.308 Bullets in a 7.62 X 39 Soviet

[spinafish]

Has anyone loaded .308 bullets in the 7.62 X39.  I know American manufacturers use a .308 diameter barrel and the standard bore for SKS and Ak-47's is .311.  I was just wondering if the manufacturing tolerances were such that the .308 bullets would work.  I am loading for my uncle's SKS.  I have lots of .308 bullets in the correct weight range, because I load for a .300 Whisper.  My die set came with expanders for both .308 and ..311.  Maybe, I'm being cheap and should go purchase a box of .311 bullets.  Any thoughts would be appreciated..

[Castaway]

One problem withh loading 7.62x39 is the need to know which expander plug to use.  One designed for a 311 bullet will not give enough neck tension for a 308 bullet.

[spinafish]

I've got that figured out..as stated my dies came with both..

[S.S.]

.308 diameter bullets open the group sizes up considerably from an SKS on your target.
what we had was 150 grain .308 Ballistic tips.

[R.W.Dale]

I'll repost this as it pretains to your question

It's been pretty hotly contested as to how much diffrence there is between loading 7.62x39 using .308 bullets vs .310-.311 so here it is. I tested this today and here are the results.

The rifle is a CZ527 carbine topped with a 3x9x40 redfield accutrac scope. The bore measures .300 land to land and .3105 in the grooves

The ammo was loaded with 150 gr Sierre soft points 10 rds of .308 and 10 rds of the same bullet sized .311. Cases were Remington CCI 400 , The powder was 23.5grs of Re-7 with a COL of 2.310

It was about 65 degrees today with a light varible breeze of 15 mph

Shot string 1
.308 bullets

1851
1826
1852
1827
1846
***************
Shot string 2
.311 bullets

1935
1904
1937
1912
1925
****************

Shot string 3
.311 bullets

1953
1888 !?
1915
1932
1925
***************

shot string 4
.308 bullets

1852
1855
1869
1844
1873

All velocities were taken at 25 feet.

As you can see there is very little diffrence in group size. About the only real measurable diffrence in using the .308 dia bullets is that they are somewhat slower in the FPS department.

Of course your mileage may vary.

[spinafish]

thanks Krochus..that's more than one could ever expect!  Thanks again.

[R.W.Dale]

thanks Krochus..that's more than one could ever expect!  Thanks again.

 You're welcome. I have shot .308 diameter bullets in my Norinco paratrooper SKS but honestly it isn't accurate enough with any size bullet to be able to tell much about accuracy.

[1911crazy]

I purchased a Chinese Norinco paratrooper sks that i think has high milage on it but its in excellent condition.  We shot it using norinco ammo benchrested and it shot 1 1/2" groups. We both shot 1 1/2" groups with it at 100yds.  I was also pinging small rocks on the berm at 100yds too.  This has kind of raised my interest in how accurate the sks can be with the right ammo.  I never shoot the 308" bullets mainly because all my ammo that i have in stock is russian, east german or chinese, i guess its all .311".  I noticed that www.midwayusa.com has the larger 311 bullets for the sks.  When i finally get around to reloading i'll use those.

[R.W.Dale]

  I've tried everything on mine. trigger job, reciever mounted scope, shimmed and bedded the action in the stock. I've even pulled the gas piston and tried grouping the rifle as a straight pull bolt action. But to no avail 4" groups as usual.

 OH well! that's why I own a CZ bolt action in this caliber.

[Oldtimer]

Krochus, I have thought about trying the SKS as a straight-pull by removing the piston, but never tried it.  How did that work?  Did you have any problems with fouling building up in the gas tube?

[R.W.Dale]

Krochus, I have thought about trying the SKS as a straight-pull by removing the piston, but never tried it.  How did that work?  Did you have any problems with fouling building up in the gas tube?

 No problems whatsoever. After all the gas still goes to the same place and an SKS gas piston isn't exactly tight fitting.