Would be great but doubt it'll ever get that low unless component costs bottom out. The powder charge is like ~5x that of 9mm and you got increased case material and domestic labor costs.

Plus if the comparable competition is selling at $0.50+ round all they have to do is undercut by 10% and they'll still sell most/all they make.

I just want bumpfire ammo for shooting in trash. Tons of snooty foo foo ammo for elitists. The majority of 7.62x39 shooters are just blasting down range at shit. Cheap is all I care about.

I think $0.35/round to $0.40/round is reasonable in current prices. Definitely true about the powder charge and increased material costs.

I'm not sure about domestic labor costs, when I look at their prices on match and FMJ ammo. That ammo is also reasonable, for 5.56. I've been hoarding their 75-grain BTHP Match at $0.65/round.

Yup. My understanding was Bear was the various casings of Barnaul. Golden Tiger was Vympel.

You have failed reading comprehension or any sort of basic comprehension.

As I said before, my ARs are the ones that wear out and have issues. As I also said my failed AR extractors were on guns running brass, NOT steel. I was actually getting brass stuck in the chamber. Either the extractor would fail to hold or it would rip the head off. That's pretty hard on brass.

Things with fluted chambers are rough on brass. Machine gun chambers make sizing suck (I like to drop those in my buddies bucket and giggle to myself).

AKs may dent brass. I have one that dents the side from the dust cover and one that dents the side from the charging handle.

None of my Russians or Bulgarians have issues with brass that I shoot through them and reload multiple times. Hell, my Romy rifles are fine too. Little dent? That will fireform out as long as the volume left will hold the powder. Brass is that soft.


Your point is nothing but fudd and internet moron rumor. Those of us that actually do things like run brass cases in AKs have no issues. We don't care if brass has a little dent or a skuff. We shoot our rifles, not make ammo for display. We often wear out brass from the number of firings and reloadings.

I make my accomodations which I throw whatever through my AKs then pick up the brass and reload it for next time. It's an AK. It'll eat it, my Dillon will load it. I'm about to switch over to brass case 545x39 until steel case becomes available at sane prices again. If I damage or loose a casing I have plenty of damaged 556 brass with bad necks from NON AK rifles I can make into 545.

he said 7.62, 5.45 and 7.62 54r are the next three offerings. during that interview a couple weeks ago. and the first one should be available soon, they were doing final testing.

I'll stick with my crates of Yugo, thank you.

They have to make money from this if not then they should go non profit. You know, after everybody takes their cut and pays the bills then they aint got no money left. Donations excepted. If my competitor buys 100 tons of material and I buy 10 tons, my competitor sells cheaper than I can.

Now do the federal deficit.

You just reminded me I still have a stash of the Chinese copper washed .308.  Sold the AR10 and completely forgot about it till now.  Thanks!

Just a sample size of one, but my MAADI would RIP brass to pieces. Literally mangled. Had to install a KNS piston to get it to work with brass-cased ammo at all. Meanwhile, my Draco loves brass case.

Yup, though I’d say the cartridge itself was designed around having a steel case.

The steel case head is sturdier when it comes to violent extraction, though it’s needed due to the speed at which steel expands/contracts, where brass is superior. They coat the cases to keep them from getting stuck, too, another thing that brass is just naturally better at. There’s a whole bunch of little compromises made to allow for cheaper ammunition.

Possibly more important, the x39 cartridges are more sharply tapered, making them much easier to extract. 223 sucks for steel due to having less of a taper to it.

I’m not saying you’re an irascible ass…
But your experiences are directly opposite of mine.
And apparently others as well.




I don’t claim to be an AK expert, nor do I claim to be a reloading expert.

I do have a few AK’s and have owned the following:

Stamped Mak 90 slant back
Zastava M70ab
Arsenal SLR101s
Arsenal SLR107FR
Zastava M92
PSA AK 101 (5.56mm)

I shot brass through all of those guns except the M70ab.

Guess what, the rims on all brass cases were chewed up. They can/could be reloaded, but not many times because the extractors were rough on the brass.

I know you can reload steel case, I’ve seen Dryflash’s thread about it. I myself have never done it.

I also have been competing and participating at Kalashni-con here in Missouri for the past 7 years.
K-Con is limited to 90 shooters, plus RO’s & staff and there is a winter & a summer shoot. That means approx 110 different guns being shot & used in competition 2x a year.
You must use an AK or AK derivative to compete. Not everyone does but the vast majority do.
There are at least 100 AK’s shooting during this competition so I get to see a bunch of different AK’s throughout the 4 days.
This past summer (K-Con 7), and winter (K-Con 8), there were more 556 guns being run. More brass was being shot than ever before due to steel cased ammo drying up.
Because my 556 AK is new, and the first 556 AK I’ve owned, I was paying attention to the 556 brass being left on the stages.
Most of it had rough edges along the rims consistent with what I was seeing from my guns.
There were some AR’s being used by some shooters as well (non competing, just shooting for fun), and I just assumed the non rough brass was from them.
Obviously an assumption on my part.

Having said all of that, I’m glad your experiences are different. But it’s not what I’m seeing and experiencing on a larger scale than just a few guns I’ve owned.

You should come to K-Con next Winter (Jan) and/or Summer (May 2025), and come shoot.
You’d probably enjoy yourself shooting the competition. We have people coming from Detroit, Texas, Maryland, Idaho, South Carolina, Arizona, and I believe Washington to compete. So it’s not like you’d be the only outsider or coastal to come play.

I’m sincere in the offer for you to come down and play.  Hopefully you’re able to do so.

The stuff is surprising out of my new Larue barrel.  Don’t know what Mark has goin on in them tubes.

This is where I'm at for 7.62x39, 5.45x39, 7.62.54R, and 7.62x25.

I'm setup to reload them all, so I'd rather buy slightly more expensive brass cased, boxer primed, factory ammo and then get a few cycles out of the brass through the press. The only redeeming quality of steel cased ammo was the dirt-cheap Commie imported stuff. I see no benefit, for me, in the current market for steel cased US ammo.

ETA: I guess I could start reloading steel cases if PSA is making them boxer primed as well, which I assume they will be.

Hornady makes brass cased 5.45 every once in a while.

Cheapest right now is .95/rd

Hornady Black 5.45x39MM, 60gr, V-Max - 20 Rounds

ETA: covered. Midway USA has also had their .221 60gr VMAX projectiles on sale as seconds before. I have a Lee bullet sizing die for when I actually start reloading 5.45x39.

I’m surprised other companies haven’t jumped onto making the x39 ammo. They are pretty common at least 7.62

I'm pretty impressed at what they've been making brass 5.56 for.  Particularly with the bullet selections used.  I don't expect it to be .20 cpr but I'm optimistic it won't be .50 either.

 Would buy.

Hold up, wait a minute, y'all thought I was finished? pic.twitter.com/jrfBeMPeld

Palmetto State Armory  (@palmettoarmory) March 28, 2024

x54R would make me very happy.

Attached File

It literally can’t go for 9mm prices.  Impossible just from a metals commodity point of view, not to mention more powder is needed, a larger primer, and a more complicated process to make the casings.

Tell you what though- if it is reloadable with boxer primers (please use small rifle primers like some US ammo makers have done!) it would be an easy one to reload with cast and powder coated bullets…

And I already have the bullet molds…

They said it would be Boxer primed in a thread when I asked several months ago but it appears to use Large rifle primers.

I'm definitely going to reload them when I get some.

I reloaded Boxer primed Wolf .223 quite a bit when it was available.

Nice !!  

Yup.
99$ per 1k of golden tiger.....was an easy choice

It would be hard to be worse than Tula

When I joined here Wolf was $68 a case from Midway, Fuck I'm on the downhill side heading towards old.