7.62X39 improved

Alright. I'm annoyed. I occasionally stray from my basic love for Savage actions, and in the most recent dalliance, I find myself in a fling with a hot little CZ527 carbine chambered in 7.62X39. The rifle is pretty, shoots well with cr@p ammo and has forced me to start reloading for the least logical round possible from a dollars/hour point of view. After sizing about 200 pieces of new brass, I realized what was irritating me: Look at that ridiculous taper! The round is just begging to be blown out and equipped with a beautiful 30 deg + shoulder! Clearly I wasn't the first person to realize this, but it seems like the time is right. I'm no hater of the .300 BLK but frankly, it doesn't make much sense if you're not shooting suppressed. Why not go big with a straight bodied, sharp shouldered 7.62X39 (Ackley) Improved cartridge, sorta in line with the .30 TC? This round would not work (well) in semi autos but various manufacturers have already chambered bolt guns in .300 BLK; why not do so in a round that does not suck in high velocity applications? The PPC rounds are proof-positive that the basic case architecture is capable of supreme accuracy and efficiency. I submit that a .308/.310/.312 equivalent would be an ideal deer/hog blaster, significantly better than the .300BLK/whisper.

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Originally Posted by bighslb

Why not go big with a straight bodied, sharp shouldered 7.62X39 (Ackley) Improved cartridge, sorta in line with the .30 TC? This round would not work (well) in semi autos

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If you just blow the case out it would work fine in a semi, just look at the 6.5 grendel. The sharper shoulder of the ackley might cause a problem but seems it causes a problem with most bolt-action repeaters also. I have 3 7.62x39 AR's i have built for my grandchildren and they all run just fine with good handloads.

Thanks for replying to my unprompted grousing, earl39. I agree that it should work in a semiauto if done right, same for a bolter. I just figured the generally weaker extraction of a semiauto might lead to issues for a major manufacturer. Although I enjoy the AR and its cousins, I am a bolt action type o' dude from the beginning - hence the CZ I mentioned in the original post. Given the stronger potential extraction capabilities of the average bolt gun, I see a pretty significant gap in factory chamberings based on the Russian case. It's almost as though everyone blew by the .30 caliber to hit the cool ballistic high points of .22, .24, and .26 based on the Russian case. More or less at the same time, the AR caught on and everyone wanted a .30 based on the .224 cases, e.g. 300 Whisper, BLK, WT. It strikes me as obvious (it's not that hard to find wildcat examples) that AI'ing the 7.62X39 might bring something to the table that has been overlooked for bolt guns. No one can argue that the Grendel isn't an amazing round (I want an upper for the round myself); I just take issue when no manufacturer considers the potential of an improved 7.62X39 but goes ahead and makes production bolt guns chambered in the relatively anemic .300 BLK. Of course, I did spend a fair amount of time trimming, chamfering, etc. to get lathered about this.

I've had a love affair with a 98 Mauser that a local gunsmith re-barreled to 7.62X39 and reworked the bolt face. That rifle was a tack driver with my hand loads. Sadly, I let a friend talk me out of the rifle............I still miss it 10 years later.