7.62x39 loading question

[Sailormilan2]

I plan on loading up about 600 rds of 7.62x39 for my son's SKS. I have a bunch of range pickup commercial brass that I have already sized, and trimmed.
Unfortunately, some brass uses Large primers, and some brass uses Small primers. I have 2 loading manuals with 7.62x39 loading data, Hornady and Lyman. Both use WLR primers, and seem to have pretty much the same data between the two of them.
Does using a Small rifle primer instead of a Large rifle primer significantly change the loading data for this round?
I am not sure of the powder I plan on using, but am leaning towards IMR4198, as I already have about a pound of it.

[delisle]

I just got done loading up 100 rounds of 7.62x39 for my rifle. I used a 1.9 CC Lee scoop, CCI primers, and 123 grain soft point bullets. I used IMR4198 and it worked quite well for me.

I dont really think the small primer vice the large primer will change the load data that much. Maybe back the powder charge off a little with the small primers just to be safe. Small rifle primers are hot and fast, were as the large rifle primers are not so hot and fast.

[killshot44]

Make certain those cases are boxer primed. Berdan primers with play hell with your decapping rod besides being difficult to impossible to reload.

[delisle]

Yea, after reading this post I finally figured out why my large rifle primers wouldn't fit in my 7.62x39 Remington brass, they actually take small rifle primers. So now I have a crapload of reloading to do, Yes!

[Gowking]

I use 24 gr of IMR 4198 with a 123 gr FMJ bullet. Been getting good results in my AK47 based rifles with both the large and small primer brass using CCI #34 and #40 respectively.

I'm pretty careful weeding out the Berdan primed brass but a couple have made it to the press. The feel is different enough to tell that it's the wrong primer type but my Hornady die easily punches through.

AFAIK some older production R-P brass is all you will find with the small primer pockets. I contemplated converting them to large rifle primer but decided it wasn't worth the time and just use the CCI #40 primers.

-G

[SKSer]

Where are you guys getting your bullets from, I just started reloading for 7.62x39, I have all the equipment to cast with the lee 312-155-2r Bullet mold and was going to go the casting route, but if I can find a decent source of bullets i might go that route, everything i have found so far seems to be in the $25/100 range, which hardly makes it worth loading for price wise. I wish Wolf would just sell their FMJ bullets for like $10-$12/100.

[delisle]

Where are you guys getting your bullets from, I just started reloading for 7.62x39, I have all the equipment to cast with the lee 312-155-2r Bullet mold and was going to go the casting route, but if I can find a decent source of bullets i might go that route, everything i have found so far seems to be in the $25/100 range, which hardly makes it worth loading for price wise. I wish Wolf would just sell their FMJ bullets for like $10-$12/100.

Yea, I was lucky to get some on sale from Midway when I loaded my batch not too long ago. The funny thing is the rifle I am going to shoot them out of isnt finished yet.

[Gowking]

I got about 3000 on Gunbroker. Midway just had a sale on them too. you have to buy bulk, like 1000 at a time, to save $$.

-G

[Full Clip]

I have see no diff in performance in my x39 AR using large rifle primer (Win.) and small rifle primer (R-P) brass. But I do keep them separate — I don't just size/prime the brass and then dump into one pile.
I've been reloading quite a bit using Accurate 1680 and Hornaday V-Max bullets ($17.99 shipped per 100) from Grafs.
Pretty good combo so far.

[SKSer]

This is from a PM i sent to another member...

just a little food for thought, I have no experience with this personally, but i have been looking into it a little. Some people have claimed success in using .308 bullets in the 7.62x39:

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Title: Re: Using .308 diam bullets to reload the 7.62X39
Post by: jonnyugo on October 04, 2008, 08:01:47 PM
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Well got out to the range today and had some interesting results with the 308 SKS project. The "varmet rounds" that I loaded up shot relay well when loaded one at a time but there were some problems when fed from the mag. The 110 gr Sierra has a large hollow point that would sometimes catch when fed from the mag, shortening the OL and changing the point of impact resulting in 2 great groups instead of one. The 110gr V-max worked well but the hard slam of the bolt and no crimping grove in the 308 bullet in a case sized for 310 allowed the bullet to move forward a bit changing OL and affecting accuracy compared to the round when it was fed 1 at a time. back to the drawing board, going to try a few things and try again. The "Hunting" round of the 308 project had a great outing. I loaded Hor. 150gr SST, 308 Dia bullet that has a cannelure or crimping grove which kept the bullet rock solid in the case and produced a inch and 3/4, 10 round group at 50 yards. Wait, it gets better, the point of impact was dead on the same as my Hor. 310Dia 123gr FMJ and V-Max reloads! This was the biggest surprise of the day for me. In the past when I had worked some 150gr 311dia loads, POI always was different. In short, I will say that not only will 308 rounds work in this application, they work much better then I ever expected. This should be a great benefit to hunters wanting to load 150gr bullet as the selection of bullets avab. has increased dramatically for the SKS. Will post more results after next round of testing.

from here:http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.p...;topic=43158.0

This site has .308 152 grain pulled bullets @ 100 for $7.50 or 1k for $55.00.

http://www.rvow.com/m2%20ball%20bullets.htm

Im still up in the air, but thought i would share some info for you to chew on

has anyone tried this yet with any results?

[FLIGHT762]

Yes, 24.0 gr. Reloader-7, 150 gr., .308", Winchester Power point. This is a MAX load.
10 shots in a 2-3/4" group @ 100 yards. Fired from a scoped Colt Lightweight Sporter in 7.62X39.

[SKSer]

Yes, 24.0 gr. Reloader-7, 150 gr., .308", Winchester Power point. This is a MAX load.
10 shots in a 2-3/4" group @ 100 yards. Fired from a scoped Colt Lightweight Sporter in 7.62X39.

thanks for sharing bud, I might be looking into this as I reload for .308, it would be nice to be able to share bullets.

[FLIGHT762]

Just remember, you have to change out your .311 expanding button to a .308 button if you're going to use .308 bullets, otherwise the .308 bullets will not be held properly and will be too loose in the neck.

I use RCBS 7.62X39 dies and it's easy to change out the button.

[rjf]

Accuracy may suffer if using .308 bullets in an SKS. Comblock rifles are usually .310. You may want to slug the barrel to find the bore size and then use the correct diameter bullets.