Which 5.45, other than the surplus, do you know that has the air pocket?

Almost anything non-surplus is going to be missing the 7N6 and successor's air gap.

Hornady has 5.45 loaded with their V-MAX (hollow point with polymer tip) bullets.

As of a few years ago, most commercial 5.45 (possibly excluding the weird 55gr stuff) had air pockets.

It was my understanding that the commercial bullets were 60 grains due to the air gap being filled up, versus the 53 grains of 7N6 that had the gap.

Just get 7n6?

Shhhhhhhhh



Don't buy genuine 7n6. It is "corrosive" and shooting it is like pouring Sulfuric Acid down your barrel. You have to register as a cop killer it with ATF if you buy any. It will give you Herpes if you touch it.

Leave it all for me. I will dispose of it properly

The 7 gr difference is probably more a result of switching from steel to lead.

Some random pics/disscussions from the web:

http://www.theakforum.net/forums/19-ammunition-reloading/163745-5-45-non-corrosive-w-air-pocket-ammo.html

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155556

Holy forgotten time warp!
That pic is mine. I took those a coupe years ago. Still have them sitting on my desk at work.

I have not kept up with what is new in this caliber, but a few years ago the commercial Tula and Barnaul had the air pocket and Ulyanovsk did not. The Uly also used the tracer jacket and a two part lead core. The lead front core was the same as the tracer (Uly was/is the primary producer of this load for the military) and a second lead core was inserted where the tracer mix would have been. These are also even heavier than the Tula/ Barnaul at something like 70gr. To the point that some people had stabilization/ accuracy issues in some rifles. The little Romanian 5.45 I looked at had a very small air gap in the tip. I don't recall what the Vympel produced lead core was like. I'm fairly certain it was on par with the Tula load.

1DD