What Ammo to use?

[Stuart2 0]

Hi guys,

 

1 Can you say what's the best military ammo for best groups at 100 yards? Norinco, Wolf, Simpson ect

 

This is using the Saiga 762 by 39

 

2 If reloading, what type of bullet weight would you use?

 

3 Reloading for this rifle, would it be worth the problem with the ejection that may damage the casing. Plus runing after this casing or trying to find it maybe hard.

 

thanks Stu

Edited May 27, 2006 by Stuart2

[Bvamp 604]

well I can tell you one thing. I have shot two brands of ammo that I will never buy again, if that helps you any. the first is olympic. it is loaded so inconsistantly, it seems almost dangerous. the other is a white and blue boxed hungarian loading that I had bought several hundred rounds of last year. those were loaded fairly consistant, but I was having bullets come out of the rifle like a shotgun. one out of maybe 30 rounds just fragmented. not a good thing.

 

I wouldnt reload for this caliber.

[aka108 0]

Had pretty good results with Cheetah (don't know where to get it now) as well as with Barnaul and Wolf. I do reload 7.62x39 for a Ruger 77 bolt action I own and have been picking up Winchester cases at the local range and holding them for the day when imports of this caliber are shut down. The Russian stuff is getting scarce for some reason.

[ironhead7544 35]

The Silver Bear ammo is pretty good but seems to have dried up. The Wolf hollow point is also fairly accurate. There are some US made bullets in the 125 grain range that would be good for reloading. You can get a brass catcher to keep the brass from getting lost. The only reason I would reload for this round is for extreme accuracy or hunting.

[Ruffian72 548]

Have order in at Sportsmansguide, Most Wolf backordered until June 30th. If paid with credit card, will not bill card until shipped and so far are good about not over selling. (Last time wanted to order more about time old order was due and told have to wait until next shipment.) With Buyers Club dicount and $10 dollar coupon (Get one or two with each previous $100 order) 1000/$122 Smaller lots were available yesterday.

[O.S.O.K. 0]

We can't tell you which ammo that your rifle will like the best - shoot most accurately - you have to get a variety and test and compare.

 

Having said that, most AK's will like Wolf fmj or Barnaul fmj. The Silver and Brown bear, Cheetah, Golden Tiger, etc. are all fine as well really.

 

As to handloading, that is up to you wether or not the hassle of chasing cases is worth it. The sizing die usually takes out all of the dents in the neck, so that's no problem really. I would recommend the 150 grain Sierra .311" spire points as a starting place for accuracy. I'm getting good results with those in Winchester cases and AA1680 powder which is designed for this round.

 

Hope that helps some.

[jtoddellis 2]

If you are thinking about reloading for your saiga you better check out a few of the spent cartridges. The dent is not the only problem. Search some of the post here and you will see pictures of the swell that the 7.62x39 puts in the case. Someone said that the russians desighned it that way so they could diferentiate spent casings from Saigas or Military AK's.

[O.S.O.K. 0]

If you are thinking about reloading for your saiga you better check out a few of the spent cartridges. The dent is not the only problem. Search some of the post here and you will see pictures of the swell that the 7.62x39 puts in the case. Someone said that the russians desighned it that way so they could diferentiate spent casings from Saigas or Military AK's.

 

That's no problem - the dies will reduce the necks. Trust me, I have 12 years handloading experience - with over 30 cartridges... When you run the brass through the dies, the expander plug goes through the neck as you raise the case into the die, then the neck goes into the top of the die where it is squeezed down to proper dimension and then after the decapping pin knocks out the primer, the stroke is reversed and the expander plug is pulled back up through the neck, expanding it to proper final dimension. This takes care of almost all problems - especially the one you describe.

[uzitiger 193]

The best ammo you can shoot is whatever you can get with the shortage of 7.62x39 Russian ammo. I shot dirty Chinese ammo, Wolf, Barnaul, Olympic and Remington. I hope we don't have to reload because I hate to have to chase the empty brass cases.

[IndyArms 10,186]

OSOK... Check here...

 

http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?showtopic=7303

 

 

A reloading press will make these as good as new for reloading?!?!?!?!

 

 

DAMN... I wouldnt think they would be worth a SHIT after looking like that....

 

 

[O.S.O.K. 0]

Well, the case necks will be fine after sizing but some of the bigger dents in the case bodies would bother me. I've never seen brass that beat to hell before. Usually is dented at the case mouth...

[rangerruck 0]

i will dittos on the silver bear, seems all my diff saigas likey that round quite a bit, next i would say wolf, then monarch, jsc, barnaul, prvi. (those last 4 are really the same). I like the 120 plus grnrs, the 154's seem a little too non groupy to me, too much scatter, can't seem to find a pattern, even though the overall group is still small at 100 yds.

Also any of the old British empire stuff should be fine , I would think, which is why the cheetah(s.african) seems to work well. check singapore, australia, chinese, as well. Also Canadian. then if you can find it, check like Venezuela, chile, Argentina, all the old nazi countries in s.am. they brought all their knowhow and old tooling specs with them, they new what they were doing.