Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Heaviest bullet for the SKS?

I guess whacking a pig counts as varminting....

My 1260 round case o' 7.62x39 will eventually dwindle. I'd like to use my chinese sks with some fat cast bullets for pig eradication once I start casting for it.

Sure would like to find something in the 230-250gn plus range.

Curious what the heaviest cast bullet is that will stabilise in the sks. Any problems with recoil springs needing adjustment/gas hole needing to be enlarged to reliably cycle the action?

Or is it just a try-it-and-see thing?

SKS's came in a variety of different twist rates.

What's the twist on yours?

Unfortunately, I've never measured the twist.

As far as bullet selection goes, the .310 bullets that drop from my Lee mold, after powdercoat, measure a solid .318 or so. I could play with diameters as well to properly engage the rifling in the ~.313 bore.

Wikipedia says 1 in 9.45, for what it's worth.

At the 1 in 8 twist of 300BLK, the NOE 247gn boolit or the Lee 230 gn stabilizes.

Does it stand to reason that, with an ~18% slower twist, an increase of velocity of ~18% will produce the same stability?

In that case, the 300BLK's 1000fps with these boolits should compare to the same bullet in an SKS at ~1180 FPS.

Thoughts?

Doing a rough energy-equivalency calculation, a 123gn bullet at 2400 fps in the SKS should equate to a 247gn bullet at ~1700 FPS. Which should stabilize fine.

I could play it safe with the SKS and start at ~1200 FPS. Kinda like a hot-rodded 45 super with better downrange stability. BC is a might different, though.

Mag and throat fit of this "pringles can" boolit are another issue altogether.

I shot cast bullets a little over 200 grains in a Ruger 77 MKII 7.62x39. I don't recall the Ruger's twist rate; may or may not be the same as SKSs. That's been a long time ago, but as I recall, the heavy bullets shot well. There's a cast bullet 7.62x39 article in the October, 1995 edition of HANDLOADER. A number of heavy bullets are used.

Lead bullets in gas operated guns will almost always cause problems due to lead shavings plugging gas ports

Snyper, advice well taken. I'm planning on powdercoating the bullets so hoping for little fouling.

Bump for any further advice?

The lead bullet in ported gas operated myth is just that �. a myth.
I have shot 1000s of wheel weight .311 bullets from 130 to 190 gr in a slew of M-1s, M-1 carbines and 2 different R-1s. Initally believing the myth, I took them apart. There was no lead to be found anywhere.

As pigs are generally shot quite close, you might want to try a heavy flat nosed .313 bullets at 50 and 75 yards and see how it works.

Have you been to the CastBoolits (note spelling) site ? Probably folks there who have done it.

Nothing I could find specifically for the 7.62x39. I saw threads stating that was the topic and they quickly veered off in the 300 Whisper/BLK route.

Bump--any other opinions?

With a twist that is faster than a 10, I don't think you'll have any problem stabilizing typical cast bullets up to and perhaps beyond 220 grains.

The 10 twist started with the Krag shooting 220 round nose FMJ.