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American made 7.62x39

brute187brute187 Member Posts: 80 ✭✭
edited October 2010 in Ask the Experts
I have heard that American made 7.62x39 should not be used in for foreign made Ak47's because of the pressure or something like that. I have even heard that some Ak's have been damaged or destroyed by American ammo.
Is any of this true or not?

Comments

  • tsr1965tsr1965 Member Posts: 8,682 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    brute187,

    You have heard what? If what I am reading is what you have heard, I do believe it to be erroneous. The AK-47, while appearing cheaply made, is a very robust piece of equipment. If anything, the foreign ammo, has slightly higher pressures than the commercially loaded stateside stuff. If an AK-47 has come unglued while firing American made ammo, there has been something very wrong with the rifle, itself, long before it seen the American ammo.

    Best
  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by brute187
    I have heard that American made 7.62x39 should not be used in for foreign made Ak47's because of the pressure or something like that. I have even heard that some Ak's have been damaged or destroyed by American ammo.
    Is any of this true or not?


    You're probably coyly alluding to Project "Eldest Son" which was a US sponsored covert program to destroy enemy morale during the Vietnam war.

    In a nutshell, we secretly cooked up special hot AK rounds that would blow up a gun on firing, then slipped them in small quantities into Vietnamese ammo supplies.

    The idea (apart from killing a few) was to demoralize the enemy and cause them not to trust Chinese made ammo or weapons. (And to some extent, it worked. . .you can "Google" project eldest son and read about this).

    For this reason American soldiers were under standing orders NOT to use captured/discarded Vietnamese weapons for fear they would blow up.

    But to answer your question, NORMAL American made 7.62x39 is ABSOLUTELY FINE to use in any SKS or AK rifle you like.

    The only thing is that lots of the American ammo uses standard .308 cailber bullets, while the Soviet Bloc weapons are supposed to take .312 caliber bullets. This doesn't lead to any serious problems, only accuracy with American ammo *MIGHT* not be quite as good as the guns potential. (Though consistent American loads are probably still going to be better than bulk Russian cheap steel case ammo).
  • gotstolefromgotstolefrom Member Posts: 1,479 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As said by all, American Made ammo will be fine in your AK.

    It will be more costly, for the most part.
    It is not likely to be more 'accurate'. ( I rule an AK 'shooting well' if it hits a 6" iron skillet at 100 paces)

    Keep your AK and obtain ammo in 1000 round lots ...whatever you see as the 'best' steel cased 'foreign' ammo .

    ENJOY !
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