204 Ruger was formally announced in 2004, was quickly accepted by many varmint shooters and hunters and has become one of the most reloaded rifle cartridges. Of course, in single-shot guns you can modify the throating to allow a longer cartridge OAL.The. If cartridge overall length is a consideration, the heavy bullets intrude too deeply into the case and use up case volume. If I were building up a gun for the 7.62x39 and wanted to shoot heavy bullets, I would use a 1:8 barrel. We did shoot some 160-grain bullets and noticed some evidence of yawing on the target. Our pressure barrel, which was 1:10, shot these and bullets up to about 150 grains very well. The typical military load for the 7.62x39 uses 123-grain bullets. The powders most suitable can be found - as you might expect - either at the fast end of the rifle list or, with very light bullets, at the slow end of the pistol powders.Ī word about bullet weights. 308 size because it fit the bullets better. I have a set from Lee Precision that came with two neck-sizing plugs, one for. But why take a chance? Drop back and work up again.ĭies are readily available. Generally, Magnum primers won't significantly increase chamber pressures if the Standard primers were giving good ignition in the first place.

This is a substitution that underscores a fact-of-life premise: Whenever you change anything, always drop back to the starting load level and work up carefully from there. All the loads listed use Standard Large Rifle primers, although Magnum Large Rifle primers could be used if necessary. The primer supply, which has been terrible for so long, is opening up a little. Federal, Cor-Bon, Remington and Sellier & Bellot all build ammo in this caliber, so case supply isn't a problem. Yes, the IMI are foreign-made, but I know from sectioning some that they are brass and use standard American Large Rifle Primers. Third, much of the foreign ammo uses Berdan primers, and that severely complicates reloading. Second, much of this stuff has steel cases that are a pain to reload. The first is that the quality varies wildly. There's plenty of foreign-made ammo in this caliber, and I would suggest avoiding it for several reasons. The supply of cases for reloading is not a serious problem, but it does require some care. 310 bullets for the bullets in the table, you must drop back to the starting load level and proceed with caution. 308 barrel, so you need to know the barrel dimensions of your gun. 310 bullets that are available for the 7.62x39 may very well produce somewhat higher pressures than you would want if fired in a. They are safe to shoot in the AK47 variants, and all shot very well in our. 308 groove diameter.Īll the bullets used in the loads listed here are standard. But you shouldn't be a bit surprised to find guns chambered in the U.S. 310 inch, and the SAAMI standard for bullet diameter is. Since the more or less nominal groove diameter for 7.62x39 is.

Since the AK47 variants have been made all over the world, bore diameters are all over the map as well. Let's talk about bullet diameter for a moment.

Almost any cartridge shape can be made to shoot well if those two conditions are met. Accuracy depends largely on pushing good bullets through a good barrel. But in assault rifle mode, accuracy isn't the primary consideration. In the AK47 and SKS variants (none of which is actually an assault rifle, because they lack a full-automatic capability) sold in this country, the accuracy of the 7.62x39 is rarely anything to write home about. The case also provides a wonderful option for introducing young or recoil-sensitive shooters to centerfire rifle shooting. The ammo it uses is the 7.62x39 Russian, a modestly sized little bottlenecked number that fulfills its military tasks very well. The gun has proved to be great for what it was designed to be - an assault rifle. The AK47 and its numerous variants are certainly on the very short list of guns that have been produced in the highest volume.

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