Magnum primers in 7.62x39 reloads?

mariodave

Im going to load some 7.62x39 ammo and have everything to do it except cci 34 arsenal primers.I have seen it written that they are the same ballisticly as large magnum rifle primers.I have a lot of them to use.The powder ill be using is DP2200.It is a ball powder that was designed for the 7.62x39.I have also read that magnum primers can be helpful for igniting ball powder.Anybody have any experience using magnum primers where not needed?

PA Shootist

I have used magnum large rifle primers where they "weren't needed". I obtained a couple thousand years ago in a garage sale deal, they were too cheap to pass up. The main thing is they may have more "Brisance", more fire or energy. Therefore you must work up your reloading recipe from the bottom up to be sure you won't raise pressures. They worked just fine for me. What I am not sure about in your case is the toughness of the cup, compared to the #34 mil-spec primers. Some semi-auto rifles are prone to experience slam fires with soft primers. I have never read that magnum primers had a harder or tougher cup material. You didn't mention which rifle you are using. They are often recommended for harder-to-ignite ball powders, as well as cold temperature use.

2-blade

You may want to check---My 7.62x39 Rem.brass has small primers and the Win. and Fed brass has large primers,I don't know if it is still made that way.

mariodave

The rifle is an AK 47.I have just recently learned about the possibility of a slam fire.On one post on GB someone wrote that a slam fire wont hurt an AK.I don't know if there is any truth to that or not.The writer stated that high primers were a big factor in slam fires.Don't want to do anything unsafe but I'm not paying a rediculous for cci 34 primers.I may just wait till the prices come down.What was used before the # 34's came out?

Mobuck

Just be sure to start low on the powder. I assume you'll be crimping the bullets so you shouldn't have to worry about the primer moving the bullet into the rifling before the powder actually lights. I have used the #34 primers with all sorts of powder for years w/o incident but I have found that a slightly lower powder charge is required to get the same velocity when using them. The 7.62x39 is a fairly small case ans a 1/2 grain of powder can make a big difference. As the previous poster said, not all cases use a large rifle primer. I use Winchester cases and I think IMI uses the large primers also.

PA Shootist

I had a slam-fire once, in an 8x57 Egyptian FN-49. I was slightly injured by small brass particles that cut my forehead, and my glasses were scratched. The rifle was damaged, wood blown out of the bottom around the magazine well. I was using some relatively anemic factory loaded 8mm Mauser hunting ammo someone had given me to use up. The rifle "doubled" the second shot which was a slam fire nearly immediately following the first shot. And apparently the bolt lugs had not fully locked, the rifle firing out of lock and the case rupturing. Previously I had used only Milsurp full-power ammo. FN-49's are known to have firing pin problems, breakage which can leave the forward part of the firing pin extending through the bolt. I had no parts breakage, and the firing pin seemed to retract OK. I can only assume the slam fire had something to do with the soft factory primers, but I'll never know for sure. I felt very fortunate to not have been hurt worse. I don't want to repeat the problem, so I am very careful about high primers, and use only CCI-34's in my reloads for semi-auto rifles (Garand, M1A) which I shoot often in local matches. I don't know how an AK would handle an out-of-battery slam fire any better than anything else.