hunting in the deep brush.
It was the most comfortable rifle I've ever carried and I felt extremely under-gunned in the deep brush.
NZ_Fclass
Silver $$ Contributor
I found that the book loads, at the time when lawyers ruled, were all a bit polite. The best and most accurate loads I found were with Federal brass and either Win 296 (H110) or CFE BLK. H322 is also good choice. You do need to take care with 296 and not reduce the load too far. 125g bullits do best for hunting in my, now a distant memory, SKS.
Rocketvapor
Gold $$ Contributor
I've had good luck with IMR 4198. Bolt rifle with .308 barrel\bullets. 110 vmax.
Todd
Todd
rockhound78
Silver $$ Contributor
If used for hunting, I take some brass cased ball ammo and pull the bullets and substitute 123gr WW soft point in its place. The ball ammo will do about 1 1/4" or so @100yds out of a Savage bolt gun and the "mexican match" stuff will do under an inch @100yds. The ball ammo clocks at about 2550fps and is berdan primed.
Will have to try the CFEBLK in it and see how it performs. Has to do very good to equal that ball ammo. Have a bit of Lapua ball ammo, might try the same thing and see how it works.
Will have to try the CFEBLK in it and see how it performs. Has to do very good to equal that ball ammo. Have a bit of Lapua ball ammo, might try the same thing and see how it works.
Groove to groove. Took a few minutes to get the best possible readings.
That was the highest measurement I was able to get repeatedly on the slug. ( I was able to get 1.5" of solid rifling hammering a big fishing weight into the muzzle ). The slug looked like a mushroom cloud after I hammered it in the bore !
I have 2 Ruski SKS's. one from 1953 and the other from 1954. Both have the chrome lined bores. I only shoot with the one SKS and let the other collect dust.
I have similar results with a PSA barrel. The thing just freakin' shoots! Steel case is at MOA and sometimes better if I can keep the barrel cool. And since mine has a .3095 bore in it, It likes to clover leaf the 125 Speer tnt's when using 26-27 gn of Benchmark. Not bad for a cheap ole' gas gun : ) Fun as hell to shoot!
My experience is very limited here but I designed the 30 Major in 2006 to make major power factor, reliably, in an AR15 rifle. A 30 Major is simply a 6.5 Grendel necked up to 30 cal...simple enough. Power factor is bullet weight x velocity divided by 1000. It's a scoring thing. Anyway, IIRC, it's been a while now, the floor for major was 325 at the time for USPSA matches. I think they have done away with power factor in the rifle portion since but am open to correction. Like I said, it's been a while.
Anyway, the purpose of the cartridge was to make "mpf" reliably from a 16" AR15 reliably and without bolt lug failures. It worked but being a BR shooter, I went that way with it for my own personal reasons. Mainly that it shoots very well. One of a very small group of 30s that can run with a 30BR. I was running a rifle with a dedicated ppc bolt face at the time, so it makes a lot of sense in that scenario. Flip a coin between it and a 30BR as they are both great and the one with the better bbl, bullets and driver wins.
To the point though, a necked up 30 Grendel has very near the same capacity and bolt head diameter as a 7.62x39 but is intended for 308 bullets in a 308 bore. By the numbers, 2600fps with a 125gr bullet made mpf so I believe you will be able to get there or very close for max speed with a 125gr bullet before having bolt lug issues. I have zero experience reloading 7.62 ammo nor ammo for any mil surp rifles aside from the AR platform. So none of this is relative to an sks or AK variant.
The bolt lugs are the weak link with the AR platform and what typically fails first. We did pretty extensive testing including pressure testing as testing to failure. The AR bolts are rated to a little over 50K psi for the ppc,x39,Grendel and now ARC case head diameter(bolt thrust). So, I would call 2600fps with a 125gr bullet as max for an ar15 with this case and since the Major and x39 are so close to one another in capacity, I think that speed is attainable from it. Yes, the old x39 with good ammo and a good rifle will flat shoot, much like the 220R that is proven to shoot competitively but most as a 220 Beggs here. Both very accurate cartridges.
For hunting purposes, the nosler 125 is great at those speeds. Berger or custom bullets in the 108-125ish gr range all work well.
Anyway, the purpose of the cartridge was to make "mpf" reliably from a 16" AR15 reliably and without bolt lug failures. It worked but being a BR shooter, I went that way with it for my own personal reasons. Mainly that it shoots very well. One of a very small group of 30s that can run with a 30BR. I was running a rifle with a dedicated ppc bolt face at the time, so it makes a lot of sense in that scenario. Flip a coin between it and a 30BR as they are both great and the one with the better bbl, bullets and driver wins.
To the point though, a necked up 30 Grendel has very near the same capacity and bolt head diameter as a 7.62x39 but is intended for 308 bullets in a 308 bore. By the numbers, 2600fps with a 125gr bullet made mpf so I believe you will be able to get there or very close for max speed with a 125gr bullet before having bolt lug issues. I have zero experience reloading 7.62 ammo nor ammo for any mil surp rifles aside from the AR platform. So none of this is relative to an sks or AK variant.
The bolt lugs are the weak link with the AR platform and what typically fails first. We did pretty extensive testing including pressure testing as testing to failure. The AR bolts are rated to a little over 50K psi for the ppc,x39,Grendel and now ARC case head diameter(bolt thrust). So, I would call 2600fps with a 125gr bullet as max for an ar15 with this case and since the Major and x39 are so close to one another in capacity, I think that speed is attainable from it. Yes, the old x39 with good ammo and a good rifle will flat shoot, much like the 220R that is proven to shoot competitively but most as a 220 Beggs here. Both very accurate cartridges.
For hunting purposes, the nosler 125 is great at those speeds. Berger or custom bullets in the 108-125ish gr range all work well.
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