Back in the early 90's it was known that the 7.62 X 39 with the Chinese ammo had harder primers than the American sporter ammo, I even had 2 slam fires at the range with my SKS when using Remington and Winchester ammo. I also know of a guy who had his SKS go off in his parent's basement from letting the bolt go forward on its own with American ammo. I mostly used Chinese ammo then, but was aware to let the bolt go forward to chamber the first round gently if using American/European sporter ammo.
Read on the Ruger forum of some Mini-14's having broken firing pins due to the Russian ammo using hard primers, problem is, there are different brands of Russian ammo out there, are they all made to the same mil. specs? I suspect this must be rare as I primarily see people using Wolf brand with their AR's at the range, perhaps a person has to shoot a ton of this stuff to break a firing pin? But from day one when I bought my Mini-14 I have mostly used brass sporter ammo that uses cleaner powder, but I also have a CZ bolt action in .223 to worry about.
Anyone know of issues with premature wear with the harder Russian primers, or are they the same as the American ammo now?
Thanks.
