I am considering using my AK for hogs, and I had an idea for making hunting ammo for cheap.

I was thinking of buying some cheap Wolf ammo, pulling the steel-jacketed bullets that do not expand well, and replacing the bullet with a good soft point (maybe a Hornady Interlock). It would only cost me like 50 cents a pop, which is a lot easier to swallow than buying factory brass-cased hunting ammo which is around $20 for 20 in my area.

Has anyone tried this before with favorable results?

Mexican match loads? Never been done before.

Seriously though, it should work if the new projectiles have enough neck tension to not suffer from setback during cycling.

Yes I have done it.  Works extremely well. Winchester .312" 123 grain Soft Points are available in Component form and are what Winchester uses in their factory loads.

Turns erratic performing Russian ammo into consistent performers for about 1/3rd the price of equivalent factory loads and no worries about losing your brass!

Their just hogs, not the elusive whitetail trophy buck of a lifetime. Just get some soft point steel case and be done with it.

Probably cheaper than buying hunting projectiles.
http://www.sgammo.com/product/wolf-or-wpa/100-round-lot-762x39-soft-point-125-grain-wpa-wolf-polyformance-made-russia-barn

https://www.sgammo.com/product/wolf-or-wpa/100-round-lot-762x39-hollow-point-123-grain-wpa-wolf-polyformance-ammo-made-russ

A lot less work.

^This guy has the right idea

Just buy these: http://m.hornady.com/store/7.62X39-123-gr-SST

Thanks for the suggestions. The reason I decided against buying Russian steel-cased soft points is that they use steel jackets, and I'm not sure how well those expand.

I've been making "Mexican Match" 7.62x39 for years. Works very well, and really improves accuracy. I've used it in SKS, AK, 7.62 uppers and CZ-527 bolt gun.

In fact, I need to prepare another batch today!

Folks that have done this, are you just replacing the bullet?  Are you re-weighing and balancing the charges for consistency?  Or are you replacing the powder charge entirely?

Thanks,
John

Also do you guys crimp after putting a new .310 bullet in place?

Curious minds want to know!

Yes I am crimping after seating a new .310 bullet this bullet and I do not check the powder charge. I just pull and re-seat the new bullet.

I was going to suggest weighing, and possibly 'evening out', powder charges since you are breaking them down anyway. ...But, just looking down at the powder level in the case will help you make sure that there aren't any major inconsistencies. That's usually all I do. ...And make a test batch, like others have suggested.

X39 steel case

If I am reading the headstamps on the pictures right they may be Chinese and may be corrosive , Otherwise interesting

Just shot my psa 18" with wolf 123gr hp rounds resting at 60uyds getting sub 1 " groups ,  might be able to stay under 1.5 at 100
 

Kinda late to the party but I've been doing this the last few months seeing what kind of performance I can get.

I have 6 cases of Wolf lacquer coated 123 gr JHP.  It's the bi-metal bullet and I wouldn't trust it to hunt with.  I pulled the bullet and replaced it with a Hornady .310 diameter 123 grain SST.  Velocity was ~2260 FPS and it shot ~1" at 50 yards for 10 rounds.  All I have on my rifle right now is a red dot and my almost 59 year old eyes do all they can to get that good at 50 yards.

I also have some '92 head stamped Chinese steel core.  Bought a 1440 round case for $99 shipped and haven't hardly shot any of it.  I pulled the FMJ bullet and replaced it with the Hornady bullet.  I was surprised to get a 10 shot group under an inch at 50 yards with the red dot sight.  Velocity was just over 2400 FPS.  This would probably make pretty decent hunting ammo for under 200 yards.

To answer other questions, I pulled the original bullet and replace it with the Hornady bullet.  No weighing charges, just shot it with the original powder.  I also did lightly crimp the case with the Lee FC die.  Neck tension seemed just fine when I seated the bullet.

Upper is a 16" PSA that I've had for about a year and a half.

I'm going to do a little more experimenting once the weather gets a little better and the range dries out a little.

I've only done surplus 30.06 ammo like this and the necks are so long I did not see a great need to worry about neck tension other than push the
bullet tip into the reloading table to see if the seated bullet moves any deeper.  No need for crimp and more bullet deformation if it doesn't.

I might get extreme for 7.62x39 and find a collet neck die and neck size before bullet seating.  Lee makes collet dies pretty cheap.  I'd do it more
for accurate plinking than hunting.  I have plenty of hunting rigs ready to go.  But, then you have low quality bullets to get rid of too.

The Tulammo 154GR SP are actual hunting bullets. They are cheap enough so you don't have to reload or pay out of the ass for the American stuff. Try them you will be pleasantly surprised.

Of course I'm using them out of my AR15 with great accuracy and not an AK so your mileage may vary.

The 154 grain comes and goes in supplies .

I just "discovered" this stuff today. I saw it at a gun show and was like.  I'm kicking myself at the moment for not buying a few boxes just to have on hand (I've got a low capacity magazine in case I decide to take it hunting someday).

I am very interested in doing this, as I inherited a bunch of wolf, etc. I have done a bit of reloading on a friend's press, but my experience is limited.

What items would I need to do this on steel cased stuff? And the process?
I assume the cases would not need to be put in a full resizing die as they will not have been fired (and they're steel).

All I did was to pull the factory bullet and seat the Hornady SST.  Then I added a light crimp with the Lee FC die.  I used the same primed case and didn't touch the powder.  The only thing changed was the bullet.

I'll add the disclaimer that it works fine with MY loads in MY rifle on the day that I shot them.  Do your own research and experimentation.  I won't be responsible for any outcomes with your loaded ammo.  

OK, so I've been running up some of these this weekend using Wolf 122gr FMJ and replacing the projectile with a Hornady 123gr softpoint seated to the cannelure and then crimped using a LEE FC die.  One thing I've noticed is that the Wolf ammo seems really heavily crimped and somewhat inconsistently crimped.  All of them take a fair bit of effort to crimp and some will not come out for hell or high water, the Forester Collet just scrapes through the copper without pulling the bullet.

Anyone else seen this before?

I've also been pulling down 100gr Wolf 6.5 Grendel and loading 120 grain Nosler partitions with a new charge of 27.0gr of TAC.  So far, the 6.5 Grendel ammo is not anywhere near as hard to pull down.

John

Thats right Just hogs, man do I hate them thing. I think Texan has a bigger problem with the hog then Florida. I have farmer wanting to pay me get them out of there fields. We always turn down the money. Ok back ammo, Get really .... load as many 30rd mag with the cheapest ammo and shoot ever you see.

Instead of just straight pulling the bullets use your seating die and push the bullet into the case to break the neck seal. It will help with pulling the bullets

Good advice.  Thanks!

John