Pet Load - 7.62x25 Hunting/Defense? Please Share!

[jjohnson]

Hi, guys!

Now that I've polished up all my reloadable 7.62x25 brass I'm ready to reload... and haven't picked out a bullet yet. I shoot a CZ52, target range only. I was looking for a suitable bullet that I could also use to hunt smallish critters like groundhogs. The FMJ bullets provide too much penetration and risk of ricochet for my taste. Anybody got a loading to share that uses an expanding bullet? I don't carry this thing for protection, though I suspect that even a hollow point weighing on the order of 100 grains would be very painful to receive when it's leaving the muzzle at close to 1500fps..... I haven't slugged my barrel yet, was wondering if something designed for .32mag (like a .312 hp bullet) would work. Thanks!

 

[Black Snowman]

All the info I've seen and from my personal experiance the Hornady 308 30 CAL 90 GR Hollow Point/XTP is the way to go. I get good accuracy and function from them, better than the surplus ammo, and they're pretty much designed for the Tok. I've never actually seen the results on a critter but I'm sure they'd perform better than the round nose FMJ by a considerable margin.

I load them behind a starting charge of H110 and it makes for a very fun fireball as well. Ignition and performance are fantastic from the starting amount so I didn't see the point in bumping up the load just to get a very few more FPS in exchange for drasticly increasing pressures.

 

[Clark]

I was in a gunstore last week that had just sold some Polish Tokarev ammo that blew up a CZ52.

I have two blown up CZ52s.
There are plenty more photos on the internet.

The slot milled out under the chamber for the rollers makes a weak spot that starts a split in the barrel. The extractor blows off at lethal velocities.

It is the only semi auto pistol I know of, that is weaker than the brass.
It is the only semi auto pistol I know of that gets bragged up in load books for being strong.

AA has drastically reduced thier CZ52 loads from where they were in 2000.


What does it all mean?
The CZ52 is NOT a good platform for experimentation.
Stick with the load books.

 

[barnetmill]

One suggestion I have is to use hollow point bullets intended for the .32 ACP. These are lighter than 85 grains and should work fine with what is powder charge full load with the heavier 85 grain bullet. I assume that some of these are available for reloading, but I have not actually looked to see if it is so. A 60 grain winchester silvertip at 1400 feet/second would be a pretty good varmit bullet for close range.

Since there is a history of CZ52's blowing up, one does not want to do anything that could raise pressures. The pins on one of mine keep working themselves loose. I have come to the conclusion that the tokarev is better for me. I find the quality of the recoil from the CZ52 unpleasant but not with the Tokarev.