Favorite brand of 7.62 X 39 in your gun?

[His lordship.]

What is your favorite brand of 7.62 X 39 in your SKS or Ak?  I prefer Sellier and Bellot, but it is hard to get,  I am thinking of trying some PMC brass cased ammo.  I have mostly used the steel cased Russian types over the years, and found the Remington and Winchester (white box) to shoot well in my SKS when I tried it.

Any types to avoid?

Thanks.

[1911crazy]

I'm shooting Chinese Norinco made 7.62x39 and its been good accurate stuff I still have a few cases of it left and i'm still on my first case from when it came free with an sks for $59.  Besides the norinco boxed stuff I also have Chinese ammo on ten round strippers too.  I'm very happy with the norinco stuff and i wish we had more of it.               BigBill

I have a few cases of wolf and i may shoot that and save my norinco for the range.

[smg]

Olympic ammunition functions very well.  It has  brass cases with boxer primers.  Also, it is very cheap.

[Graycg]

I had a bit of the Norinco stuff, but now it is gone.  That was good ammo!  Now the only cheap stuff I can find is the Wolf brand and while it functions fine, the accuracy really sucks.  I've had the chinese stuff that comes on the stripper clips and that stuff was good, but seemed to be loaded hotter than the rest...bigger bang, flash and really sends the empty cases flying!

regards,
 graycg

[Mikey]

I have four rifles in that caliber and prefer Sellier and Bellot.  It is accurate, clean, reliable and inexpensive.  I cruise the Shotgun News for distributors and then usually order a bunch.  I shoot both choices, the 123-5 gn soft point and the same in ball ammo.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Leftoverdj]

Barnaul is blazing hot at nearly 2500 fps and cheap as dirt. It's not particularly accurate in my scoped CZ 527, but it groups tighter than I can hold in an iron sighted SKS. UMC FMJ is unimpressive in both accuracy and velocity, but I bought that stuff for the reloadable cases, anyway.

The cheap surplus makes good sense in iron sighted guns, but the 7.62x39 has outstanding reloading potential for scoped guns. I'm a cast bullet nut and Lee C312-155-2R is giving me 5/8" 50 yard groups at 2200 fps with several powders.

[Stan in SC]

I recently tried the Silver Bear match ammunition with the so called "effect" bullet.It has a tit on the bullet end.I found it was noticeably more accurate than the regular Silver Bear or the Wolf.The price is the same.

[His lordship.]

You guys brought up some other types that I have had good luck with.  There are some of the Norinco 7.62 X 39 ammo still at the gun shows, the sellers had been wanting $4.50 a box, but I noticed that the price came down quite abit as the Russian Wolf was cheaper.  I liked the Norinco ammo in my SKS's, but it does burn sooty.  Probably will pick up a few boxes at the next show before it disappears.


C130E...yes, it is strange how S/B does not seem to offer 7.62 X 39 as their other ammo is available.  Midsouth shooter supply carries it but it is around $5.00 a box.  And they don't have volume (case) discounts on it either.  Otherwise, I just don't see it around.  So it does seem that they may have stopped selling it here.  I bought 300 rounds of S/B at the March gun show, I think the guy was getting rid of it as it was older vintage ammo.  So, keeping an eye out at the gun shows does pay off.

I really like the Silver Bear Match effect ammo, there is one guy at the shows who gets it in about half the time.  I had shot some South African brass cased stuff 4 years ago that was really good, I don't see that around as well.  There is some new ammo called "Cheetah" that is coming out of Zimbabwe, made on Norinco machinery.  It is not cheap, and only one store in my area carries it.  I Might try a box.

[1911crazy]

Chris;  I think AIM Surplus has both silver bear effect ammo and  the Cheeta stuff too besides the russian mil. spec stuff too its cheap too.
                                                                   BigBill
I've been temped to buy more 7.62x39.  I have some german made stuff too but i never shot any yet.  If I remember correctly the last few cases I purchased were the russian barnaul 7.62x39 from sportsmans guide it was clearanced for $59/1,000rds.  I check with them often for sales and deals the last good deal from them was the FNM 6,5 swede ammo for 500rds for $128 it pays to check them often.

BTW When the dealers still had Norinco ammo for sale the last boxes were silver in color and were selling around $3 to $4 a box back then. I'm not sure if anyone remembers back then but the first cases were selling for $59 then it went to as high as $120+ if you could find a case. I'm an ammo pack rat I managed to get 4 cases of norinco and one case of german ammo before the supply dried up completely back then.  In the very beginning of when the sks's were imported here most were afraid of buying one because of this new ammo not being available here yet.  Then the price of an sks was around $1,000 dollars and when they didn't sell the priced dropped to $59 and you got a free case of ammo too.  Back then the 7.62x54 ammo supply went dry too and 440rd cases were $100 too.  We only had norma at $30 and i still have my first box of norma too. I think sportsmans guide was the first to sell 7.62x54 again it was 880rds Czech  for $79.  Just a little of ammo history.

[S.S.]

I don't think I have ever fed my SKS anything it didn't like!!!
It eats pretty much anything without complaining!!

[1911crazy]

S.Sumner  My sks's aren't fussy either they eat anything I put down the pipe and never hickup its just the accuracy seems to be better with Norinco ammo.   Their a hoot to shoot with any ammo too.   BigBill