OT: 7.62 x 39 bullet

[Hawkeye2]

I just slugged the barrel on my wife's Chinese SKS, its just under .313" so it looks like the best I can do is a .310" bullet. I was hoping for a 150 grain soft point as I have heard these are the most efective on whitetails and that one should stay away from 123 grain hollow points, specially the imported stuff. I believe I read that here many months ago. I was working up an order for Natchez and I couldn't find what I wanted there, No shortage of .308" SP 150s. As near as I can determine all the over the counter loaded ammo has a .308" bullet, correct? Any sources I have overlooked?

I did find a 150 grain soft nose .311" Speer Hot-Cor spitzer but I wonder if that isn't too large for my dies and the chamber. I have Lee dies with both .308" and .310" expanders.

Thanks for your help.
Doug

[JReed]

If your dies are set up for .308 then they will be to big. The proper diameter is 311 on both the 7.62X39 and the 7.62X54R it is only the recent US manufacture guns that use a 308 bore. So your dies could be either but your chamber should be fine.

[Hawkeye2]

Jeremy, thanks. The Lee dies are susposed to handle the larger diameter as well as the .308". I think I'll try the .311" bullets. I hadn't thought about the 7.62 x 54 as the liitle shooting I have done with mine is with the surplus stuff even though I bought dies years ago.

[earlmck]

I've shot a bunch of .312 Hornady 150 grain bullets through an old 7.7 Arisaka converted to .308 Win. My regular 308 dies never gave me any problems. I kinda' like to use the Lyman "M" expanding die to open up the neck just a bit for easier seating, but it's not a vital step. So I don't think you'll have any problems from the die standpoint, and since the bore is .312 you can almost rest assured the chamber is dimensioned for cartridges loaded with the .311 or .312 bullet. Load your .311 bullets and if the cartridge chambers easily you are home free.

If we are wrong and it chambers hard with a .311 bullet but easy with a .308 bullet, you'd better stick with the .308 bullet or turn the necks down some.

[stretch]

What a timely post - I've just been messing around with this issue using
a Chinese SKS and and an Ishevsk-built Mosin-Nagant.

I've read just the opposite concerning the 150 gr. bullets in the
SKS - stay with 123 gr, but use the soft-point stuff. It's too hard
to get the 150 gr. bullets up to a useful velocity in this gun. The
Russian HP ammo is said to be too destructive to meat, but I have
not personally shot a whitetail with that ammo to see if it's really
true.

Okay - that part's done! Ya pays your money and takes your
choice.

Hornady makes a 310 bullet, #3140 that gives me so-so accuracy -
3" at 100 yds. I'm pushing it with 25.5 gr. of Reloder 7.
The Wolf ammo with a .311 bullet is an inch better.
Federal and Olympic ammo (Greek NATO surplus bought some
year back) is .310", and gives accuracy like the
Hornady missile. Sierra catalogs a 123gr. .311" bullet, but they
don't have any, and probably won't make any until next year. This
straight from Sierra. Nobody has a box left - not Midway, Natchez, etc...

Lee dies work fine - use the .303 British expander part # SE2358 for
the bigger bullets. The .308" (actual .307"?) expander works fine
with the .310" bullet. The bigger expander is .310" and too big for the
.310" bullet.

I'm getting 3 out of 5 shots into 3/4" at 50 yards with the Mosin using
a 180gr. .311" Remington CoreLokt. The shooter seems to be the problem
witht the other 2. 2" isn't hideous, but still.... Powder is 52.5 gr. of
IMR4350 per the Sierra manual. I think the groove diameter is bigger, but
I haven't run across a .312" bullet yet. Please advise if you know who has some!

Hope this helps.

-Stretch

[earlmck]

Hornady makes a .312 bullet in 150 and 175 (I think) grains, but they are made for 303 British type velocities and might not expand reliably with your lower velocities. The 150 also has a long ogive and might be a challenge in seating to correct OAL (I don't have any 7.62X39 loading experience so can't tell you for certain this bullet works or doesn't work.) It is a nice diameter, however!

[Old Time Hunter]

The Hornady .312 150 SP works great in all my M-N's, SKS, AK-47, 7.7 Arisaka, and my #1 MK3 Lee-Enfield. Use standard Lee dies, no neck expander.

[stretch]

That Hornady 175gr in .312" might be the ticket for the Mosin.
Thanks, Earl.

Hornady makes a .312 bullet in 150 and 175 (I think) grains, but they are made for 303 British type velocities and might not expand reliably with your lower velocities.

That's what I've heard about the 150gr. projectiles in the SKS. The case capacity just
isn't that big with the 7.62x39 round. It's struggling to approach 30-30 power, and
hotrodding it just isn't an option for several reasons.

The bigger caliber, 7.62x54R, is roughly between the 308 and the 30-06. Velocity
ain't gonna be a problem there!

Thanks for the information, gentlemen. As always, the forum knows far more
than I do!

-Stretch

[harry]

Hawkeye2 this has work good in my SKS, its .310
http://www.wisconsincartridge.com/produ ... product=62
Harry

[kasTX]

I have a CZ 527 in 7.62x39, not an SKS, but I have found the 123 Hornady FMJ to be the most accurate, and use the 123 Hornady SP for hunting. I use Lee dies.

I also read that you can't get the 150gr going fast enough to do much good, so I never tried them. I have, however, taken three does with the 123gr SP and I can tell you it kills them very dead very quickly, so I don't see the need for a heavier bullet.

[Gary]

The Lee dies work great for my 7.62X39 Yugo 59/66. I load the Hornady .310 123 SP over 25.7 gr of RL7 and it matches the accuracy of Winchester factory loads in my rifle. I loades 200 rounds last weekend.

The Hornady manual includes load data for their .312 150gr SP. If the 7.62X39 is too slow for that bullet, Hornady doesn't say anything about it. Still, I'd stick to the 123gr SP if I was chasing deer.

[piller]

The 7.62x39 does seem to have some variation in barrel diameters. I wonder if anyone makes a bullet for them which is made to be expanded by the firing to fit the barrel. Sort of like a hollow base Minie ball or some such bullet. Some standardization might help. My Mini 30 states in the manual that it can use all commercially available bullet diameters for the 7.62x39. It seems to prefer handloads with .310 diameter bullets and H335 powder about 0.5 grains below maximum. With this load I get 2-3 inch groups with open sights for 100 yards off the bench, and 2325 fps. I have never tried it on deer, but it should be OK for them at no more than 100 yards. Factory ammo of every type I have tried gives 5 inch groups at best.