Show me your 7.62 X 39!

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
This is always a fun cartridge to work with in that you can load it with cast bullets and full performance out of the case. Enough energy for deer hunting and with the right bullets good for varmints and vermin up to a couple of hundred yards. While I own four, an Yugo SKS, a converted 1903 Springfield and a CZ, here are pictures of a different one. And just so you don't think I'm always a really old fuddy duddy, IT IS A BLACK GUN! The only one I own, "The Hillbilly Assault Rifle".

I was able to buy this in 2007 very reasonable from a shooting friend because he and the previous two owners could never get it to shoot. Mil-Spec ammo was six plus at a hundred yards and jacketed bullets were four and a half at a hundred. Cast bullets at 1400 f/s would sometimes make three inches. It was one of those projects you work on a little every year, nothing gets better so it goes back into the safe for another year. In 2018 a guy gave me this set of plastic fore end and stock. I did nothing else than take the wood fore end and stock off and bolt these onto the frame. Shooting up three different jacketed bullet loads, it did one and a half. With 150 grain 311241 plain base it will do that as long as I keep it down to 1250 f/s. So it got a new scope, and now is on the plinker rotation.
br1.JPG
 

Attachments

  • br2.JPG
    br2.JPG
    440.4 KB · Views: 33
  • br3.JPG
    br3.JPG
    481 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:

Ian

Notorious member
Ric, I'm disappointed. Not a single picatinny rail, no bipod, no flashlight, no laser, not even a threaded muzzle? :rofl:

Seriously though, if you want to screw a can on that and make it the neatest garden rifle in the county, send me the barrel and I can hook you up.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Thanks Ian! Suppressors have been legal here for about three years, and I am moving that way. They are starting to show up at the range. The local and state permission slips are about a year, plus what ever the feds require.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
dropped my SKS into a butler creek monte carlo stock back in the day too.
then wrenched a clamp on bi-pod to the barrel for bench shooting.
it's been a solid 1-1/2" gun ever since, seems like the further it throws the cases the happier it is..
 

Ian

Notorious member
My previous employer has a small fleet of pretty nice Yugoslavian SKSs and an AR and we played around with subsonic 240-gr. NOE bullets. We found that for all practical purposes, Nosler's 300 BLK data gives about the same results in the little Soviet cartridge. The Lee C312-155 either greased or powder coated, worked well. As I recall the only powder we used with cast bullets was IMR 4198, keep adding until it cycles reliably and then tune a little bit for groups, will probably work just as well for your single shot.

Is yours a .308 ir .311 groove? I have wondered what the chamber neck dimension is for the .308, or if it is even any different. I'm also curious about the big reduction in group size from swapping the wooden forearm, do you think it was binding or too heavy? My .45 Colt is a 2.5-3" shooter at 50 yards unless I paper patch and that bothers me to no end. GBO used to have a lot of good accurizing information but I never could find anything wrong with mine.

The ATF examiners should be getting caught up on the backlog now. It was over a year for quite a while after the obomonation dumped 41P on us. Fewer than 20 examiners dealing with a sudden backlog of several hundred thousand NFA transfer applications at a rate of 200-800 per day, in addition to all their normal dealer and manufacturer paperwork takes a while.

What's your state and county's excuse?
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Is yours a .308 ir .311 groove? I have wondered what the chamber neck dimension is for the .308, or if it is even any different. I'm also curious about the big reduction in group size from swapping the wooden forearm, do you think it was binding or too heavy? My .45 Colt is a 2.5-3" shooter at 50 yards unless I paper patch and that bothers me to no end. GBO used to have a lot of good accurizing information but I never could find anything wrong with mine.

It is a .300+ bore with loose spots in it and a mostly .308" groove with just one tight spot. Chamber is a loose Chinese spec, no throat just 15% angle from case neck to bore center line. (They told me they didn't make only the one run because people shot Mil-Surp in them when they were told not too. A lot of the steel cases split.) Twist is 1/10 same as all their .30 calibers.

We did all of the GBO fore end mods, shot without the fore end, throated the chamber and loaded long, etc., etc. None of that worked. What I think happened is that the butt stock attaches with a ball into the socket of the action. The washer for the through bolt was resting on a badly cut shoulder in the stock. Every year you would have to keep tightening the bolt. There is an article in RIFLE on light gunsmithing that addresses this problem. However, the plastic stock is soft enough it just squishes into the action and is tight. No more problem.
 
Last edited:

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
What's your state and county's excuse?
I have to have background check where a city police officer interviews my neighbors and family, records check and computer check, not high on there priority and not funded by the state law that requires it.

State then gets report and checks everything, done by three ladies who also all handgun transfers in the state.

You have to remember this is the state that says any self-loading rifle is an assault rife, especially those Ruger 10/22's and Marlin 60's. There really is a bill in the legislature to make all "assault rifles" contraband and no buy back. They only have to sway two state congressmen to have it pass.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yikes. That makes me mad just hearing about it. Sorry to derail into poly ticks...but thanks for the explanation. Back to the subject at hand, sounds like that thing could use a really good thrashing with abrasive bullets. Since you've already throated it, the Tubbs jacketed bullets mught be the way to go to save the extra throat wear that firelapping with dead-soft lead bullets and bare-minimum powder charges can cause.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Oh, we went through the fire lapping, polishing with a bore snake and paint polish, and hand lapping with JB bore compound. In front of the funnel in front of the case neck is now a .309" throat about 1/16th of an inch long with a 1 and 1/2 degree included angle taper.

This is a very good load, Pope .30 caliber with top band .301", second and third .303", fourth .305" and the rest .310". OAL is 2.335".

7.62x39 Pope.JPG

Powder charge is 4.0 grains of WW231 at about 1000 f/s.
 
Last edited:

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
No. De-prime and re-prime and thumb seat bullet for the single shot Handi-Rifle. Don't know if there is a headspace issue as I just snap the barrel up and shoot. :)
 

Ian

Notorious member
Those break-actions will resize brass just fine when you snap them shut, lots of camming action. I've shot cases in my 219s until they split and only used enough pressure on the Lee collet neck sizer to hold the bullet. I figured the cases would start to stick and defeat the ejector after a while but nope.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
To this day, I have yet to own any firearm in 7.62 x 39 Soviet. No special reason for that, just had other interests and attractions. I would consider one of the CZ-527 bolters, and try to get some accuracy out of the little beast--if I was to move in that caliber's direction.
 

Sig556r

Active Member
Mine, as my alias imply, is a Sig556R in 7.62x39. It's supposed to be the Swiss version of the AK.
Also built some AR pistols & carbines in x39 but the steel case are hard on AR extractors unlike the Sig.
Thought I accumulated a bunch of brass & projectile, can't seem to beat surplus prices.
Ended up reforming brass to 6.5G & 9x39 which make more sense.
I still have sub x39s I loaded 5 years ago.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Being black does not a black rifle make, ha.:p

We have 2 x39 & several x39+12(that's like +p but we add 12 instead for x51 total;))

Both of the x39 are scary assaulter types. I'll try for pic later if they are n a good mood & agreeable.