AR in 7.62x39mm Thoughts?

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Darthmaul

New member
I sort of have the itch to build an AR chambered in 7.62x39mm, mainly so I have another goto gun that would be a less expensive and easier to get ammo rather than 5.56. I had to cut down my shooting this year quite a bit because of over priced 223/5.56 ammo. I always found 7.62x39mm and it is way cheaper than the 5.56 at the moment. I've seen them out there online but never shot one. What is everyone's thoughts on this?
 
I say "Why not?". Personally I enjoy the heck out of the x39 round and one day I will own a CZ carbine in it. Ballistically it is not too dissimilar to a .30-30, what's not to like?


Chupa
 
It's a little problematic in the AR for a couple of reasons. The rounds have so much taper the mag needs a steeper curve and the AR can't accept that steeply curved mag as well. Another issue is the bolt which has a lot less 'meat' around the face when set up for the x39 cartridge base. Maybe the 9310 or super bolts can get around this issue? I think the 5.45x39 might be the best way to get a cheaper to shoot AR but they seem to have fallen out of favor too.
 
I have and shoot one at the range, I filed a little off the front of the mag and that solved my feeding issues. With my nf poly lower it dents the primers on cheap ammo but Winchester works fine, might have to change the spring. Chupa mentioned a magazine to solve feeding problems awhile back but I forgot which one it was. Fun gun to shoot,open sights (has a nice bang to it)and ammo price is great if you want to make a lot of noise at the range....
 
Originally Posted By: luderI have and shoot one at the range, I filed a little off the front of the mag and that solved my feeding issues. With my nf poly lower it dents the primers on cheap ammo but Winchester works fine, might have to change the spring. Chupa mentioned a magazine to solve feeding problems awhile back but I forgot which one it was. Fun gun to shoot,open sights (has a nice bang to it)and ammo price is great if you want to make a lot of noise at the range....


C Products


Chupa
 
The Grendel is the same case with ballisticly superior 6.5mm bullet. It's a joy to load for! It uses light charges so you get a lot of use out of a pound of powder. If you load for performance, it pretty much all cost the same.
 

I built one for a friend that wanted more energy on target
for a HDR. I tried talking him into a 6.8 SPC, but he
wanted cheap plinking ammo options, too. So I built one, to
his specs, with a JSE Surplus barrel(Del-Ton IIRC), and bolt.
It went together nicely, fed well, and shot 123 gr. V-Max loads
into sub-MOA groups. It exceeded his expectations. We
shot a bunch of cheap steel case ammo out of it, as well,
and it fed that crap well, too. Not sub-MOA, but definitely
minute of beer can, on a mag dump.
lol.gif
As I recall the
only issue was magazines. I recall being on a waiting list,
but finally got some decent mags, that worked well through
our testing.

I might have considered one, as a SHTF rifle, but I have a
couple of 6.8s, a progressive loader, and enough ammo and
components, to get me well into the zombie apocalypse.

Squeeze
 
Rock River has one that takes AK mags if you want a dedicated one without any feeding issues. I have no experience with it though.
 
I had one for a while. If you decide to build one, the only way to go is with the super bolt. I have two 7.62 bolts that lugs have broke off of. Secondly KEEP IT CLEAN and clean it every time you shoot it. The 7.62 rounds a very very dirty. This caused me more malfunctions than the mag issue. As stated above, RRA makes a lower to take AK mags. This is probably the way to go. Just my 2 cents, but this is not a good round for the AR platform. That is probably why there are not a lot of them around compaired to other calibers in the AR platform.
 
I've owned several sks's, I'm not a fan. As far as an AK-47 I'd really only want one with a milled receiver, even then I like the AR platform better...
 
Originally Posted By: mutthunterInstead of building a gun around a bullet, why not just get an AK/SKS, and pimp it out a bit?

Now that somebody else has already crashed the thread, I'll chime in here...

I have an SKS with a shortened barrel, Dragunov stock, and scout mounted red dot sight that will shoot everything I've put through it so far, including handloads, relatively accurately, except for some "Golden Tiger" stuff that I bought cheap. It chokes on that...

The trigger sucks but the rifle itself is fun to shoot...
 
Sure there is-dirt cheap russian ammo_Originally Posted By: NightvisionaryWith the proliferation of the 300 Blackout there is no reason to even consider a 7.62x39 Franken AR.
 
Granted, we haven't put it through the ringer, but my buddy's Armalite is wonderful in x39. Even the cheap rooskie stuff works great, and it feeds just fine.
 
More Blasphemy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you want a commie shooting rifle buy an AK or SKS and shoot all the commie ammo you can, otherwise build it to shoot 6.8 or 6.5 or .300BO.
 
Originally Posted By: dennydSure there is-dirt cheap russian ammo_Originally Posted By: NightvisionaryWith the proliferation of the 300 Blackout there is no reason to even consider a 7.62x39 Franken AR.

You are not factoring in the total platform cost associated with a 7.62x39 AR. Non-standard parts, problematic non standard magazines are all extra costs that the 300 BLK does not require. I reload for just about everything and don't shoot steel cased ammo anymore but brass cased 7.62x39 is about the same price as brass cased 300 BLK and $5-$7 for a box of steel case isn't dirt cheap anymore 5.56 is the better value there.
 
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