Reloading for Saiga 7.62x39, can't decide.

[Psychbiker]

Brass is 0.25/per case
Brass cased ammo is 0.50/per round

I cast and lead for a saiga is probably a little more than $1.00/lb as it needs to be a little harder plus likely a gas check and hi-tek coating.

The saiga will likely take the same 30 cal bullet I cast for 308 and 300blk.

The same amount, $225, gets me either 1000pcs of brass OR 1000rd of steel cased tula. Ballpark 10% of the 1000pcs of brass not coming back and I'll have about 6,000 rounds if I use each piece of brass 6 times. That's a lot of shooting and I only have 1 rifle in that caliber.

Think it's still in the long run worth it to cast/reload for 7.62x39? I'm on the fence. I hate to be kicking myself this time next year when getting ammo is a pain.

[Capybara]

Not sure what your experience has been but guys are on here all of the time complaining they cannot push their plated bullets past 1500-1800 fps in 7.62x39. Do you have any idea how hard you can push cast? Not worth it if all of your rounds are keyholing at 50'

[Bigtwin]

Never tried cast for 7.62x39. But I do have some brass and bullets for my Saiga that I have done some reloading for...and no matter what I tried I never got better performance than what I get from Golden Tiger purchased ammo.

[stevec223]

7.62x39 needs a jacketed bullet if your going for 2300 fps or above for factory type performance.... I would buy some brass cased ammo 200 at a time and save the brass if your going to start reloading for it... Brass isn't as cheep as it once was... Steel cased ammo is cheap now,,, might be a good idea to stock up now .... 7.62x39 is not .308 diameter ,,, it is .310-.312 or so in jacketed bullets... I don't reload it,,, its very cheap to buy the steel cased silver bear and my sks likes it.... Cheers..

[Che762x39]

Think it's still in the long run worth it to cast/reload for 7.62x39? I'm on the fence. I hate to be kicking myself this time next year when getting ammo is a pain.

I have been reloading for 35+ years. The only caliber I do not reload is 7.62x39 Russian. I stock up on Wolf and I am good to go.

[Capybara]

If you have a range where you can shoot steel cased, I would stock up on cheap steel ammo. Reloading 7.62x39 is not cheap, the rifles fling the brass far so you lose more of it without a brass catcher. But most ranges in SoCal won't let you shoot steel case so there you have it.

[iMigraine]

A lot of casters shoot their lead boolits around 1,500 fps. The pressure required to cycle the action is too high for lead boolits. So if you cast, take out the gas piston for single shot. Accuracy is good but no semi auto feeding, or brass flinging to the stratosphere!

[hermosabeach]

I thought powder coated lead could be pushed up to 2500 fps without issues

[bigdawg86]

I thought powder coated lead could be pushed up to 2500 fps without issues

Paging Stilly... A few pages down he has his powder coating tutorial. I'm unsure if he touched on velocity limitations