Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it with?

Post by **Corpsman86** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:04 am

Hey guys,

Pardon me if this topic has already been covered, but it's somewhat difficult to use the search function on this forum. I have been running an ar15 for awhile, and in light of the recent political climate I decided to pick up an ak. I'm really pleased with its reliability and accuracy.. Now it's time to start stockpiling ammo. What kind of 7.62x39 would you guys trust your life with? The most common answer I've seen to this on the web is Golden Tiger, so I picked up a couple thousand rounds at a decent price. Just wanted to hear if there were any other opinions on it. Again, sorry if this has already been covered..

Post by **mantis** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:50 am

I would grab a crate of the milsurp ammo that the rifle was designed to fire instead of sporting ammo.

Post by **Corpsman86** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:02 am

mantis wrote:I would grab a crate of the milsurp ammo that the rifle was designed to fire instead of sporting ammo.

I take it you mean to imply that golden tiger is sporting ammo? To my understanding it is as Russian milspec as it gets with lacquer coating, a sealed primer, and a sealed case mouth.. Please correct me if I'm wrong..

Post by **SwampRat** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:42 pm

I always shoot -shitty- Wolf in mine. I've put 2,000 rounds through one of them. Have to scrub it out pretty good on account of that lacquer. After time the goo builds up and will cause you a failure to extract. But we here at ZS practice proper firearm maintenance, so this has never actually happened to me

. So, the upshoot is, I can't speak for Golden Tiger personally, but I can say that the cheapo mil spec stuff functions great in my opinion. My only addition would be that if you ever think you may start reloading one day, start using Brass cases now.

Post by **Phoenix David** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 2:51 pm

What ever goes bang.

Post by **We'reWolf** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:15 pm

cheapest ammo as possible...

Post by **zombieresponder** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:38 pm

Mine runs wolf just fine, and I don't see a need to spend $1+ per shot on brass cased SP or HP just to shoot zombies in the head. Fmj will work just fine for that.

Post by **Slugg** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 3:46 pm

I always have assumed the major perk of most AKs is that you don't have to worry about what you put in it.

Post by **Kutter_0311** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:05 pm

Slugg wrote:I always have assumed the major perk of most AKs is that you don't have to worry about what you put in it.

Yes, to a degree.

The AK was designed to function reliably with ammo that is in spec, and the specs are designed to give plenty of clearance for wear and hasrsh conditions. The ammo is very tapered to increase the likelihood it will feed.

This contributes to the AK's reputation for reliability. Even some pretty crappy AK's will function with crap ammo.

Where you can start to see some better performance is in good AK's like converted Saigas and Veprs.

Try some higher end ammo in those rifles if you want to know what it can really do. Heads are pretty small, after all.

Post by **mantis** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:07 pm

Corpsman86 wrote:
mantis wrote:I would grab a crate of the milsurp ammo that the rifle was designed to fire instead of sporting ammo.
I take it you mean to imply that golden tiger is sporting ammo? To my understanding it is as Russian milspec as it gets with lacquer coating, a sealed primer, and a sealed case mouth.. Please correct me if I'm wrong..

I didn't know that....I've never seen milsurp ammo with a brand name before. The vast majority of 7.62x39 that we get up here is Czech/Chinese/Romania/Polish milsurp. The only stuff that has brand names is new a manufactured for sale to civilians.

Post by **Doctorr Fabulous** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:10 pm

mantis wrote:
Corpsman86 wrote:
mantis wrote:I would grab a crate of the milsurp ammo that the rifle was designed to fire instead of sporting ammo.
I take it you mean to imply that golden tiger is sporting ammo? To my understanding it is as Russian milspec as it gets with lacquer coating, a sealed primer, and a sealed case mouth.. Please correct me if I'm wrong..
I didn't know that....I've never seen milsurp ammo with a brand name before.

Tula, Wolf, Golden Tiger, Herters. Anything coming into the US now is coming through a commercial importer.

Post by **mantis** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:11 pm

Doctorr Fabulous wrote:
mantis wrote:
Corpsman86 wrote:
mantis wrote:I would grab a crate of the milsurp ammo that the rifle was designed to fire instead of sporting ammo.
I take it you mean to imply that golden tiger is sporting ammo? To my understanding it is as Russian milspec as it gets with lacquer coating, a sealed primer, and a sealed case mouth.. Please correct me if I'm wrong..
I didn't know that....I've never seen milsurp ammo with a brand name before.
Tula, Wolf, Golden Tiger, Herters. Anything coming into the US now is coming through a commercial importer.

I guess that is why we are able to score so much milsurp!

Post by **tarafore** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:44 pm

I had bad luck with Silver Bear. The stuff that didn't get shot quickly ended up with some kind of crud all over the cartridge case.

Granted, it took over a year for the ammo to go bad, but it should have been good for 20 years. I had Wolf stored right next to it, and nothing happened to it.

Now maybe I had the one bad batch in a million, but I've avoided Silver Bear ever since.

Post by **Kutter_0311** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:03 pm

Brown Bear is what I ran at MilCopp, no issues. Brown Bear and Wolf are all I've ever run in my AK's.

I want to try some of the top shelf ammo when I have the budget.

Post by **Corpsman86** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:16 am

I just got the ak a few weeks ago, but so far it's chewed up and spit out whatever I could throw in it. I have heard many horror stories about non-lacquered steel cased ammo rusting if you touch them after a short time, and since I wanted to seal a couple thousand rounds in ammo cans I figured lacquered would be the way to go for that.. I've been buying steel cased wolf and Tula for my range trips though. Just putting my feelers out to see if there's any great ammo that I've overlooked.. I've got plenty of m855 and m193 for the AR saved up, and want to start putting away some good quality AK ammo...

Post by **ultra magnus** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:35 pm

I've heard Golden Tiger is the best of the cheap stuff.

Post by **AKFTW** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:14 pm

mantis wrote:I guess that is why we are able to score so much milsurp!

The M43 bullet was declared "armor piercing handgun ammo" in the early 1990s, and since most milsurp 7.62x39 is made to that spec, it is illegal to import.

Post by **angelofwar** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:16 pm

5.56...and then realize you grabbed the wrong gun,and pick-up your AR instead

Post by **mantis** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:06 am

AKFTW wrote:
mantis wrote:I guess that is why we are able to score so much milsurp!
The M43 bullet was declared "armor piercing handgun ammo" in the early 1990s, and since most milsurp 7.62x39 is made to that spec, it is illegal to import.

Oh really? That's nuts. I'm guessing it's because of the steel core? Thank God they didn't do that here. Most commercial 7.62x39 is about 2x or 3x the price of milsurp stuff in any of the gun stores that I frequent. I can buy a crate of 1.600 rds of Romanian milsurp stuff for around $200 or I can buy some new manufactured MFS or Privi Partisan 7.62x39 for aroud $8 per box of 20. That works out to be 8 cents per round vs 24 cents per round.

Post by **prekarious** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:52 pm

Been running WWB for the moment until I decide on what powder I will be using for the handloads. This is the first time in many years that I have ran factory rounds through any of my firearms and have had zero problems with malfunctions or expected accuracy.
Mil-Surp will work, but depending on country of origin and age you may have to worry about corrosive elements within the rounds. As long as you properly clean rifle afterwards shouldn't be an issue but would be surprised how many people refuse to think about that.
Realistically, go with handloads whenever possible.

Post by **Kutter_0311** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 3:36 pm

prekarious wrote:Realistically, go with handloads whenever possible.

Realistically, you may be the only person I've heard mention handloads for an AK. Ever.

But, as crazy as things are, that may be where many of us are headed. Wonder if she'd run on black powder...

Post by **king_of_hearts** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 3:54 pm

Kutter_0311 wrote:But, as crazy as things are, that may be where many of us are headed. Wonder if she'd run on black powder...

Can components even be found for AK handloads? I've never come across materials for 'loading 7.62x39....but then again i've never really looked hard either.

Post by **prekarious** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 5:46 pm

Components can be found pretty much everywhere that the rest of them can be found.

I handload for everything that I shoot. I don't expect to get great or even any gains from loading for 7.62X39 but oh well. With the way prices are going and how amazingly great stock on hand is, having components on hand does make things better. Never said I was normal, if I was would I really be on this site?

Post by **Kutter_0311** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:07 pm

prekarious wrote:Never said I was normal, if I was would I really be on this site?

Point taken

If things get much tougher, I'm going to buy a cap & ball revolver for CCW

Zombie Squad

Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it with?

Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it with?

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Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

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Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi

Re: Zombies are down the street. Grab the ak and load it wi