Reloading 7.62x 39

[Mister658]

What would be the best powder to reload 7.62x39 for AK.

 

[DadSmith]

CFE BLK will get you over 2,300 fps with a 125gr bullet in a 16" barrel. You may get more if you push it on up. Always start low work your way up. Every rifle is different, and your rifle may like a different load as well as bullet.

 

[Mister658]

Trying to find all of the parts will be the hard part

 

[DadSmith]

Trying to find all of the parts will be the hard part

What do you need make a list we will try and help you find what you need.

 

[Mister658]

The projectile size I believe is a .311 if I am correct. I am trying to figure out the right powder type. I believe I have sourced casings tonight and primers.

 

[ZebLocke]

i have had good luck using H4198 and i believe it was a 125 grain hornady Z max. also tried IMR4227 but didnt see any improvement over factory ammo with that powder.

Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

 

[04FXSTS]

Cannot find my notes right now but I have used Reloader 7 and had good performance. Jim.

 

[JimH]

500 pieces of new Remington brass in classifieds..

 

[Magyars]

Ludco in Parker city had Berry's plated bullets for 7.62 x39. If I remember correctly, they are 125 gr.
But they can't be pushed faster than 2000 fps

 

[Volt]

I use Accurate 1680. It’s not the top choice in all my reloading manuals but it works well for me.

 

[Mister658]

Boo yah. Found brass, powder, .311 bullets and 1k primers today.

 

[xxxleafybugxxx1]

Has anyone here reloaded steel cases 7.62x39?

 

[DadSmith]

Has anyone here reloaded steel cases 7.62x39?

I haven't found any boxer primed steel cases to reload. They all seem to be berdan primed.

Educational purposes for new reloaders.

Boxer vs. Berdan Primers - What's the Difference?

What's the difference between berdan and boxer primers in ammo? In this post with photos, we lay out the benefits of each and the differences between them.

www.ammunitiontogo.com

 

[spencer rifle]

H4895, but then I use that for most rifle rounds.

I have saved Yugo Berdan brass, and have a number of Berdan primers, but have problems removing the old primers in some of the brass - the crimped primer ones. Hydraulic pressure will remove non-crimped primers relatively easily, but crimped is the devil. All I've seen says to puncture and pry them out, but I've been toying with the idea of making a single or double pin decapper. Problems with alignment and snapping the thin pins are likely to emerge.

 

[xxxleafybugxxx1]

I haven't found any boxer primed steel cases to reload. They all seem to be berdan primed.

Educational purposes for new reloaders.

Boxer vs. Berdan Primers - What's the Difference?

What's the difference between berdan and boxer primers in ammo? In this post with photos, we lay out the benefits of each and the differences between them.

www.ammunitiontogo.com

I have seen some videos online of getting boxer primers to work on burdan cases

 

[jason867]

Someone had some berdan primers in the classifieds meant for 7.62x39.

You gotta be awfully desperate (or clinically insane) to try reloading berdan primed 7.62x39 lol.

 

[HonkieKowboy]

Someone had some berdan primers in the classifieds meant for 7.62x39.

You gotta be awfully desperate (or clinically insane) to try reloading berdan primed 7.62x39 lol.

Seeing how the primer is only one piece, because the anvil is contained in the casing, I can see very good potential to be able to easily make your own primers and/or reloading primers for them for them (after all, with the one-piece construction it seems to just be stamped metal and a priming compound).

The real trouble is trying to get the primers out non-destructively.

 

[indydave]

I have some boxer brass 762x39 brass. Use H335,4198,1680. Aa2200

 

[indydave]

To deprime, fill case with water. Look up water depriming

 

[AmmoManAaron]

Has anyone here reloaded steel cases 7.62x39?

Yes, I've done it. First step, I use an RCBS Lachmiller tool to remove the primer - this is one of the easier berdan cases to decap with this tool because the primers are not crimped in. The deprimed cases resize nicely in Lee dies with the decapper removed and I use the old fashioned RCBS lube and pad to lube the cases. Reprimed with an old Lee hand primer tool and using the KV-24N berdan primer (Tula or Fort Smith branded, but actually produced by Murom). For powder, I have used both RL-7 and IMR-4198. Both are good, but I really like IMR-4198 with .308" diameter 150gr bullets - mild cycling and very good accuracy in Norinco SKS. The powder charge is quite compressed, but it is published data (I think the LEE data that comes with their dies even has it).

If you want to use .310" or .311" bullets, you will need to expand the case mouth. That is an extra step as you will have to do it separately from the resizing operation. If loading .308" bullets, you typically don't have to do this step unless you are trying to use a flat base bullet with very "squared off" edges and it is giving you problems. Boat tails or flat base bullets with more rounded edges are no issue and the neck tension is correct. For simplicity, that is almost all I use these days.

Anyway, that's the quick version of this tale.