Reloading 7.62x39 With 150 or 174 Grain Bullets?

[ZakBradshaw]

First off, I have a Polish AK and Yugo SKS that I love to shoot steel cased Russian ammo through.  I just built a 7.62x39 AR and it just so happens I have roughly 120 pieces of brass and 7.62x39 reloading dies.  I'm wanting to load some brass cased ammo for my AR, and thought it would be cool to expirament with heavier grained bullets. 

Does anyone have any experience with doing this? 
What diameter bullet would be best (.308, .310, .311, or .312)?

I'm looking at the .311 Sierra 174 Grain Matchking Hollow Point Boat Tails.  (http://www.natchezss.com/Bullets.cfm?contentID=productDetail&brand=SI&prodID=SI2315&prodTitle=Sierra .311 174 gr MatchKing HPBT 100/box)

Would it be a problem to use these bullets? 
Does anyone have a good estimate on some load data that I could atleast use as a starting point? 


Any and all help is appreciated.  Thanks, Zak.

[maloy]

Most of the loading data I have has nothing listed beyond 150 grain. 174 grain will most likely be too heavy and drop like a rock and raise pressure too high. I rarely have used this bullet in .308 Win because at ranges beyond 300 yds there is a significant drop over the 168 grain I normally use.

If I may ask, why do you want to go with such a heavy bullet?

Maloy

[thespork]

I knew a guy who made freaky accurate reloads using pulled 147 grain Czech silvertips (from X54R in case you don't know), and a half load of the powder from the pulled case.   Groups at 50 yards ranged from the size of a quarter to one jagged hole, with no keyholing.

[ZakBradshaw]

7.62x39 was never meant to be deadly accurate or a long range round, so figured the more weight I could get the harder it would hit.  Ok, what about loads for 150 grain hollow points then?

[maloy]

Now you are talking, go here! http://www.hodgdon.com/basic-manual-inquiry.html

Below is where I started using their data using .308 diameter bullets.

Maloy


USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
        
150 GR. HDY SP    IMR 4198     .311"  2.220"LENGTH  MAX 22.5 GRAINS    2070 FPS     43,600 CUP
         
150 GR. HDY SP     Hodgdon  H4198  .311"  2.220"  START 22.5 GRAINS  1947 FPS  33,600 CUP  MAX 24.5 GRAINS     2122 FPS  39,800 CUP

[Zer0DazE]

7.62x39 was never meant to be deadly accurate

Where do people get this idea?  Do you think that someone said "hey, we need a round that just puts lead down range."?  The weapons these rounds are fired from and the low quality ammo used are the issue, not the cartridge design.

Stick to bullets 150 and under.

[Ready4WhenSHTF]

7.62x39 was never meant to be deadly accurate

Where do people get this idea?  Do you think that someone said "hey, we need a round that just puts lead down range."?  The weapons these rounds are fired from and the low quality ammo used are the issue, not the cartridge design.

Stick to bullets 150 and under.

Deadly accurate at 100 yards, 300 400 not so much.

[rich]

Here's some heavier rounds.  I wonder if you can get load data from them, probably not.  http://www.ebr-inc.net/762x39JackhammerSubsonic.html

[maloy]

I've been to their site before. I have a hard time taking them seriously from the video on this page http://www.ebr-inc.net/762FacilityProtectionFrangible.html

What is the shooter made up to be? 

Maloy

[rich]

I've been to their site before. I have a hard time taking them seriously from the video on this page http://www.ebr-inc.net/762FacilityProtectionFrangible.html

What is the shooter made up to be? 

Maloy

I don't know.  It was pretty funny.

[Ready4WhenSHTF]

Is that a jetpack? Or maybe his another job is being a ghost buster. Or is it a  flame thrower?

[cvasqu03]

I've successfully used 150gr bullets including hollow points and ballistic tips.  Accuracy was better than factory ammo, but that's probably true of any handload.

I do have some tips though:

Be careful which bullet you choose some 150gr bullets are much longer than some others.  If you get one that's too long, once you have the powder in the case, seating the bullet may compress the powder.  This happened to me in one batch and I could physically feel and hear the powder being compressed as the bullet was pushed into place.  I ended up pulling all of them and starting over again.  This was while I was using Reloader 7 powder which I actually got good results with using other (shorter) bullets.

If you do want to use longer bullets try using IMR4227.  The load for 150gr using this powder is much lower and doesn't fill out the case as much so it doesn't get compressed by the long bullets.  I also got very good results using the long bullets and this powder.

Also, be careful what primers you get.  Some 7.62x39 cases use large rifle primers and some use small ones. Make sure you get the right ones.

Good luck.

[res45]

I shoot J bullets from 123 to 187 gr. out of my Chinese and Yugo SKS.  I get the best accuracy  with .310 to .311 dia. J bullets and .313 dia.  167 gr. gas checked cast lead bullets.

For lead plinker and small game loads I like 12.5 grs. of Alliant 2400 MV is around 1400 fps. and dumps the brass right at my feet,If I want to push the cast lead bullet a bit faster I use 14.5 grs. of 2400 MV is just over 1900 fps. and tosses the brass like Russian steel case. For the 187 gr. FMJ surplus bullets I like 18.0 grs. of Reloader #7 I mainly use those for blasting ammo they hit hard and penetrate well at close range.

Now to the J bullets,for 150 gr. bullets like Sierra .311 Pro Hunter SP,Prvi Partizan .311 BTSP,Speer .311 HotCor SP I like 24.0 grs. of Reloader #7 the MAX load is 24.8 grs. in the Lee reloading manual,it pretty much duplicates the Wolf 154 gr. SP but is much more accurate,five shot groups generally run under an 1" or less at 50 yds.

At 400 yds. the 7.62 x 39 starts to loose a lot of steam,bullet drop almost doubles regardless of bullet weight used between 300 and 400 yds. With a 100 yd. zero both bullet weights drop around 25 to 30" at 300 yds. but at 400 yds. the 123 gr. drop about 55" and the 150 gr. drop about 66" and at 500 yds. the bullet drop doubles again into the 120" range.

You also need to take into account that out past 200 yds. which is a stretch to get reliable expansion using the steel jacket 150 gr. bullets expansion is going to be non existent,even using a good commercial 150 gr. .310 to .311 dia. bullets which you will have to hand loads will be questionable at 200 yds. as far as expansion is concerned.  

For 150 gr. hand loads I like to keep any shot on big game under 100 yds. The 150's and up make great thick cover bush buster or steel target target thumper's.  The .310.5 187's Bulgarian surplus bullet I shoot at time do drop considerably but they group well,you just have to find the rear sight elevation setting that works best for the range your shooting at.  I've tried a few different .308 dia. bullets but the group like crap and due to the undersized bullet you tend to loose a little more gas blow by which causes some MV loss.

[ZakBradshaw]

res45, this is exactly what I needed.  Thank you for the information.  Now I just need to wait for my next check so I can go buy a bunch of bullets and powder...and probably a load book for 7.62x39.  Thanks again, Zak.

[ZakBradshaw]

For the time being, I tumbled my brass, primed them, and pulled the bullet tips and powder from some Tula steel cased hollow points and loaded it into the brass.  I think I got the OAL good, but didn't crimp them quite enough.  I haven't tried to fire them yet, but I loaded them into a mag and attempted to cycle them by hand in my AR and a couple of them hung up in the mag.  I had this problem when I very first started reloading .45, so I think its the crimp.  When I get off tonight I'm going to recrimp them all and see if that fixes the problem.  Zak.