Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 7.62x39 revisited

I know that this has been posted before a long while back, but, today, I saw an upper in 7.62x39 at a local gun store for $499. It has no markings on it whatsoever, it's new, and the barrel is freefloated and not chromed. I think this would be a cheap, more powerful, round to shoot. AND, if it shoots like my regular .223 barrel, very accurate. However, I have two concerns. Who made it, and magazines. I was told by the store owner that most used regular .223 mags, but couldn't load as many since the round is of quite a different taper.

Any advice? Or, should I just sink my teeth into a 6.8? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

Yea, the mags are the special trick to that round, from what I hear.

Let me know if you get a 6.8, I 've been contemplating the same....

Perhaps the taper of the 7.62X39 is one reason the cheap rifles chanbered in this round tend to be very reliable when dirty/muddy/dry and rusty......a streight walled case is more likly to stick either going in or coming out.....

I'm beginning to think that if I want a 7.62x39, I should just get an SKS or AK. They'll cost less than just the upper for the AR and will have NO feeding/magazine problems. I was just looking for more accuracy than they offer.

However, I AM interested in the 6.8 SPC round. I'm seeing on reloading sites that they are comparing it to the 300 Savage ballistically, with less recoil and better trajectory. The 300 Savage is an excellent deer round. This may be the round to go with. I just wonder when they will come out with cheaper, surplus ammo <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

to all, I have a semi-custom mini-mauser in 7.62x39 for sale, pm for details. jim

I think that the 6.8 SPC is being compared to the 250-3000 Savage, not the 300 Savage.

Jeff

All,

The taper of the 7.62X39 creates a conflict with the magazine well of the AR when it comes to magazine design.

We all know that the magazine is the Achilles heel of any semi-auto platform.

One company alone has seen fit to address the issue.
Vulcan arms.

I cannot vouchfor their quality and consistency but they have seen the problem and made things right to accomodate the 7.62X39 on an AR.

The AK magazine is a beautifull thing.

Very much like a K-98 Mauser magazine.

The Vulcan arms lower accepts the AK mag.
Feed problems dissapear.

Other problems pertaining to Build quality, fire controls etc are still outstanding however.

Vulcan has adjusted in an elegant manner concerning the 7.62X39.

I just wish they had their crap together for the other details!!!!!!!!!!

And for the record......

The 6.8 answer is still without "Peer review".

Untill the average shooter can run the thing every other weekend for fun or competition, it is but a promise.

In a month or so, a Major manufacturer will announce 6.8 ammo as being in production at good volumes.

Now the AR platform will have to adjust to accomodate.

Springs, Gas tubes, cyclic rate tweaks, extractor mods,propellent evolution, and in general the whole nine yards.

When so many folks are clammoring for a middle ground cartridge, the easy answer is making the common platform adapt to the latest offering.

I and some others are of the mindset that the platform and cartridge should be mated from the onset.

The 6.8 has a good future thanks to some folks taking the chance.

E4E

So, E4E, aren't you basically saying that it is actuallty better to use the .223 round with better (heavier) bullets to get performance since the AR is already time tested and proven with that round?

I know this is a little late, but the upper is probably a DPMS. And standard .223 magazines will not work, at least for more than a couple of rounds.

I had this upper and finally sold it. reasons were:
Unable to fire the cheap imported ammo. The hit on the hard primers was just too light.

Unreliable feeding, even with the magazines shipped with the rifle. The best one I used was an cheap USA Magazine cob job that was an actual AK-47 magazine grafted to an AR-15 magazine body. Uglier than the devil but good functioning.

I had feed issues too when using spitzer bullets in my reloads. All in all, I was disappointed in the rifle. It was a great idea that just didn't pan out.

Other swear by theirs. I swore at mine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />)

Duramags, by C Products are your huckleberry, with 7.62x39 in the AR. I like the 28-rounders.

I've got uppers in 10.5", 16", and 20". They all run just fine.



20-round ASC mags have been fine for me also,













Of course if you try to use 5.56 magazines, it's going to be a goatfuck. The magazine angles and feed lips are both wrong for the x39 round.

Very old thread, but good info. I bet those mags would also work well in the RAR ranch rifles that use the AR mags. Any experience with those? My buddies 6.5 grendal RAR would also probably function better with those mags..

Too bad we can’t still buy that Golden Tiger ammo.

I have a RAR in 300BO that uses the AR magazines, but it uses the STANAG 5.56 magazine for the 300BO.

SG Ammo still lists it, but it's 'out of stock'.

Thanks for the info I’ll check that out.

The last case that I bought was from SG Ammo but as far as I know it isn’t being imported anymore unless they found another supplier.

PSA probably has uppers. I've seen BCA uppers give or take 200 dollars with a bolt carrier... FWIW.

I have a AR 7.62x39 for a few years. A psa hybrid unit made in 2017???
Have not had any issues with it, very accurate.
I also have 2 6.8 rifles, great round. Have used it for several years.

Wow….old thread.

I’ve got 6.8 and 7.62x39 ARs. They overlap a little, but the 6.8 is a more accurate general hunting setup and the 7.62x39 does short range thumping a bit better and short barrels about the same. I’ve killed a lot of stuff with the 6.8. I can stockpile a lot of ammo for the 7.62x39 and the 223/5.56.

Define x39 kills better than the 6.8.

I used to think that the case. Yet found over the years there is not much difference between most rounds.

The trick to the 6.8 and heavier bullets for hinting is the twist rate the 11.25 that ARP makes is good for 90s, The 1-8 by others will stabilize 130s.
The 7.62x39 needs a diffrent mag and bolt. The setup I prefer is the .308 barrels with 1-10 twist chambered in the x39 round. It offers a wide selection of bullets. And the 150s are much better than the 123s at .311-.312.

SOTA Arms sells such a 7.62x39 barrel in .308 1-10 on occasion, on sale, with mags and the knurled aluminum free float forearm tubes.