7.62 x 39

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RussellC

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Some bit ago, I posted about a build of mine (.458 SOCOM) that I noticed the bolt didnt measure as it should, obviously not the proper Bolt. Fast forward until this morning, I was looking at that bolt, and saw a tiny inscription on it "7.62 x 39."

In as much as I certainly know the likelihood of tis lone bolt morphing into a complete AR rifle, thought I would ask a few questions. Is it worth it, how does it compare accuracy wise to 5.56/.223,
.308, etc.

I am not an AK person and dont think I will become one, but being full aware of the gobs of ammo out there in this caliber, I wonder.

Also, I reload for all of my guns so far.

Please do tell,

Russellc
 
RussellC said:
Some bit ago, I posted about a build of mine (.458 SOCOM) that I noticed the bolt didnt measure as it should, obviously not the proper Bolt. Fast forward until this morning, I was looking at that bolt, and saw a tiny inscription on it "7.62 x 39."

In as much as I certainly know the likelihood of tis lone bolt morphing into a complete AR rifle, thought I would ask a few questions. Is it worth it, how does it compare accuracy wise to 5.56/.223,
.308, etc.

I am not an AK person and dont think I will become one, but being full aware of the gobs of ammo out there in this caliber, I wonder.

Also, I reload for all of my guns so far.

Please do tell,

Russellc
Click to expand...
Not sure why you would reload it, factory ammo is SO cheap.....and its not a super long range cartridge anyway.

As for becoming an AK guy, dont knock em before ya try 'em, :D

I have both AKs and ARs. Both are fun and cheap to shoot. Stories of the AKs inherent inaccuracy are greatly exagerated- though the average AR is probably more accurate than the average AK.

AKs are heavy, and changing magazines quickly takes practice, but their cool factor is undeniable.

Plus there are many nice, accurate bolt guns chambered for 7.62X39 these days too, like the Ruger American and mini Howa.
 
I have an AR in 7.62x39, it's my cheap ammo blaster/range toy. Also will be my crummy weather deer rifle. With decent ammo it shoots about an inch. With cheap steel case its 2-2.5 inches. I have a 1-5x32 el cheapo tasco scope on it. Its definitely my favorite center fire rifle to shoot, ballistics similar to 30-30.

I went 7.62x39 over 5.56 to have a bit more punch if I take it deer hunting.

With the low prices of ARs and components I would highly suggest one!

I have $450 in mine with a few magazines and optics
 
I have a Howa mini in x39. It’s my short range deer rifle, and it does less meat damage than my .270. Inside of 200 yards, it’s fantastic.

I reload for it because as much cheap ammo as there is, it’s difficult to find good stuff and nearly impossible to find coppers (what I choose to hunt with). The 120g Barnes Tac-X drops deer dead. For plinking, personally I’d stick with .223, but as long as your ranges are shortish, you can build a pretty great hunting gun with the x39.
 
If I were going to build an AR in 7.62x39, I would only do it on one of the lowers that take AK mags. Historically there were issues with the sharp radius mags for the AR, I know the quality and reliability has increased, but if you could use standard AK mags, considering you're going to have to buy specific mags for it anyways, I see this as the most practical and trouble free route.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-gen2-ks47-complete-magpul-moe-ept-lower-receiver-black.html
 
RussellC said:
Some bit ago, I posted about a build of mine (.458 SOCOM) that I noticed the bolt didnt measure as it should, obviously not the proper Bolt. Fast forward until this morning, I was looking at that bolt, and saw a tiny inscription on it "7.62 x 39."

In as much as I certainly know the likelihood of tis lone bolt morphing into a complete AR rifle, thought I would ask a few questions. Is it worth it, how does it compare accuracy wise to 5.56/.223,
.308, etc.

I am not an AK person and dont think I will become one, but being full aware of the gobs of ammo out there in this caliber, I wonder.

Also, I reload for all of my guns so far.

Please do tell,

Russellc
Click to expand...

You will want to reload for this. If you shoot the cheap ammo then your barrel will erode and accuracy will suffer after a few thousand rounds. I saw a test about a year or two ago on a 6.5G forum that compared accuracy for Wolf ammo out to (I think) 20K rounds. It started to degrade seriously after about 4K rounds but barrel replacement is easy enough.

Here is a THR link that turned up in my search:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/will-wolf-ammo-damage-my-new-ar.183809/
 
beeenbag said:
If I were going to build an AR in 7.62x39, I would only do it on one of the lowers that take AK mags. Historically there were issues with the sharp radius mags for the AR.
Click to expand...

There may have been issues with mags for AR lowers in the past, I have no experience with older mags but I like being able to use any standard AR lower. I have four mags, two 10 round ASC mags and two 20 round C Products mags. They feed everything from Wolf steel case FMJ to Winchester brass cased SP ammunition with no problems whatsoever.
 
To answer your first question of is 7.62x39 worth it? The answer is yes, if the rifle shooting it is well made and not some Century made piece of junk like the RAS47 or C39. Even the Ruger Mini 30 I would hesitate to buy because compared to a decent WASR I don't think the longevity is going to be there and the accuracy probably about the same.

You seem to be asking about x39 in an AR and to that I say it's only worth it if it cycles fine. I've been looking at getting the PSA AR47 that uses AK mags, but I'm waiting to hear more feedback from owners before I commit.

The biggest reason to owning a 7.62x39 rifle is the cheap steel ammo. Even tho the price is a bargain, the performance is excellent out to 250 yards and premium hunting and target/match ammo is available for x39, although there's not a ton of options for that premium ammo, but I think over time more ammo along those lines will be made.

You said you reload, I do sometime and have wondered if x39 is worth reloading. My conclusions were if it takes the same amount of time and money to reload .308, but .308 is a better cartridge, then there's no point in wasting my time reloading x39 when factory ammo is available. If all you're looking to do is find one super accurate load, then maybe it's worth it for you. You will spend a small fortune on brass tho.

Accuracy... it depends. From the AR's I've heard of 1 inch groups at 100 yards with Tulammo/Wolf, from AK's it seems to be man sized accurate to 300 yards; the 7.62x39 was never created with the intention of winning competitions and target matches or getting a clean kill on a deer.

I think the x39 is more worth getting into that .300 BLK. Without suppressors, the .300 BLK's existence is questionable.
 
Thanks! I like the Boyd’s furniture so much that I am thinking about replacing the A2 style furniture on my .300 BLK with a similar Boyd’s laminate in black and gray or their green and brown “camo”.
 
TTv2 said:
To answer your first question of is 7.62x39 worth it? The answer is yes, if the rifle shooting it is well made and not some Century made piece of junk like the RAS47 or C39. Even the Ruger Mini 30 I would hesitate to buy because compared to a decent WASR I don't think the longevity is going to be there and the accuracy probably about the same.

You seem to be asking about x39 in an AR and to that I say it's only worth it if it cycles fine. I've been looking at getting the PSA AR47 that uses AK mags, but I'm waiting to hear more feedback from owners before I commit.

The biggest reason to owning a 7.62x39 rifle is the cheap steel ammo. Even tho the price is a bargain, the performance is excellent out to 250 yards and premium hunting and target/match ammo is available for x39, although there's not a ton of options for that premium ammo, but I think over time more ammo along those lines will be made.

You said you reload, I do sometime and have wondered if x39 is worth reloading. My conclusions were if it takes the same amount of time and money to reload .308, but .308 is a better cartridge, then there's no point in wasting my time reloading x39 when factory ammo is available. If all you're looking to do is find one super accurate load, then maybe it's worth it for you. You will spend a small fortune on brass tho.

Accuracy... it depends. From the AR's I've heard of 1 inch groups at 100 yards with Tulammo/Wolf, from AK's it seems to be man sized accurate to 300 yards; the 7.62x39 was never created with the intention of winning competitions and target matches or getting a clean kill on a deer.

I think the x39 is more worth getting into that .300 BLK. Without suppressors, the .300 BLK's existence is questionable.
Click to expand...
Well, too late in terms of 300 Black Out, already built one of those and I do reload for it.

I have stumbled on a barrel now, hop skip and jump from having an upper.

Russellc
 
LOVE LOVE LOVE My AR-15 16" Carbine and my AR 10.5" pistol. They are 100% reliable and accurate with Wolf HP ammo I use mainly reloads in my guns though. I use ASC 10 round mags and haven't had a jam or malfunction in 500-600 rounds.

I use a factory federal fusion in my 7.62x39's for deer hunting and it's easily MOA accurate at 100 yards and very very lethal on deer. received_379935759265559.jpeg
First shot at 100 yards with my 10.5 pistol with 5x magnification.
 
7.62 is awesome. Some brands like golden tiger are finky in ARs from what I heard. Don’t waste brass and time reloading. It’s better to just buy the cheapest brand you get and fire away.
 
SharpDog said:
You will want to reload for this. If you shoot the cheap ammo then your barrel will erode and accuracy will suffer after a few thousand rounds. I saw a test about a year or two ago on a 6.5G forum that compared accuracy for Wolf ammo out to (I think) 20K rounds. It started to degrade seriously after about 4K rounds but barrel replacement is easy enough.

Here is a THR link that turned up in my search:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/will-wolf-ammo-damage-my-new-ar.183809/
Click to expand...
Wolf at times let military corrosive rounds slip in civilian ammo shipments. RAS ammo does that do if the box is marked Made in Ukraine.
 
7.62x39 is a nice intermediate size round. Cheap blasting ammo galore, and good reloading options too.

I put together an upper from PSA with the UTG handguards, Primary Arms 3X prism sight, and ASC 20 round magazines. I like it a lot. Runs good. 3-4" at 100 yards with the Tula ammo, sub-2" with handloads using 155gr Hornady ELD-M.

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Blasting steel at 80 yards with Tula,
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Handloads and testing at 100 yards,
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If I had to get one 7.62x39, I'd probably get one of the bolt actions. My CZ 527 is one of my favorite guns that I own, and I have heard nothing but good things about the Ruger Americans. Very short, very light, and they have a "real rifle" kind of kick to them. Having the bolt to slow your rate of fire down and shooting $5/box Tula ammo means that you can stretch your ammo money quite a ways.

As far as Combloc guns go, SKSes are fun, AKs aren't really, and both of them are pretty lacking in accuracy. I enjoy my SKS a lot, but I shoot it at about 100 yards max and am only looking for minute of jug accuracy. It's a wonderful fit for that, but you might be disappointed if you want to punch paper.

Don't know anything about x39 ARs. I know you have the bolt for one, but I wouldn't feel terribly motivated to build an x39 plinker instead of a 223. If the ammo cost is critical, you can just feed your gun Wolf 223 for about the same price as x39. The accuracy will start to go 4K or 5K shots (based on test results I've seen), but that's a lot of shooting, and it only costs $100 for another blaster barrel when that happens.
 
CarJunkieLS1 said:
Gotta be careful with that because the Grendel has 2 different bolts a Type 1 and a Type 2, I believe the x39 bolt is a Type 2 so he will have to be sure he gets a barrel that's chambered for the 7.62x39 bolt.
Click to expand...

Interesting, what's the cause for the difference if you can boil it down?
 
Mosin Bubba said:
If I had to get one 7.62x39, I'd probably get one of the bolt actions. My CZ 527 is one of my favorite guns that I own, and I have heard nothing but good things about the Ruger Americans. Very short, very light, and they have a "real rifle" kind of kick to them. Having the bolt to slow your rate of fire down and shooting $5/box Tula ammo means that you can stretch your ammo money quite a ways.

As far as Combloc guns go, SKSes are fun, AKs aren't really, and both of them are pretty lacking in accuracy. I enjoy my SKS a lot, but I shoot it at about 100 yards max and am only looking for minute of jug accuracy. It's a wonderful fit for that, but you might be disappointed if you want to punch paper.

Don't know anything about x39 ARs. I know you have the bolt for one, but I wouldn't feel terribly motivated to build an x39 plinker instead of a 223. If the ammo cost is critical, you can just feed your gun Wolf 223 for about the same price as x39. The accuracy will start to go 4K or 5K shots (based on test results I've seen), but that's a lot of shooting, and it only costs $100 for another blaster barrel when that happens.
Click to expand...

I've really enjoyed my 7.62x39 RAR ranch.
I put a Nikon 3x9bdc on top. It's a great plinker and short range hunter(I'm thinking hogs here)
The cheap ammo is what enticed me. My son talked me out of 7.62x39 for my 10.5 inch ar build a few years ago.....but the RAR is working out great.
20190616_151801.jpg
 
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