Which Powder? 7.62x39 for AK47 using Berry's 123 SP Plated Bullets

[lee1000]

Gun:
2 year old WASR-10

Purpose:
Plinking

I'm fairly new to reloading so I if I'm missing something please let me know.

Reason for reloading the 7.62x39:
1. Cheaper than Tula and I just don't like shooting steel cases and bimetalic jacketed bullets.
2. I like reloading
3. I melted a piece of car weather striping to the dust cover so my cases don't get dinged up, this works very well.

What's you load for this specific bullet and OAL that still cycles the action? I ask for OAL because it sounds like these flat point bullets have feeding problems when loaded too short/long.

Ideally, I'd like a load that fills the case up enough to prevent a double charge but is on the lower end of the velocity range due to the 1900 FPS restriction due to plating. Probably asking for a lot here

These are the powders I'm looking at as they are more economical per shot but I if you have a cheap load please add that too. I got these powders from the various loading manuals I have.
Hodgdon 4198
Accurate 1680
IMR 4227
Accurate 5744
Alliant/Hercules 2400

Thanks for the support guys

 

[lee1000]

bump

 

[lee1000]

bump

 

[Walkalong]

I think armoredman here runs plated as one of his loads in 7.62X39.

I do not know a lot about loading 7.62X39, but I do know 1680 is very popular for it.

 

[armoredman]

Nobody? Well, let me give you some data, then. First, I've never had any issues feeding the Berrys either in the vz-58 or in the CZ 527M bolt action. Work perfectly, and the little CZ carbine loves these things. The ONLY issue I had with the Berrys in the autoloader is something was causing them to strip at low velocities. Some lapping rounds later, and all works fine now.
Berry's recommends data be for mid range jacketed data, so here's what I've got, and remember, Accurate Arms data was recently revamped drastically, so if your load data for AA powders is over two years old, get the new manual, ASAP. All data provided is for academic purposes only, and anyone attempting to replicate them should be careful, yada yada yada, you know the drill.

Not many of the loads were chronoed, but a few were.

125gr Ber FP, mixed brass, 25.5gr AA# 1680, COAL 2.17, average velocity 2270, std dev, 45.62, primer Rem 9.5, worked pretty well in both rifles.

125 gr Ber FP, mixed brass, 28gr H-4895, COAL 2.165, average velocity 1830.1, std dev, 32.68, primer Rem 9.5, chronoed in vz-58, perfect functioning. This load is an absolute favorite of the 527M, even though I hate metering that powder.

Above load on paper, with scope, at 200 yards, out of the CZ 527M.



Same load, on steel, iron sights, 200 yards, CZ527, a few weeks ago.



The thing to watch for is plating being stripped - if your target looks like this,



Then you're stripping the plating, and your shots are going to be wild. Reduce velocity and see what happens. The above target was before the lapping, BTW.
Also I find the 1900 FPS to be conservative. When I get them above 2300 FPS is usually when the plating starts coming off. It's really a very good bullet.

Good luck and I hope this helped!

 

[tyeo098]

I use Reloader-7 and H335 both in AK and SKS, not plated, but hard cast.
16.7gr Rel7 and ~18-19gr of H335 under a 155gr Lee 314-155 for a nice light load plinking load.

What does your manual say?

 

[lee1000]

@Armoredman thanks for the comprehensive post. Very helpful, I'm going to post my data when I shoot my reloads.

 

[lee1000]

Thanks tye, there are several loads but they don't specify if it cycles a autoloader.

 

[armoredman]

Tye, gonna try that H335 with my 155 grainers, see what happens, thanks!