Short Barrel Performance Handloads?

[TacticalSquirrel]

Has anyone played with loads specifically intended to get the most performance from barrels 16 inches in legnth and shorter? Most loads from the factory are designed for longer barrels, while shorter barrels are becoming more and more popular and may not do as well unless loads are tailored for them...any thoughts? And special methods of loading to get unique performances?

[neal@ndak.net]

Interesting guestion. Seeing how other than a 20 in SKS no other guns are really Prevelent. So I think it is safe to assume that most ball ammo was made for 16 inch AKs. When it gets alittle warmer out say this summer I ll take the chrony out and see just what the numbers say .I dont expect to much can be done to boost performance but it cant hurt to try. Maybe a faster burng powder would help. The case cap is already to small for the bore size. Remember these bullets are damn close to the same size as 303 brit. so they are pretty large compared to our 308. But If I have anything worth reporting I will do so.

[TacticalSquirrel]

Any findings would be appreciated...I think that most manuals I've seen indicate SKS' as the test guns. With the number of Krinkov's with maybe 9 inches of rifling available, and the increases of 16 inch barrels with muzzle brakes that only have 12-14 inches of rifling available, it could be interesting to develop some kind of loadings for these to get the best performance from these cartridges.

[neal@ndak.net]

Its colder outside than a welldiggers ass here right now but in a month or so I will get right on it or maybe even sooner. We get a couple of nice days once in awhile in the winter.

[Poodleshooter]

Most loads for 7.62x39 already use very fast powder. It's usually just above pistol powder. You could experiment with IMR5744, AA#9 or some other slow pistol/fast rifle powders and see if you can get better speed in a Krink. Odds are, AA1680 will still be the best powder for the round though.