7n6: what's the big deal?

[Bernie Lomax]

I am wondering what the big deal is about 7n6. I am probably going to buy an AK74 as my next gun purchase, and am wondering if this type of ammo is special enough so that I should grab a case of it now, while the getting is still good. Is it really that much better than plain old Wolf? What I'm wondering, specifically, is if 7n6 is really that much more effective on body armor than regular, commercial 5.45 ammo is (the reason it's being banned is that it's said to be armor piercing.)

TIA for any info anyone can give me.

 

[rule303]

There is probably no noticeable difference in the real world. The verbiage in the law bans import of pistol ammo with steel/iron jackets as armor piercing, even though it really isn't in the conventional sense. Now that 5.45 is considered a pistol round we will have to get by with commercial ammo with conventional copper jackets and lead cores.

 

[TanklessPro]

The big difference between 7n6 and commercial ammo is cost. Your not going to hunt with 7n6 because the commercial HP would be better. Paper doesn't care if it's "steel core" or not. 7n6 is purchased because it is cheap, no more no less. Or was cheap I should say.

 

[stubbicatt]

During the 80s when the Soviet empire went to Afghanistan to die, the SOF magazine and others reported this bullet to be the "poison bullet" due to the effectiveness on human beings. Some opine that this is due to a hollow pocket in the nose of the three part projectile. It was said by those pundits that upon striking a soft target, the sudden deceleration would cause the lead "knocker" in the base of the bullet to force the steel core into the nose pocket of the jacket, thereby upsetting the dynamic balance of the projectile and cause it to begin to tumble, much like the old 303 Brit Mk VIII was supposed to do. This would cause a 1.25" long tear in the tissues of a human which is rather significantly more damaging than a 5.45 mm ice pick like hole, through and through.

It is very accurate, IME, and will penetrate more pine boards than the 556 NATO round from testing published on youtube.

In 2002 or so, i conducted some tests on this cartridge. I shot at a water jug at maybe 20 yards or so with one shot from a Bulgarian build.

Here is the entrance hole:




And the exit:



I am far from an expert, but it looks to me that in this instance there is fragmentation, it *looks* to me like at least 2, and perhaps 3, bullet diameter exit holes.

 

[nathan]

Thats the reason why i have my AK 74 as my SHTF rifle. The recoil is like a .22 magnum. Its just the mags are getting way expensive nowadays.

 

[gotmine]

They are nasty with lots of aging afghans that can attest to the damage it can do. More than adequately accurate too.
I've had one or two that spun like a top in the berm after being deflected by the post supporting the plywood holding the paper....I know how that sounds, but it's etched in my memory under 'amazing sights'. It is a bullet I wouldn't wish to be struck by.
Grapefruit becomes for the most part a spray of mist. I don't do jugs because of the range owners cattle being like garbage cans.

 

[Sam Cade]

There is probably no noticeable difference in the real world.

Enhanced penetration cartridges
As body armor saw increasing use in militaries, the original 5N7 standard service cartridge bullet construction was changed several times to improve penetration. This resulted in the 7N6, 7N10, 7N22 and 7N24 cartridge 5.45×39mm variants.

The 7N6 bullet has a 1.43 g (22.1 gr) steel rod penetrator. Since 1987 this penetrator is hardened to 60 HRC. The latter 7N6 cartridge can penetrate a 6 mm thick St3 steel plate at 300 m and 6Zh85T body armour at 80 m.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45×39mm

That is harder than the blade on the knife I have in my pocket.

 

[smogmage]

7n6 is just cheap ammo, that's all. But now since the ATF is a completely unaccountable antigun bureaucracy, they decided to turn off the flow of cheap ammo just to thumb their noses at us. A rifle round is capable of defeating most body armor no matter what its made of, always has been the case.

 

[Swampman]

I'm fairly certain that 7n6 will give a greater chance of penetration against Class III hard body armor (designed to stop M80 ball 7.62x51) than you'd have with any commercial 5.45x39 ammunition.

The problem is that there's not a whole lot of Class III armor out there anymore. Modern ceramic class IV armor (rated to stop 30-06 AP) isn't any heavier and offers better protection than Class III, so that's what's being purchased these days. 7n6 isn't going to defeat Class IV armor unless you get multiple hits within about an inch of one another and even then it'd only be likely at short range.

Pretty much any high power rifle round will blow through soft armor with no problem, regardless of bullet construction.

 

[HexHead]

Tula 5.45x39 wouldn't even cycle my Polish Tantal, yet it ran like a Swiss watch with the 7n6.

 

[Tirod]

7n6 was vulnerable to interpretation, and the BATF has it's marching orders from the Administration to let no opportunity go to waste.

If selecting a cartridge for a gun is based on the price of ammo, then the AK74 needs to be reevaluated since the cheapest ammo will no longer be available.

If selecting a cartridge is done with the intent to match the ballistics to the range and target, there are plenty of alternates in this class, and other guns that shoot them. Choose carefully, "cheap" isn't really a ballistic standard, and since most of the providers in that category import, I would expect more restrictions as the BATF gets into the details.

 

[Fishbed77]

7n6: what's the big deal?

One "big deal" is the 5.45x39mm Onyx pistol BAFTE used to predicate the ban, of which some 200 were manufactured, and none have been proven to ever have been imported into the United States.

The other "big deal" is the fact that banning the importation of this ammo is a clear infringement upon our rights as protected by the 2nd Amendment. It's just one more tiny step to attempt to chip away at our protected rights.


.

 

[Swampman]

As far as I'm aware, the identity of the importer that filed to bring in the weapons is still unknown.

I wonder if the Brady Campaign has their own pet FFL with an import license? I doubt it would be much of a strain on their budget.

It'd be interesting to do a FOIA request followed by some serious digging into this whole smelly mess.