Bench Topics

by John Haviland

Handloading the 7.62x39mm

M
y rifle buying may have
reached a new high (or
low, depending on your
outlook). I rationalized the recent
purchase of a CZ 527 Carbine
7.62x39mm as necessary to utilize
the six boxes of .310- and .311-
inch bullets and a couple of pounds
of powder I already owned. That
reasoning has worked out quite
well, and I’m somewhat dismayed
I waited so long to buy a rifle in
7.62x39mm Russian.
Autoloading rifles, such as the
imported SKS, are by far the most
popular rifles and carbines for the
Sierra .30-caliber, 110-grain hollowpoints shot accurately from the CZ 7.62x39, despite being
cartridge. At best, these guns are .003 inch narrower than the CZ rifle’s .311-inch bore.
precise enough to shoot 3- or 4-inch
groups at 100 yards. There is little tion is well worth the time. Various For years foreign surplus ammu-
sense investing the time handload- handloads shoot pretty well through nition was so cheap barely anyone
ing only to see a rifle spray bullets the CZ, even though it weighs only reloaded the 7.62x39. Most of that
across an area like a hose watering a couple of ounces on the light side supply has dried up. Russian com-
carrots in the garden, but handload- of 6 pounds and wears a thin, 18.5- mercial ammunition was all that was
ing for the cartridge in a bolt ac- inch barrel. found locally. The TulAmmo and

Hornady 7.62x39mm dies come with two expander balls for sizing Federal ammunition (left) is assembled with brass cases suitable
the inside case neck diameter to hold either .308-, .310- or .311- for reloading; the two imported cartridges with gray steel cases are
inch bullets. unacceptable for reloading.

1 LoadData.com
 The 7.62x39mm CZ shot accurately with handloaded bullets of dif-
This group was fired at 100 yards with Hornady 123-grain, .310-inch ferent diameters. These bullets shot well (left to right): Speer 125 TNT
Spire Point bullets and W-680 powder. (.308), Hornady 123 Spire Point (.310) and Speer 125 spitzer (.311).

Wolf cartridges cost 46¢ per round. Hornady lists its bullets for the shot just as accurately through my
I got ripped off, though, because a 7.62x39 as “7.62 Cal.” with a di- CZ’s .311-inch bore as the slightly
friend says he buys those loads for ameter of .310 and Speer “303 Cal” larger diameter bullets. Those dif-
about 29¢ each at the big box store with a diameter of .311 inch. A ferent diameters and brands provide
across town. That is a pretty good friend said regular .30-caliber bullets a lot of bullet options for the little
bargain, as a jacketed bullet for re- shot accurately through his CZ rifle, 7.62.
loading costs about that much. so I loaded and shot some. They The Russian is no longer-range
These two brands shoot about
2-inch groups at 100 yards from the
CZ, but their steel cases are unsuit-
able for reloading.
Most American ammunition is
made with brass cases suitable for re-
loading. The CZ commonly shoots
Federal 123-grain Power-Shok soft-
point loads under an inch at 100
yards. However, those loads cost
over $1.00 a shot.
With those Federal cases, some
new PMC cases begged from Lee
Hoots of Wolfe Publishing and a
set of Hornady Custom reloading
dies, I set to work handloading the
7.62x39. The Hornady sizing die
comes with two expander balls for
sizing the inside case neck diameter
to the proper diameter to hold .308-
and .311-inch diameter bullets.

Bullet Options
The CZ’s bore measures .311 inch
between opposing grooves, but
the bores of many American rifles,
such as the Ruger Mini Thirty,
measure .308 inch. That’s to take
advantage of common .30-caliber
bullets. Federal Power-Shok 123-
grain softpoints measure .308 inch
in diameter, so the loads can be
safely fired through both diameter
bores.
LoadData.com 2
cartridge. At their relatively mild
velocity, once bullets from the car-
tridge reach 200 yards, they plunge
like a rock off a cliff. Sierra 110-
grain bullets at slightly over 2,511
fps should be a good choice for
small game and varmints. Hit-
ting on aim at 100 yards, they
drop nearly 7 inches at 200 yards.
Heavier 123- and 125-grain bul-
lets with a muzzle velocity of 2,300
fps drop only an inch more. The
These bullets were shot while developing handloads (left to right): Sierra 110 (.308) hollow-
Nosler 125-grain Ballistic Tip has point, Speer 125 TNT (.308), Nosler 125 Ballistic Tip (.308), Sierra 150 spitzer (.308), Hornady
a sleek shape, and with a velocity 123 Spire Point (.310), Speer 123 FMJ (.311) and Speer 125 spitzer (.311).
of 2,460 fps it drops about an inch
less than the Sierra 110-grain bul- rifle. It has given the highest veloci- treme velocity spreads for three shots
let, but an inch of drop either way ties and about the best accuracy of ranging between 15 and 30 fps.
at 200 yards is splitting pretty fine all the propellants tried, but I’m out
hairs. of luck once my meager supply is Handloading
The 7.62x39 is commonly re- burned up, because 680 was discon- The 7.62x39 is a battle cartridge de-
ferred to as somewhat less power- tinued 30-some years ago. Accurate signed to positively cycle through
ful than the .30-30 Winchester. My 1680 is similar to 680, and data in an autoloading firearm. The result
CZ shoots Sierra 150-grain pointed various reloading manuals shows is a case body with a relatively large
bullets at 2,190 fps, while Sierra comparable powder charges and ve- amount of taper. That taper resulted
150-grain flatpoint bullets leave the locities – but darned if I can find in quite a bit of case neck stretching
muzzle of a 20-inch, .30-30 barrel at any 1680. after firing Federal factory loads and
about 2,300 fps. Both bullets have Fortunately, other powders work new PMC cases with reloads. After
about the same trajectory out to 200 nearly as well. H-4198 and Reloder cases were trimmed to a length of
yards. The pointed bullet does catch 7 were the best paired with 110- to 1.518 inches, loaded, fired and sized
up to the flatpoint and even slightly 125-grain bullets. Relatively slower again, their necks stretched no more
exceeds it at that distance. burning powders, like H-322 and than other cases, such as the .30-06
VV-N130, provided the highest ve- or .30-30 WCF. Still, I prefer to
Propellants locities with 150-grain bullets. All trim cases each time after they are
Winchester 680 was the powder on powders listed in the load table pro- sized, because it’s just as fast to run
hand that forced me to buy the CZ duced uniform velocities, with ex- cases through an electric case trim-
mer as it is to measure each one with
a micrometer to make sure it is not
over maximum length.
No peculiarities to reloading the
cartridge come to mind. So far I’ve
loaded the Federal and PMC cases six
times, and they are still going strong.
I’m also attempting to think of
more purposes for the Russian car-
tridge to further justify buying the
CZ rifle. Its economical reloading
cost and mild recoil have made it
a great plinking and practice car-
tridge. The rifle is about the same
weight and length as a Winchester
Model 94 .30-30 carbine. So I have
loaded a batch of cartridges with
Hornady 123-grain Spire Points and
Three good powders for loading the 7.62x39 include W-680, H-4198 and RL-7. Too bad W-680, waiting for this fall to hunt
W-680 was dropped years ago. whitetails in the river bottoms.
3 LoadData.com