Just realized I know nothing about buying 7.62x39

[MTMilitiaman]

As covered, the military stuff, when you find it, will probably be corrosive, but any new commercial stuff shouldn't be. It may be dirty, however. The biggest change for you is the amount of high quality stuff that has come out since you've been in the game. Several domestic manufactures, namely Hornady, have introduced some very good ammunition that breaths new life into this cartridge and redefines what it is capable of not only terminally, but also in terms of accuracy. I've seen reviews with some truly "revolutionary" groups posted with this ammo in AKs.

When discussing FMJs, you need to be aware of the difference between the two main styles, the M43 and the M67. It won't matter much at the range shooting paper, but if you keep a rifle and some ammo in this cartridge around for social situations, it will be something to consider.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I have a mix of Wolf, Barnaul and Brown bear, all in the same bullet weight. I just buy whatever is cheapest for my SKS and AK47

 

[Davek1977]

a lot of the stuff you shot in the 90s like norinco, golden tiger, and USA(love that stuff, actually was an ulanovsk company made in russia), are long gone and non existent anymore.

Not true...Golden Tiger is widely available, as if at least yesterday, SGAMMO.com had several cases in stock
edit:

http://www.sgammo.com/catalog/rifle-ammunition/762x39

yep, still in stock as I type this...

 

[old gun nut]

7.62 x 39 ammo

J & G in Prescott usually has good deals. I tried almost all the current ammo and have not had a problem in my SKS. I have a type 53 too and have had no problem with surplus ammo in it , 440 rounds for $90. All of these are dirty to some degree. I use windex with ammonia to get all the soot and grunge out .
I clean it every time i come home from the range.

 

[Old Guy]

I have not bought millions of rounds, but my AK47 has never failed to fire any of the brands I have bought. Still have a can of 700? Under the stairs.

The main reason I bought an AK? Well I did not have one, of course!

 

[snorko]

I have shot most of the common brands and have not noticed a whole lot of difference. Interestingly, JUST THIS PAST WEEEKEND, I had my basement flood. Ammo on lower shelves was submerged for around nine hours. This consisted of two .30 cal ammo cans of boxed and loose 7.62x39 and a little over five cases of mixed brands. 5,000 rounds was in the original shipping boxes which means fifty 20 round boxes in typically double corrugated board boxes. Thoroughly soaked through.

The .30 cal ammo cans were dry as a bone inside.

Ammo lost in flooding

Wolf Mil Classic, 124 gr jhp
TulAmmo, 154 gr sp
Golden Tiger, 124 gr fmjbt
Russian White Box, 123 gr fmj
Wolf Polyformance, 125 gr sp

I pulled the cartons out of the water and set them on a table to drip. A few hours later I pulled off most of the shipping boxes, exposing the individual 20 round boxes, all soaked through. I pulled samples out of each about 12 hours after removing it all from under water.

Already the wolf mil classic (poly), Tulammo (poly) & generic russian white box (poly) are all showing significant rust spots.

The Wolf polyformance and laquered Golden Tiger were at that point rust free.

 

[lxd55]

if it goes bang and you can hit a target at 100 yrds, I buy it. next q is how much is enuff?

 

[sniper69]

lxd55 - how much is enough is subjective. But I've been told by quite a few people to try to have 5000 rounds for each rifle at a minimum.