What Powder Did They Use?

[MK Wheelie]

Can anyone tell me what powder is used in the Czech surplus 7.62 x 39?

I have pulled bullets from these and weighed the powder. The ones I've weighed so far hold 23 grains.

Just for giggles, I loaded up some Winchester brass with this powder, and found my groups are tighter.

I have been using 27 grains of IMR 4895 which seems to be the slowest in the reloading manual and I'm trying to find out if a faster powder is the route I need to go, and if so, how fast.

Information

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[MK Wheelie]

Found out what I needed know.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Found out what I needed know.

So how about sharing the answer with the rest of us? I don't have a gun to fire that stuff, but I have a non-English-speaking friend who does, and the info would be useful to him when his milsurp ammo runs out.

Patrick

[MK Wheelie]

Very sorry, I guess I should have posted what I found out, so here goes.

I looked on the internet, but I didn't have any success in finding out what is in the Czech surplus. (it must be a closely gaurded secret) I posted my question on Canadian Gun Nutz and received some recomendations on powders that should be similar with the burn rates given the amount of powder that is in the surplus.

The lot that I have, each round holds approximately 23 grains of powder, so based on that, I needed to go to different company's websites to read up on their recomendations for the 7.62 x 39 round. The closest was Hogdons 4198.

I haven't bought any just yet, but I will post my results after I do and do some load testing. Probably be a couple of weeks from now. Stay tuned.

[Bruce McAskill]

A better powder for the 7.62X39 would be AA1680 or Winchesters 680.(same powder) It can be found surplus too. Meters well and was made just for the 7.62X39.