Generous throat length so bullets can be seated out further for increased case capacity. Handloaded it's capable of firing 130gr bullets at 2700 fps muzzle speed with acceptable accuracy. Has a 22" 1:10 barrel.

Tried various factory loads including milsurp, American Eagle and Barnaul 123gr HP which have a surprisingly high muzzle speed. Marginal performance gain by handloading. Barnaul HP's will suffice quite nicely for hunting.

I’ve often thought about buying one of those but held off as shooting reports seem to be scarce.
Thanks for posting about yours.
Seems like an excellent choice for inexpensive yet capable shooting!

Those Barnaul shot as good as my best handload in my Ruger 77, one of the early canoe paddle 7.62x39's.
My niece shot two deer with the rifle/load.
Lungshots, didn't exit, but jellied the lungs and the deer went down with-in 20 yds.

Perfect waste of a good single shot rifle. I am actually surprised they made any in that caliber.

^^
ignore creepy dp



Nice feedback TB40 on the Barnaul HP's. Idea on what to expect performance-wise. Thanks.

Very limited run on No.1-A 7.62x39 rifles. Efficient round. Light recoil. Capable of fine accuracy handloaded even with 308 bullets. Cheap and plentiful ammo. Kills Deer quite dead out to intermediate range. Got other rifles in this caliber. Has has a following for sure.

Keep in mind that the 7.62X39AI is the same as a 30PPC. It is a very very accurate cartridge with bullets in the 110-118 grain weight.

Checked Barnaul 123gr HP performance in my Remington 799 (=Zastava M85 20" 1:9.44 barreled action).

+P 150gr load in my Ruger No.1, +300 fps compared to Hodgdon 150gr data (22" barrel).

I never got very interested in the 7.62 X 39, having shot it mostly in SKS and AK-47 semi-autos. I did handload for both platforms (the AK was one of those nice Hungarians with the blond furniture) and saw smaller groups. But I have always had a .30-30 or .35 Remington on hand.
You're getting decent performance with both your loads and the Barnaul.

170gr NP results.

I think that 170 NP in a Ruger #1 would be a cool packin rifle. Love to have one.

180gr RN Hornady results.

Years back when Turk 98 Mausers were plentiful and cheap I rebarreled/converted several to 7.62 X 39. I used .308 bore barrels and a Clymer reamer that Ruger designed for their Mini 30 rifles. It reamed a throat designed specifically to safely shoot .308 or .312 diameter bullets in a .308 diameter barrel. I got good performance and accuracy on all of them similar to 4sixteen. This was with good brass cases and good bullets.

Later I experimented with a recent model Ruger Mini 30 using good handloads with good results. For Texas whitetails out to 150 yards it really performs well.

Good info, folks! Thanks for sharing!
CZ makes a 527 in this caliber. It has
a shorter barrel -- and should work great
at woods ranges for deer with correct bullets.
For the shorter barrel, I'd be very careful
which heavy bullets I picked, given the limited
velocity available. These are light, handy
rifles that can be shot a lot without much
recoil and without burning a lot of powder.
And, the ability to use cheap surplus for
fun shooting is a boon, as well!
John

I came so close to getting one of those when Whittaker had them for $800. Still kinda wish I had.

No.1 rifles sure have been appreciating in value in recent years. Check out the price of this NIB stainless 7.62x39.

https://www.gunsinternational....cfm?gun_id=101306399

Have a CZ 527 7.62x39 in carbine format and it a wonderful blacktail rifle. Light and quick to the target and delivers well above hunting rifle accuracy. Here's some load results from that rifle:
130 Norma SP 20.0 Lil'Gun Fed 205 R-P 2266
130 Norma SP 21.0 Lil'Gun Fed 205 R-P 2379
130 Norma SP 24.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2316
130 Norma SP 24.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2194
130 Norma SP 25.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2195
130 Norma SP 27.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2266
130 Norma SP 28.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2341
130 Norma SP 26.0 IMR4198 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2291
130 Norma SP 26.7 IMR4198 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2349

150 Sierra .311 23.0 IMR4198 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2002
150 Sierra .311 23.7 IMR4198 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2042
150 Sierra .311 26.0 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2186
150 Sierra .311 26.7 RL-7 R-P 7 1/2 R-P 2208
150 Sierra .311 19.0 Lil'Gun Fed 205 R-P 2070
150 Sierra .311 20.0 Lil'Gun Fed 205 R-P 2153