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Reloading 7.62 with .308 projectile

Ron D Cromwell

I was wondering if loading 7.62x39 with a .038 diameter projectile will b okay. 7.62x39 calls for a .310 diameter and was wondering with bein 2 thousandths off if it will be loose in the case. If so should I crimp the neck to ensure an even tighter fit? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ron
 
It's called a 7.62 but it is not. Soviets measure diamter differently. Though, .308 can be adequate, it would NOT be ideal
 
Hornady has one bullet in .311 diameter in their catalog, in all honesty I have never seen any on any gun shop shelf and as far as I know Hornady doesn't sell to the public any longer.

Mike
 
Ron,

Use the Sierra .310 125 or 150 Pro-Hunter with N-133 in the 7.62x39. Good accuracy and the 150 load is sighted in at 100 with the 200 yd. sight setting for an SKS. VV used to provide loads for the the bullets.

HTH,
DocBII
 
A small test of a regular 308 bullet won't hurt the rig and is the only way to know for sure.

The worst that happens is they don't work and you clean the barrel to make sure it isn't fouled due to the blow-by.

If you are familiar with using a piece of soft lead to slug the barrel, you may want to know the two diameters of your rifling, but in the end it is still a test to learn if the under sized bullet will perform for your barrel.

There are larger than typical variations in the tolerances of these barrels, so it is hard to predict. I have had this work in some samples, and not in others.

Also, even the bullets intended for them may not give great performance, so the perspective of the undersized bullet is based on what the rig shoots with typical designated ammo.

As has been said, if you are patient and search around the mail order houses, you will eventually score the 0.310 - 0.312 sized bullets. Even then, you end up testing to see what might group.
 
RegionRat said:
There are larger than typical variations in the tolerances of these barrels, so it is hard to predict. I have had this work in some samples, and not in others.
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Yes, absolutely. I've had 0.308" dia. bullets shoot reasonably well in an examples each of .303 British and 7.62X54R military rifles, but they obviously had minimum bore / groove diameters for the calibres. Other rifles would hardly produce a group at all with 308s. When I had a Cz527 Carbine years back in 7.62X39mm, I never tried 308s - it shot so well with Lapua 123gn 0.310" FMJs, and they were attractively priced and easily obtainable in the UK at the time, that there was no need to try anything else.

Wasn't the Ruger Mini-30 actually made with a '308' (0.300/0.3080") spec barrel having originally been intended as a 308 Win rifle, but changed to 7.62X39mm when that didn't work out? Despite the new chambering, Ruger simply continued with the 308 barrel unchanged apart from the case-body part of the chamber.
 
Laurie said:
Yes, absolutely. I've had 0.308" dia. bullets shoot reasonably well in an examples each of .303 British and 7.62X54R military rifles, but they obviously had minimum bore / groove diameters for the calibres. Other rifles would hardly produce a group at all with 308s. When I had a Cz527 Carbine years back in 7.62X39mm, I never tried 308s - it shot so well with Lapua 123gn 0.310" FMJs, and they were attractively priced and easily obtainable in the UK at the time, that there was no need to try anything else.

Wasn't the Ruger Mini-30 actually made with a '308' (0.300/0.3080") spec barrel having originally been intended as a 308 Win rifle, but changed to 7.62X39mm when that didn't work out? Despite the new chambering, Ruger simply continued with the 308 barrel unchanged apart from the case-body part of the chamber.
Click to expand...
I had an old mini 30 back in the day and have heard the same thing - that it was a .308 with a generous oversized throat to mitigate pressure problems with .311 ammo. You could shoot anything through it. None of it shot well. It was the least accurate rifle I’ve ever owned. Like 8” groups at 100. I figure the compromises they had to make contributed to that but I really don’t know.
 
Laurie said:
When I had a Cz527 Carbine years back in 7.62X39mm, I never tried 308s - it shot so well with Lapua 123gn 0.310" FMJs, and they were attractively priced and easily obtainable in the UK at the time, that there was no need to try anything else.

Wasn't the Ruger Mini-30 actually made with a '308' (0.300/0.3080") spec barrel having originally been intended as a 308 Win rifle, but changed to 7.62X39mm when that didn't work out?
Click to expand...
I wish I had grabbed one of those CZ 7.62x39 rigs that did well with surplus Yugo ammo. A saw a few and they shot the surplus very well. Back in the day it would be like shooting centerfire for a little more than rimfire. For a short time, they even had one that shot 5.45x39 pretty well too. With youngsters to entertain, that was the way to go.

I remember the rumors of the Mini-30 being all over the place, but have never seen one with a non-standard diameter bore. They are not known for great performance in terms of group in general, and there isn't much you can do with one that shoots poorly in my own experience, other than change the barrel. Even then, there is a low expectation on average, but they make a fun ranch rifle and can be reliable when not abused.
 
I bought a Windham AR in 7.62x39 and 500 pieces of brass, just before the shortage hit. I couldn’t find any .310-311 bullets. I had a ton of Sierra .308 125s on hand so I tried them. They only shot “well” at near max loads. I don’t think they gave enough resistance in the barrel to develop good pressures. I recently bought some .311 plated bullets to try but I’m not loading a lot until I can find better bullets.
 
Tried it in my 7.62 x 39 SKS . Didn't go well . Lucky to hold a 8 - 10" group at 100 yards . Might be okay to load for a "EMERGENCY" , but that would be it . And I'd wait for the target to close to around fifty . ;)
 
Laurie said:
Yes, absolutely. I've had 0.308" dia. bullets shoot reasonably well in an examples each of .303 British and 7.62X54R military rifles, but they obviously had minimum bore / groove diameters for the calibres. Other rifles would hardly produce a group at all with 308s. When I had a Cz527 Carbine years back in 7.62X39mm, I never tried 308s - it shot so well with Lapua 123gn 0.310" FMJs, and they were attractively priced and easily obtainable in the UK at the time, that there was no need to try anything else.

Wasn't the Ruger Mini-30 actually made with a '308' (0.300/0.3080") spec barrel having originally been intended as a 308 Win rifle, but changed to 7.62X39mm when that didn't work out? Despite the new chambering, Ruger simply continued with the 308 barrel unchanged apart from the case-body part of the chamber.
Click to expand...
If memory serves, Ruger was advertising the Ruger XGI in the mid1980s as a follow on to the Mini-14 and it was going to be in 7.62X51/.308Win. I remember seeing ads for it in some gun rags (magazines) circa 1985. Then it quietly disappeared. I heard rumors decades later that they could not get it to shoot properly and abandoned the project. Seeing as the original Mini-14 was not the paragon of precision, I can only imagine how bad the XGI must have been for Ruger to dump it.

Edited to add: Well, wouldn't you know it, Wikipedia has a page for the XGI:

Ruger XGI - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I use .308 bullets in a new Mini 30 and a Howa Mini Action. They work really well in both rifles. The Mini 30 is a 2-3 moa rifle with any bullet, even the cheap Berry's 123's. Berry's 150 fp for 30-30 are the most accurate bullets I've tried in that rifle. The Howa Mini Action shoots a variety of .308 bullets under 1 moa.
 
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