Reloading for the Saiga 7.62x39: info needed

[jon_in_wv]

Last weekend I took my converted Saiga 7.62x39 out to the range to sight in my Bushnell red dot on it. I brought with me a couple boxes of surplus ammo I had on hand. When I was shooting I noticed the groups looked pretty darned good. After I moved my point of impact where I wanted it I walked down range to recover my target. To my surpise I shot a 5 shot 2 inch group and a 4 shot 1.5 inch group. Pretty darned good for an AK. I decided I would like to reload a little (I already reload for other calibers) to see what this Saiga is really capable of .

The question is this. How do I deal with the extra shoulder the Sagia puts in the fired brass? Does full length sizing just push it back in shape? I assume its not hurting anything I'm just curious how it effects the reloading process for that round.

 

[Beagle-zebub]

The dent is caused by the brass bouncing off either the charging handle or the top-cover. The standard solution is to stock some kind of padding on whichever of these surfaces is causing the problem.

 

[jon_in_wv]

I'm not talking about a dent. Saigas 7.62x39s have and extra shoulder in the chamber. They are intentionally machined that way so the Russkies can differentiate between brass fired from civilian Saigas and military AKs.

 

[jon_in_wv]

Nobody has any info on this?

 

[Deus Machina]

I haven't tried yet, but I figure being careful would squeeze that ridge back down. It just may not last as long, but you're likely to loose your brass from Ivan chucking it into the weeds before it becomes unuseable.

 

[ojh]

The question is this. How do I deal with the extra shoulder the Sagia puts in the fired brass? Does full length sizing just push it back in shape?

My experience is that the extra shoulder needs no special treatment. It just disappears completely during sizing.

 

[armoredman]

Full length resize as normal, shouldn't be any issues. Been reloading this caliber for a little while, quite a bit of fun. Just started casting for it, too.

 

[jon_in_wv]

Sweet. Thanks for the input guys.