Can i reload 7.62X39? How much would it cost?

Question

Im sure you can but i was wondering how much it would cost. I was also wondering about the price for all equipment that i would need to do it also.

Answer 1

Well 7.62X39mm is certainly re-loadable as a cartridge.

However if you are shooting an SKS or Ak type rifle at this point it is just as economical if not more so just to buy the plethora of surplus ammo available.

The 7.62X39MM M43 round is probably the most widely produced rifle cartridge ever.

There should be no shortage of surplus ammo for at least 20 years.

If you want to reload it you could certainly make more accurate, and more consistent ammo.

But in most com-bloc style weapons you will see little accuracy improvement and at this time no economical benefit.

As long as the massive surplus of 7.62X39mm ammo keeps flowing and so few modern arms are chambered for it buying surplus will remain the way to go.

The only modern commercially produced rifles chambered in 7.62X39 are the Mini-30, AK variants, AR variants, S@#T loads of SKSs, and a few now discontinued Ruger M77 bolt guns.

Only the M77 has a chance to benefit from handmade rounds, and even so it will not be seen at Camp Perry anytime soon.

So while it may change in the future, currently there is no benefit to reloading 7.62X39mm M43.

Answer 2

price per cartridge is between .50 cents and .90 cents. The difference in price depends on the type of bullet you choose to use. The 7.62x39 is much like my .223 caliber if you want to shoot cheap you really don't save much if any by reloading vs. buying surplus ammo. At 3.50-4.50 dollars for 20 shells, surplus, I can't reload that cheap.
But you gain the ability to choose the type of bullet to match your needs by reloading. Weather that is for hunting or building the most accurate load possible.

Prices on equipment very as well, you can start out with a entry level loading kit for about 100-150 dollars or spend $500-$700 on a top end machine that does almost everything for.

twenty plus years ago I started load 45 acp rounds on a Lyman turret press. cost $139 at that time and included every needed to load except dies which ran me about 20 bucks.

5 years later I upgraded to a dillion 550 that cost about 500 for every thing needed, where I can load 400 to 500 rounds a hour on.

Reloading is a fun hobby! Good luck, and have fun.

Answer 3

If that's all you've got, don't bother. You can get ammunition for next to nothing, and the round is, after all, just a plinker, not particularly useful for any real application.
I've been hunting for nearly fifty years and handloading for about forty of them, and if you get into hunting, or precision paper-punching, I'd encourage you to get the equipment. A good press and all the accessories will run you about four or five hundred dollars, and when you get a new caliber, all you have to get is the shellholder and die set (about thirty or forty bucks) and the components, so there's some economy there, but it's more about matching your load to your rifle and intended application. If you're like me and shoot a bunch of different calibers, it's almost necessary to load your own, and it might be worth loading the 7.62x39, but not if that's all you're shooting. This is all the more true because it's normally fired in autoloaders, which won't allow you to vary your loads the way you can with a bolt-action or single-shot.

Answer 4

It is cheap to buy surplus ammo for this caliber. If you have other firearms and want to start hand loading, that is great. The main thing to learn is that alot of real cheap ammo for this caliber will be Berdan primed. The empty casing will show two side by side holes going to the primer. A boxer case will have only one hole in the center of the primer pocket. Using a re-loader for the wrong casing will result in a broken die tip. A steel casing cannot be reloaded either. It will split for sure or not even be able to be sized.

Hand-loading is a good hobby so if you have other guns, I would get into it. The main cost is start up and you could spend anywhere from a few hundred to many hundreds. depending on the loader and equipment. A good kit will get you going for about 400.00 including dies, powder and bullets, primers. You can re-load many cases 10 times or so if you dont overload them to start with. Ends up being pretty cheap ammo.

Good luck.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Can i reload 7.62X39? How much would it cost?
Im sure you can but i was wondering how much it would cost. I was also wondering about the price for all equipment that i would need to do it also.

Answer 6

Reloading 7.62x39

Answer 7

I'll just add that you should make sure you find quality rounds for reloading. Some of the cheap Chinese rounds use small construction screws instead of proper posts. They aren't seated properly, which messes up the center of gravity, which in turn affects accuracy. The screws also chew up metal targets really bad, which is why a lot of ranges won't allow 7.62 x 39 rifles. Besides, the caliber isn't really known for accuracy anyway, so it's best to go with the the best materials available to offset this.

Answer 8

I think you would be better off buying you ammo. I have several cases that I have bought rather than reloaded, because it was cheaper in the long run. I buy Wolf brand 7.62x39 seems to work well for me.

Answer 9

7.62x39 Reloading

Answer 10

The basic equipment will be in the $100-200 range Midway sometimes has a starter kit for sale. http://www.midwayusa.com/

The components will cost around 20-30 cents a round to load a cartridge, depends on what bullet you want to load. You can lower the cost some buy buying in bulk but how many pounds of powder and how many 1000s of primer do you want to store?