Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 7.62x39 gets no respect

It seems the round does not get a lot of respect in the accuracy dept.
Maybe because its primary launching platforms are the AK, and the SKS, and most people associate the round with these rifles which are less then stellar in the accuracy dept.

The truth is before I started playing around with the round in other platforms I felt the same way. I have been made a convert though. I think the round properly loaded and in the right gun can give excellent results for a short to mid range round.

Some other opinions please.

I don't think it gets respect it deserves mostly because of that FU bore diameter.

I bought a set of dies for it. They came with 2 expander balls - 1 for .308 and 1 for .311. So, that means every time you size it, it is getting the neck worked excessively. This also means that if you have a .308 bore on your rifle, that the chamber neck is excessive. And it means that if you shoot a 308 bullet in a 311 bore, you are getting gas blow-by.

I'm not going to argue with your results, but when a guy is thinking of cartridges and sees this situation, what do you think his conclusion is going to be?

I had a Mini-30, so I can't tell you how good the 7.62 was beyond short range.

Yes, I think bore size does come into play, but once you have figured that out and are set up to reload it, I think it becomes a non-issue.
After working with my mini, and doing a few things to make it more accurate, I am really enjoying it.

Yesterday I shot a quick 3 round group @ 100yds. with factory Rem. ammo and got a 1.25 inch group which I am more then happy with, and am pretty sure I can beat that with some hand loads.

No reason it shouldn't have the same accuracy potential as .300 Blackout.

Several years back, I bought one of the Ruger 77mkII's that were chambered for the 7.62x39mm. It was blue with a boat paddle stock and had the 20 inch lightweight barrel. I mounted an old Burris Compact 6x, and loaded 125 grain Sierra PH's, as I was told by Ruger that the bore diameter of those rifles were .308".

I enjoyed shooting it all through one summer and expected to hunt deer with it that fall, but I made the mistake of letting a friend shoot it and he offered me more than I could turn down.

I always said I would buy one of the little CZ Carbines if I ran up on one that was priced right, but it hasn't happened.

That rifle is the very reason I bought one of the Ruger American Ranch rifles chambered for the 300 Blackout, and it is going no where.

Sorry goggled my last query about ammo availability for .300 BO and got the answer.

Seems like I am behind the times on new cartridges.

I bought one of the IO Sports US-made AK's, which reviews had claimed came with a match grade barrel.

So I meticulously obtained dies, a MI scope mount, Lapua match brass, good bullets, checked loaded rounds for runout, etc.

With a cold barrel it would do about 3½-4 MOA. With a hot barrel it was minute of barn, inside the barn.

screw AK's

It would be interesting to work with one of the Ruger bolt actions, but I'm not gonna pay $995 for one of them. Ditto the AR variants in 7.62x39

the boat paddle rugers were good... a buddy had 2 of them. 125 ballistic tips were under MOA.

My mini on its best day before I worked on it was minute of pie plate. So trigger job, accu-strut, glass bedding, and muzzle brake later it shoots to my satisfaction.

It is really a combo of the cartridge design, the ammo makes, and the guns firing it.

There is a good reason that bench rest shooters do not flock to tapered cartridges. The accuracy potential is just not in there, but then again, the cartridge was designed to promote very reliable feeding, which it does with aplomb

Second reason is that the crap-azz ammo makers are not only using .308 to .311 and variation in between in ammo manufacturing, but some of the filler crud they put in the powder or what they call powder is iffy at best. I have seen foreign ammo from Russia and Egypt and similar places that looked like black powder in not only terms of carbon fouling, but also in it’s actual composition. No joke, I one saw some from a certain country that looked a heckuva lot like wood fibers!

Third reason is that the SKS, the AK, and Mini are not really known for super accuracy. The first two are function-first, designed during a time when it was more important that the gun function in a variety of environments, held by people were less than literate and were more likely to treat the thing like a farm implement than a rifle. The Mini is a good design, but is again not known for accuracy on the AR level.

One of my buds has a Ruger M77 boat paddle as described above with a Leupy 6x33 and he uses it to great effect. If you can find a barrel with a .308 chamber and build up an AR, you get MOA accuracy. A friend is doing that now with a barrel from McGowan, but he will be the first to tell you that feeding cn be iffy, which is a prime reason for development of the Blackout

At the end of the day, the Blackout is the US version of the Russian M43 cartridge, offering all of the good with none of the bad, and really is the reason for it’s popularity, I think

At work we have a S&W M&P in 7.62x39. It wears a 1-4PST and shoots light out. It is use for 100yrds and in stuff. It will hold sub MOA with Wolfe practice stuff and shoots just as well with Federal Fusion. Its been an awesome rifle and fun.

I have a Ruger American Ranch in 300 Blk...Im hoping I can get it to shoot as well as the S&W 7.62x39......remains to be seen.

Mark

I found the black out in an AR to be 1.5 moa or so using Barnes 110 grain vortex factory ammo. In 2 AK,s 1sks the 7.62x39 was a 4-5 moa gun.

Ak's and sks's just have slop for tolerances like iambrb said they are made to function first and foremost.
The ranch's main problem is the pencil thin barrel. Ruger tried to address this by giving it a heavier tapered barrel in the newer ones. IMHO they did not go far enough and could have brought the taper all the way out for more stiffness, but then they would have lost some of the allure of a small light weight carbine. I myself if given the choice would opt for accuracy over another pound. As it is the best fix, short of replacing the barrel, is a strut.

Someone metnioned the Ruger American Ranch Rifle. I have to apologize have not kept up the newest rifles and cals. for a moment I thought the new Ruger was a semi auto, but then realized it was a bolt. I would like to see them put the .300 BO in the semi auto ranch with a heavier barrel. I am thinking case size would work in that platform, someone chime in there. Thanks

Why would you want a ruger whne you could get an accurate reliable AR instead

That's true rost I guess I could just get an upper for my bushy. Different mags I assume.

I have seen the BO in a Mini 14 type rifle at a LGS.

I have a CMMG Mk47 Mutant that's a cross between the AR10 and AR15 that uses AK magazines. I'm actually quite surprised at how good it shoots. 2" at 100yds with cheap Brown Bear ammo and an EoTech with 3x magnifier. Granted that isn't bench gun accuracy but cheap ammo and low powered optics I was impressed.

I'm selling it because I don't need it with already having a 300BO and a Scar17 in 308, the 7.62x39 fits right between them and doesn't fit my needs.

Thats about what my ranch does with Tula soft points.
But shrinks considerably with American made factory and even more so with handloads.