Accuracy and reliability of DPMS AR in 7.62x39?

[Snakum]

I love the 7.62x39 round due to its cost for general plinking and I even like the soft points for hunting deer and feral hogs. I have a couple of AKs already and so I have a lot of ammo lying around, both HP and SP. I'd like another AR rifle and so I'm thinking a DPMS in 7.62x39 might be interesting. With good ammo - Winchester or Remington 125gn SP - I can shoot two to three inch groups with my scoped AKMs if I allow the barrel to cool in between strings, and this is fine for deer and pig. But I'm thinking that with AR accuracy I could easily hit groundhogs out to 200+ yards with this round, and deer, hogs, turkey, and chucks is all I hunt with. So I'd have all my hunting, plinking, and competition needs covered with this one round. My questions, then:

* What's the accuracy on the DPMS in the Russian cartridge? I know DPMS 5.56 ARs will usually shoot MOA with good ammo. Wonder what I'll gain with the Russian round, over my AKs?

* Has anyone had bolt/reliability issues with the 7.62x39 in a DPMS gun? I seem to remember other brands of 7.62x39 ARs had issues with reliability. DPMS is a pretty good company with a good QA rep, anyone heard of problems in the x39 with their ARs?

Thanks for any help and/or suggestions.

 

[gondorian]

Welcome to The High Road Snakum!

 

[Geneseo1911]

do a search for "krochus"

He spent a lot of time exploring the accuracy capabilities of the 7.62x39 round.

 

[Maverick223]

I agree with the two Gs above...welcome, and ask Krochus...the resident x39 specialist.

 

[wally]

I've a J&T (DoubleStar) 7.62x39 upper and its great. A few issues with Wolf Miltary Classic ammo and light primer strikes, but Brown Bear or Monarch seems fine.

It proves the cheap Russian 7.62x39 ammo isn't as bad as the AK makes it out to be -- I can generally get 10 shots into ~3" at 100 yards off sandbags using a 1X red dot optic. I'm sure you could do better with hand loads.

IMHO the biggest issue with the 7.62x39 AR uppers is getting good mags. C-Products is pretty much it. If you are confined to 10 rounds should be no problems, but if you want 20 you are out of luck and the 30 rounders are iffy.

I've 12 of the C-Products 30 round AR 7.62x39 mags and only one has worked 100% out of the box. The other 11 would almost never feed 30 without a stoppage. I have replaced the C-Products springs with springs from a real AK mag (cheap Bulgarian from AIM) and these haven't had a stoppage yet. But I can't really recommend them as you shouldn't need to replace the spring on a brand new magazine

Its by far the AR I most enjoy shooting!

--wally.

 

[stoney1666]

My Model 1 works with all the C-products mags and shoots better then I can.