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7.62x39 preferred manufacturer

fair oaksfair oaks Member Posts: 30 ✭✭
edited February 2009 in Ask the Experts
Greetings, I need some guidance on the best supplier for 7.62x39 sks ammo. I'm new to forum and have read just enough to know that there are concerns with residue and consistent performance on various makes of the foreign produced cartridges. The predominant available rounds seem to be wolf,golden bear,golden tiger-Russian, then Romania,Yugo,Hungarian rounds are in the mix. They are all priced within 3-8 cents of each other. I want to use what will be best long term. Second question what is the difference between these and the steel core ammo. Thanks for the help.
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Comments

  • Wehrmacht_45Wehrmacht_45 Member Posts: 3,377
    edited November -1
    The SKS will shoot any 7.62x39mm ammo. However, I have heard that American made ammo has caused so slam fire issues due to the floating firing pin and softer primers.

    If you buy anything marketed by country, its usually surplus and hence corrosive. Best to stick with Wolf, Barnaul, the Bear ammos.
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  • Emmett DunhamEmmett Dunham Member Posts: 1,418 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have read the same thing about American military rifles with floating pins and that you need to use the hard primer military ammo. The SKS I have does strike the primer very hard on loading, I have a friend that reloads a lot of 7.62x39 ammo and he has had no problem.


    Emmett
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  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    IMO, the "preferred" manufacturer is whichever is the cheapest non-corrosive ammo you can get your hands on at any given moment.

    Corrosive ammo is fine so long as you are willing to clean your guns thoroughly after shooting. (Some are. . .many are NOT).

    None of the common 7.62x39 guns (eg SKS or AK-type guns) are known for pinpoint accuracy. If that's what you are after, you're probably handloading anyway.

    The cheap Russian stuff (Brown bear, Wolf, etc) is all steel cased, reliable, and non-corrosive. IMO, for the average schmoe, this is the best.

    Milsurp ammo (eg the Yugoslavian) is maybe a little cheaper and supposedly the Yugo is a little more accurate, but its corrosive. IMO, for the average shooter, its probably worth a few bucks more NOT to have to worry about this! (But that's up to you).

    Steel cores don't change much in full-metal jacket ammo. Usually, the steel used is a soft-steel that doesn't have much armor-piercing ability.

    Steel core ammo designed to pierce armor will obviously do that and have higher penetration in general, making it potentially dangerous for use in SOME ranges. Some ranges prohibit use of ANY steel bullet ammo for these sorts of reasons. In practice, importation and manufacture of truly armor piercing ammo is restricted, and its consequently both rare and expensive. If you have any, its probably too valuable to use for 'plinking', practice, or target shooting.
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  • drobsdrobs Member Posts: 22,620 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I prefer Golden Tiger, seems more consistant than Wolf ammo.
    I got this 100yd 2" 3 shot group over this last summer using Golden Tiger FMJ out of one of my home built AK's.

    l_768954423d9b70447431d5710e26111b.jpg

    The brass cased Yugo ammo is corrosive.
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