Accurate, currently available 7.62x39

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Coronach

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I've lately been getting pretty annoyed with Wolf 7.62x39 ammo...is it possible that this stuff is getting worse? My one AK is grouping it like a shotgun. Anyway, I'm thinking about picking up some small lots of better quality stuff and seeing what is currently on the market that my rifles like. I'm familiar with the various *color*-*animal* fare (Golden Tiger, Silver Bear, Purple Sloth, Chartreuse Buzzard, etc)...anything else out there that is currently available that I should be investigating?

Heck, while we're on the topic, what about premium defensive ammo?

Thanks,

Mike
 
Hornady is coming out with a 'varmint' round in this caliber. It's loaded with the V-Max I believe. Not sure how accurate it is or could be but I've read a couple articles on it and it seems to be a better than average defense round.
 
I saw that, too. The MSRP is $40-some dollars, though...for 20 rounds? Not sure. Sight-in might require a second mortgage!

Mike
 
OK, Natchez has it as $30-something for a box of 50. That's a bit more reasonable. Still spendy, but not stupid expensive.

Mike
 
dont know how well it groups with optics but i ran some of that 1980s yugo brass cased 762 trough my AR last weekend and I was pretty happy with the accuracy using iron sights at ranges from 50 to 150 yards...

looking forward to trying that hornyday vmax when it comes in
 
The reviews on this were pretty decent, it sounds like upgraded wolf to me.
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Not really...about the only real similarity to wolf is the steel case and that it "smells like Riussian powder", which is hardly exclusive to Wolf. Wolf has never loaded a 7.62x39 round similiar to what Horandy is currently putting out, only the typical HP, FMJ, and SP ammo we're all familiar with
 
Coronach

I was putting a few brands through my saiga the other day. The one that I found to be the best was the Tula ammo. Cabelas had it recently for $4.49. I wisha I had bought more. I have some herters on hand right now and will be checking it out later this week.
 
Who currently has Monarch/Barnual? I was looking for it a while ago and no one had it...is it back in stock?
 
Corbon has a great load with Lapua brass. .308 bullets though. NP if you have a mini30. Mine eats the stuff up 1 1/2" at 100 yards. $$$ though
 
Mike - SOG has (or had just lately) both Sako and Lapua berdan primered brass case fmj at reasonable price and quantity buy discount. both shoot very well out of my M30 and nephews SKS with Lapua a tad better grouping.
the Hornady VMax loaded is being discussed on the PerfectUnion Mini page with some cussing due to evidently slamfires and one fte due to possible light loading. myself I've loaded the slug when it was available from Graf's and it shoots very well. I hope it's retailed again by Hornady. it's very destructive, a vid on Utube shows results of it on gallon water jugs blows 'em to bits at 25 yds. they would take a leg/arm/head off with a solid hit.
 
Slamfires? PLEASE tell me that Hornady wasn't so daft as to use soft bolt-action-style primers in a 7.62x39mm case? :confused:

I would like to try Cor-Bon's 7.62x39mm 125gr load, but I've not been able to verify that they use the correct hard primers (no indication they don't, but I want to see some evidence that they do). The price also seems out of line with Cor-Bon's offerings in other calibers, but I'd still buy a box or two if I could be satisified about the primer issue.

One thing I really can't figure out is why Lapua doesn't import 7.62x39mm any more. They wouldn't sell the volume that Wolf does, but there is definitely an untapped market for very good European 7.62x39mm, I think. Back in the '90s, I bought several boxes of Lapua FMJ, and looking back I wish I had bought a case or two. BTW, does anyone know if Wolf Gold (Prvi Partizan?) imports any x39?

Added on edit, after reading Marlin's post: OH YEAH!! Thank you!!

http://www.southernohiogun.com/sako-7-62x39-ammo-1.html

That is not a bad price, either.
 
monarch, silver bear, and brown bear. if one of these doesn' tgroup respectable for you, then nothing will, especially the silver bear/hollow points.
anything Tula should be good, but don't know who makes a Tula made ammo, Monarch is barnaul.
 
Purple Sloth & Chartreuse Buzzard are my favorites, will hold 0.25MOA, bucks a 10MPH crosswind with only a couple inches of adjustment, and only drops about 8in. at 1000yds....but the stuff is just so hard to find (you know that there is some poor guy searching as hard as he can for this stuff right now :p). When I can't find the aforementioned, Barnaul stuff (all the "Bears") is typically pretty good. The best budget HD ammo is Wolf Mil. Classic HP, it will limit penetration (something that "standard" Wolf, HP or not, does poorly), whilst maintaining acceptable penetration, and effective wounding capability (not super accurate, but not bad, and HD ammo doesn't need to be). In short, I find it to be purdy good stuff.

:)
 
BenEzra - yes there has been evidently a few slamfires in Mini30's with the Hornady X39 VMax ammo. This according to a couple posters on the Mini page at PerfectUnion. I haven't shot any myself, likely won't since I handload. the M30 has a floating fireing pin as the SKS and I did have 1 slamfire with a handload, CCI LR primer. I've noticed dimples on primers in rounds that were chambered during semi-auto fireing but not triggered later ejected, but so far just the 1 slamfire after K's of rounds fired.
 
what??? I am about to buy some wolf ammo today..... are you one of those picky people who want like 1 inch groups? or something? can you hit the target at 100 yards atlest with wolf ammo? I do not want to buy 500/2k rounds and find out I cant hit a barn from 200 yards ..........
 
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Again if you can find it Monarch or any other load from barnual was the gold standard fro accuracy amongst factory ammo for my rifle's. If your gun won't shoot this stuff well it most likely just won't shoot anything good.

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HPIM2355.jpg
 
what??? I am about to buy some wolf ammo today..... are you one of those picky people who want like 1 inch groups? or something? can you hit the target at 100 yards atlest with wolf ammo? I do not want to buy 500/2k rounds and find out I cant hit a barn from 200 yards ..........
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Depends on what you mean by "the target". I haven't bothered to measure group sizes, but it's unimpressive.

If I find something the guns shoot better, I'll get a stash of that and sight in the rifles with it, and use the Wolf for close-in carbine drills and blasting. No biggie. With an AK, close in, rapid shooting is what burns through your ammo anyway, at least in my case. Makes sense to have one type of ammo for longer range and "serious" use, and something cheap to blast with, unless they shoot to radically different POIs.

Mike
 
I did an AK "shoot off" last weekend with the 7.62x39 ammo I had; - not scientific but here are my results

Wolf HP -least accurate and dirtiest, have used in action shoots and it ran well

Wolf Military Classic FMJ - ok accuracy, retina melting muzzle flash smells like cat pee
Brown Bear HP - best accuracy from the zoo ammo, not too dirty
Brass Reload AA1680 27g Hornady V-MAX 123g - best accuracy, clean, explosive impact, milk jugs are toasted
Brass Reload aa1680 22.5g 147g Steel FMJ - accurate, not high velocity but penetrates steel plates
Brass Reload 124g SP - accurate, good expansion, but not as acurate as the other reloads, might be good for hunting larger prey but I dont hunt so I dont know

I would think my experience with the V-MAX would be similar to the Hornady steel reload except I would think mine are a little better because I am using brass cases and loading max.
 
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BTW - I use my AK for action shooting and plinking so my red dot is zerod for about 50 yards tops so all the zoo ammo I use works well. If I dont hit the mark at that range its my fault not the ammo.

sgammo.com has brown bear on sale for 219.00 a case now

regarding slamfires, I respect they can happen with floating fireing pins in military rifles but I have never seen one in my particular ak. I have shot about 1000 rounds of reloads through it with Winchester LRPs. Not that it cant happen so I tried to get CCI 34's which were nowhere to be found. Just picked up a case of Wolf LRPs - word has it theat they are a little harder than US primers.
 
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