As the title states I have a question about 7.62 ammo in my new Remington rifle. I have a model 799 in 7.62x39 caliber and lots of the sardine cans of military ammo. I've been told not to shoot this stuff in my new toy as the bullets supposedly only have a thin copper wash on a steel core and it wouldn't be good for my barrel.

Insights?

The core isn't a concern. There is still lead around it. I'd worry about 7.62 Russian bullets at .311 to .313 diameter and an American barrel being .308. Ruger had accuracy issues but I don't think they had pressure issues. I'd contact Remington at www.remington.com/support and ask them for specifics.

7.62 is .311 when talking 7.62x39 or 54R. Europeans measure the lands, not grooves as we do here. .311 is universal for 7.62x39. U.S. bullet manufacturers use .311, check Sierra, Winchesters websites. The jacket on the bullet is copper, no issue.

I don't know about Remington but the Ruger Mini30 barrel is designed for a .308 bullet but the forcing cone is designed so that it will fire the .311 bullets with no issue.

quote:

Originally posted by reverenddan:
As the title states I have a question about 7.62 ammo in my new Remington rifle. I have a model 799 in 7.62x39 caliber and lots of the sardine cans of military ammo. I've been told not to shoot this stuff in my new toy as the bullets supposedly only have a thin copper wash on a steel core and it wouldn't be good for my barrel.

Insights?

Your real potential for barrel damage is from the corrosive primers. The bullets will not harm the barrel any more than any other jacketed bullet. Make sure you clean barrel imediately after use and get all the fouling out. Also accuracy may be disappointing with some of that ammo. I have a Mini Mk X bolt action 7.62x39 that shoots moa with my reloads but most milsurp still runs 3-6 moa.

Larry Gibson

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Your real potential for barrel damage is from the corrosive primers. The bullets will not harm the barrel any more than any other jacketed bullet. Make sure you clean barrel imediately after use and get all the fouling out.Larry Gibson

Clean with hot water to get corrosive
primer salts out!!

When I bought my first SKS it came with a sardine can of ammo, slightly corrosive (how I wish I'd bought more). It worked fine if you cleaned it with hot water, then checked a few days later and cleaned it again if you missed any spots. Then I bought some non corrossive and it was even better, but a little higher. Now with the damn war dragging out the stuff is almost as high as 5.56.
Oh well, someday it may come down again.
Eterry

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