9x39mm: It's Coming!

Nature Boy said:

Why wait? You can get an AR chambered in .358win now. Something I've been wanting for a while

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That right there is a winner for someone who reloads.

Cooldill wrote:
Hey gang! TFBTV reports that Wolf is going to start importing 9x39mm ammo:

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Russia's answer to the 300 Blackout?

barnbwt said:

Especially since it is by all accounts a much better purpose-built solution for the sub-sonic SBR rifle round than 300 Blackout, which is itself more an economic confluence ubiquitous brass, bore size, rifle, and magazine than a ballistic optimization.

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I don't see much better about it at this point, for civilians. It's got a larger bore diameter, but zero bullet selection. The only civilian load I've seen is a FMJ. 9.3 bullets could be swaged to fit, but aren't designed for these velocities. .300 Blackout with certain longer bullets prone to yaw, IIRC: 208 AMAX, 240 SMK, etc, should equal this FMJ. Not to mention all the subsonic expanding designs.

hdwhit said:

Russia's answer to the 300 Blackout?

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More like the other way around. 9x39 has been around for much longer than Blackout.

Goosey said:

I don't see much better about it at this point, for civilians. It's got a larger bore diameter, but zero bullet selection. The only civilian load I've seen is a FMJ. 9.3 bullets could be swaged to fit, but aren't designed for these velocities. .300 Blackout with certain longer bullets prone to yaw, IIRC: 208 AMAX, 240 SMK, etc, should equal this FMJ. Not to mention all the subsonic expanding designs.

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See again my point about it being more ballistically ideal than 300 as opposed to convenient for American shooters. IIRC, many of your concerns applied to Blackout early on, where low speed expanding bullets were not nearly as common.

barnbwt said:

See again my point about it being more ballistically ideal than 300 as opposed to convenient for American shooters. IIRC, many of your concerns applied to Blackout early on, where low speed expanding bullets were not nearly as common.

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But the Blackout had a huge advantage in the US market due to the availability of .308 projectiles whereas the 9x39 will have to start from nothing. Honestly I think it's likely it will end up being like the 5.45x39 which faced a similar hurdle.

Havok7416 said:

But the Blackout had a huge advantage in the US market due to the availability of .308 projectiles whereas the 9x39 will have to start from nothing. Honestly I think it's likely it will end up being like the 5.45x39 which faced a similar hurdle.

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I'd argue 9mm is more substantially different from 300 as compared to 5.45 & 5.56 (and not just purely from a simple diameters standpoint). I do suspect it'd be more popular in commbloc guns than in ARs, however.

Heck, Grendel and SPC can somehow coexist despite overlapping in every way.

barnbwt said:

Heck, Grendel and SPC can somehow coexist despite overlapping in every way.

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Probably because of the rabid supporters both sides have! Lol

I agree there is greater difference between the BO and the 9x39, than the 5.45 and 5.56, but the basis of one round having more bullet options than the other i think has merit.
How many guys who want more than just cheap fun steel cased rounds will go for the 9 with its wierd bullet size. Similar issues come up with the 5.45.
I do actually know a guy who was planning on building a 5.45 upper just to shoot the cheap steel cased ammo thats littering up the store room of one of my local hangouts. So there ARE those guys, just not as many as who want more versatile equipment.

at my age...another fad caliber I don't need and don't care to waste my time with. I am happy with my arms in my safe.

If an SBR AK with a suppressor was available without paying a mint, this would be interesting. I guess it depends on how much the ammo sells for.

More choices are generally good but this is not a round I will be buying nor some of the odd Chinese caliber.

Foreign military rounds depending solely on imported steel case ammo from a problematic area of the world do not appeal to me. Thus, I never bought a 5.45x39 (7.62x39 is a bit different as other sources of ammo exist along with reloading components).

There is really no magic cartridge, just a series of tradeoffs depending on your use for it. Such as cost, the weapons system you are firing it in, reloadability, existence of reloading components, performance, task for the firearm, etc.

Yawn.

As others have said, unless it can use .358" bullets, it's goin' nowhere. The only reason for rounds like this is suppressed use, and if there are poor/no options for heavy bullets that will allow the action to cycle with subsonic loads yet still be able to run the hot stuff, it's DOA.