7.62x39 reloads

what's your X39 recipe, looking for one to approximate military loads with 123 or 124 gr.or 150 gr. bullets.
Thanks!

150 grain bullets can wotk but 122 - 125 grain bullets work best. Powders that work best are A-1680, RL-7, H-4198 and VV N-120.

Use 123 grain bullets, VV N-120 for velocity. Start with 25.30 grains of powder.

A-1680 is easiest to measure and leaves case space. RL-7 works well. H-4198 is accurate but velocity can be down a bit.

Use the smaller expander in the die set for proper neck tension. The expanders are .307" and .310". Proper expander size should be .002" to .003" smaller than bullet diameter. The .307" is tight on .311" bullets but if jacketed and boat tail isn't too tight. A case mouth expander such as Luman M or Lee Universal expander for cast bullet can be used. The best thing is to polish the .310" expander in a drill down to .308".

The Winchester cases are a bit weak. The new Winchester cases have rough case mouths and should be have the case mouths chamfered inside and outside BEFORE sizing because the rough case mouths case catch in the dies and crush the rather thin shoulders.

For new cases, chamfer inside and outside mouth, full length size, trim to length and chamfer case mouth again AFTER trimming.

Best primers are CCI (Blount) #34 but Remington 9 1/2 primers are also good. Other large rifle primers case be used with care.

Expander???

Size, deprime, trim if necessary, prime, press bullet, crimp, done... Pardon my simpleness, but expander??? I missed this from past loading... Pleez elaborate??

panzertruppe

Try Reloader 7, IMI or Lapua Brass, with a Hornady 123 grain SP and Wnchester Primer. Max load is 26.6 Grains at approximately 2375 FPS.

Load deliver 3" groups from my AK at 100yds and has killed two deer each with one shot, dropped dead in their tracks kills!

Expander???

Size, deprime, trim if necessary, prime, press bullet, crimp, done... Pardon my simpleness, but expander??? I missed this from past loading... Pleez elaborate??

panzertruppe
The expander plug in the die set comes in .307" and .310" It should be .002" to .003" smaller than the bullet. With .310" to .311" the .307" can be a bit tight and .310" is way too loose. Polish the .310" to .308" is about perfect. I get by using the .307" but most of my bullets are .310" not .311" The .310" plug is good for cast bullets. The 7.62x39 die sets come with both size expander plugs.

Expander???

Size, deprime, trim if necessary, prime, press bullet, crimp, done... Pardon my simpleness, but expander??? I missed this from past loading... Pleez elaborate??

panzertruppe


Part of the sizing die. The part the de-capper screws in to. Expands the case mouth back out to the correct diameter after swaging the case down. Happens automatically as part of sizing. Since 762x39 barrels come in 2 flavors, US/308 and Commie/311, die sets come with 2 expanders. US barrels are fun if you're into subsonic/suppressed loads, 240SMK@1000fps. Need a 1 in 9 twist though.

Use the smaller expander in the die set for proper neck tension. The expanders are .307" and .310". Proper expander size should be .002" to .003" smaller than bullet diameter. The .307" is tight on .311" bullets but if jacketed and boat tail isn't too tight. A case mouth expander such as Luman M or Lee Universal expander for cast bullet can be used. The best thing is to polish the .310" expander in a drill down to .308".

This is important and good advice.
I was using .310 bullets and figured the larger expander was the right one. Well i was wrong had to dump them all and re-size with the smaller expander.
I'll get around loading them again sometime.