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Posted: 10/26/2007 6:51:54 AM EDT
| Well, I am wanting to try an ar15, but I have alot of ammo for my ak. What do yall know about the uppers in 7.62x39? Can you use the same bolt/carrrier/charging handle as .223? What manufacturer should I look at? What mags? Is Blackthorne a reputable manufacturer? Thanks for any info. |
| best answer = No. as in no it's not worth the trouble, bother expense, and no it won't function well. others may dispute that, with comments like, "if I use a 5 round magazine.., but the short answer is, No the 7.62x39 round doesn't work well in the AR platform. |
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Ignoring the previous post (and I suggest the OP does too) the 7.62x39 does work fine in an AR-15! The trick is getting good parts and the right parts! I have owned and used three separate 7.72x39 uppers and I never had problems with the uppers themselves. You will need a dedicated 7.62x39 upper and you can use it on an unmodified lower. Your Carrier will be a standard AR-15 carrier but the 7.62x39 requires a different bolt (the case head on the 7.62x39 is obviously bigger then a 223). To allow the bigger case to fit, the bolt on a 7.62x39 is less strong then on a 223 and because you will likely be using steel cased ammo you can expect that your bolt and extractor will not last as long as a 223. You will also need special 7.62x39 mags. I have a small collection of pre-ban 7.62x39 USA brand Franken Mags which essentially have a short M-16 type tower welded onto an AK-47 mag body. These work REALLY great! I also have a 75-rd drum mag with an AR-15 tower (pre-ban Chinese mag) and that works very good as well. Quality ammo, say Winchester brass cased 7.62x39 will shoot as good as any 223 load and cheap steel stuff functions just fine. I would get a 223 AR-15 and a 9mm before getting into a 7.62x39 but they are fun just the same! |
I beg to differ.  I've got multiple videos at this LINK I've got videos of them running in FA w/ my MGI modular lower as well as standard lowers using the FrankenMags. The "FrankenMAGS" work great. I sold all mine off as I went w/ the RDIAS and the MGI lower. Mainly because 30 rounds wasn't enough for me and I wanted to use DRUMS. Yes, I know there are some drums that have the AR mag welded at the top but the ones I've seen leave some live rounds in at the end.....and they are also very hard to find. Regular AK drums are much more common. My setup is running 100% on 2 different uppers (7.5" and 11.5")...in the process of doing a 2nd 7.5" so I can have one cooling down while firing up the other one. |
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Amphibian, When you go to the shorter barrel on your original standard length M16 lower do you have to get approval from the ATF for the conversion? I asked a couple agents at the gunshow this weekend and they didn't know for sure. I know you have to for a caliber change but wasn't sure about the barrel length issue. Thanks |
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No, those are "temporary" changes so you don't need approval for length or caliber for a registered MG. I don't know who told you that you need to have approval for caliber but that is not true. Again, these are temporary changes. No modifications are done to the registered part (the lower in this case) for it to fire w/ a shorter barrel or different caliber. |
I disagree, companies like MGI, DPMS, OLY,Colt and others have not had an issue with 762x39 AR's with respect to functionality. They would not pursue it if it were such a disaster. The mag is also not such an issue, from my experience. As for saying the 762x39 round does not work well in the AR platform, well again I suppose everyone has an opinion on this but based on the industry I would say it "works well enough." |
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