A reader named Ronnie has been leaving some excellent comments here and on the reloading page. Take the time to read them. Here's a few links he's sent me today, along with photos of cartridges for 7.62 x 39 and 7.62 x 54 he's reloaded:Primers
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=56422.0
Reloading
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=30961.0
Thanks very much for your help Ronnie!
Here's an excellent post on everything you've ever wanted to know about 7.62 x 39 Wolf ammo.
An inside look: Wolf 7.62x39mm 122 grain HP
I've been working on some cast bullets loads for my SKS rifles...
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=66214.0
7 comments:
Just to update my cast bullet loads on the SKS and Mosin M44. I got out today and tested all my ladder test loads for both rifles at 50 yds. with the iron sights. I settled on the standard universal load of 16 grs. of 2400 for the Mosin M44. The load shoots about 8" low at 50 yds. but I just worked the rear ladder sight up to the 500 meter mark and it dead on center my final 5 shot groups measure 1 1/2" center to center. Using a 500 or 600 yrd. setting on military style rifles is pretty common when shooting cast bullets at lower velocity with rifles that would normally shoot to point of aim with jacketed bullet loads at 100 yds.
On the SKS I had worked up a ladder test starting at 12.5 grs. of 2400 and increasing it by .5 grs. till I got to 14.0 grs. 15 grs. is the MAX charges of 2400 to use with the 7.62 x 39 with either of the Lee .312 bullet designs. The cast bullet regardless of the powder charge used all shot to about the same point of impact with little variation,about 6" low on the target. The 12.5 gr. and 14.0 gr. loads groups the tightest at 1" center to center at 50 yds.the 13.0 and 13.5 gr. loads spread more and as the powder charge increased so did the distance of the ejected cases.
The 12.5 gr. load cases pretty much stayed within 5 ft. of my shooting bench and grouped just as well as the 14.0 charge did,I see no reason to not stick with the lighter load since the Chinese SKS functioned perfectly with that load,I put 20 rds. through it and did a quick check of the bore and gas tube and piston for any lead fouling and found none,in fact it wasn't even dirty so I'm good to go on this plinking load. It would also make a good small game load in a pinch.
The mold I used is the Lee .312 160 gr. gas check Tumble Lube mold. I use straight WW alloy and water dropped the bullets to increase hardness,you may find it works just as well to just air cool the bullets and leave them on the soft side to give you a better bore fit under lower pressure with the lower charge loads,but the water dropped bullets shot just as well with each charge weight I used,your results may vary. I used two light coats of Lee Alox,one on the plain bullet and let it dry overnight,then I applied the 30 cal.gas check with a Lee .314 sizer so as not to size the bullet itself it fits the bore best as cast with no sizing,then after the GC was applied I put another thin coat of Alox on and let it dry overnight before loading. I thinned the 4 oz. bottle of Lee Alox down with two cap fulls of mineral spirits mixed well and warmed it up good before applying it to the cast bullets,it doesn't take much just a Z or M shape poured across 100 bullets is plenty for each application.
I may at some point try some other powders just to have a backup load but for now it works as is and I'm sticking with that till I have the time to work on some more data. I want to chrono these loads and do some 100 yrd. test before I move on with another load and put this one in the books.
Thanks Ronnie. I also found that the lighter loads seem to give me the tightest groups. OK, now if I were to start reloading 7.62x39, where would you suggest that I purchase lead bullets? I don't want to get into casting yet. I contacted Friendswood Bullet Co. and they don't have molds for that caliber at this time. Suggestions?
The only place I know that sells a precast gas check bullet for the X39 is Beartooth Bullets you can order them sized from .309 to .314 in diameter they weigh 130 grs. they cost about the same or more in some cases as jacketed bullets so it may not be cost efficient. You also need to slug your bore and measure the groove to groove dia. and order a bullet that is .01 to .02 over that dia. There is just not that big of a demand for them with all the cheap Russian ammo out there and gas checks and lube are applied one at a time by hand so they cost more.
Casting bullets in itself especially for rifles is an art all to itself,the dia. of your rifle bore will determine what size bullet you will need even more so with foreign military type rifles where bore dia. can be all over the place what works well in my rifle might not work at all in your rifle. Things you have to take into consideration when shooting cast bullets in handguns or rifles are correct bullet to bore dia.,hardness of the alloy your using vs. the velocity your shooting the bullet at,matching all these things correctly will result in good bullet to bore seal with desired velocity,accuracy and no leading of the bore,the wrong combination of these things will lead to bad bullet to bore seal,slower velocity,poor accuracy and you get spending all night scrubbing lead out of your bore.
Some people have this casting stuff down to an art form and I'm still just using crayons and coloring in between the lines as far as my knowledge goes,Lyman has a great book on just casting bullets and they cover a good bit in detail in there regular reloading manual as well that will give you lots of good information that I can't even begin to cover.
I wouldn't discourage anyone for casting there own bullets it fun but there a good learning curve to it. I hand loaded for my SKS and Mosin rifles for five years before I ever though about casting bullets for them this year. I will send you an email with some good sites and articles for you to look over and get some idea of whats involved if you ever want to do them yourself.
If you want to load some standard jacketed bullets about any of the Hornady 123 gr. FMJ,SP or V-MAX ballistic tip bullets in .310 dia. will work fine and there generally the cheapest also. I don't use .308 bullets in my SKS rifles they just don't shoot accurately for me but if you have some in the 110 to 150 gr. range doesn't hurt to try they might surprise you,each rifle is different,the Hornady manual has date for both there .308 and .310 bullets. Sorry if I left anything out or unanswered question I will do my best to answer any questions or point you to somebody than can.
I have a feeling that reloading Hornady bullets is going to cost me more than it's worth. An SKS is a battle rifle, so driving tacks isn't my goal. It would be fun to load my own, but I mostly reload for cost savings. There's a guy at the range that sets up a target at 100 yards, puts his rifle in a vice and shoots for two hours putting all his bullets into one hole. That's great, but it's not what I'm after with this rifle, at least for now.
I was listening to GunTalk Radio today and I sometimes find that program a joke. Tom Greshem: "If you can't decide between this gun and that one, buy both! LOL!!" Caller:"but I've already bought 20 guns this year and my wife will start to get angry". Are all these shooters made of money?! This site has always been about having fun with guns on the cheap, so reloading is mostly a way to have more ammo available to have fun at the range, especially with ammo prices going through the roof. That's why I've been reloading lead instead of jacketed bullets for my 44mag. I got sick of dropping $100 every day I went to the range. I don't know a lot of people with families who can afford to blow off cash like that every weekend, especially since to many are now without jobs or like myself, on reduced hours. My goal is to promote firearm ownership and marksmanship without going broke. That means I might end up sticking with Wolf ammo, which I can buy for about $.25/round. A Hornady bullet alone will cost me more than that (at least that's true in 44 mag). I'm guessing the only way to make reloading for this caliber work is to cast my own bullets. That's not something I want to think about when it's 17 degrees outside, so I'll wait till Spring to consider it. Please continue to post your thoughts and data for those guys who are already reloading or are in a place to start. I'll be reviewing these posts in months to come when I seriously consider whether to start reloading and casting this caliber. Thanks Ronnie for continuing to share your wealth of information with us!
Here's more links from Ronnie:
Cast bullet web sites.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/
https://www.castbulletassoc.org/forum/
Cast bullets for Military rifles
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13425
Practical dope on the 7.62 x 39
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13453
Beartooth Bullets
http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm
Hi Bob,while out doing some informal shooting this weekend I fired a 10 rd. string of my cast bullet 7.62 x 39 ammo over the chronograph to see what it was doing muzzle velocity wise. These are my light plinking loads that just dump the brass right at my feet,info as follows.
Chinese SKS
Case:Winchester
Primer: CCI #34 Mil-spec
Powder: 12.5 grs. Alliant 2400
Bullet: Lee 160 gr. .312 dia. gas checked and tumble lubed.
velocity clocked over the chronograph at 15' from the bench.
Low MV 1510
High MV 1557
Avg. MV 1527
Thanks for the info Ronnie
Post a Comment