7.62 x 39 or 250/3000

[rennie]

I am about to get my lathe up and running. I saw in a mauser book that a guy built a 7.62 x 39 and a 250/3000 bolt action rifle. I would like to know if you can use the standerd action or do I need to get a short mauser action?? The reason 7.62 x 39 is I have a SKS and would like to have a bolt action to have a better shooting round and the ammo for now is not that expensinve. The 250/3000 is a round that I used when I hunted at a girl friends ranch 50 years ago using a model 99. I would like to build both of these calibers just for grins. Any help would be appreciated. If I need a short where and how would I go about getting one???????

Rennie:thinking:

 

[TRX]

You don't need a short action. You may want to add a spacer to the rear of the magazine to keep the cartridges in place, but a little extra length won't hurt a thing.

The 7.62x39 uses a .311-.313" barrel - the Soviets had a fairly broad tolerance. The bullet is the same diameter as the 7.62x54R, the 7.62x25 Tokarev, the .303 British, 7.65x53 Belgian/Argentine Mauser, and 7.7 Arisaka. Back before surplus Combloc ammo hit the American market most loading manuals had data for using standard .308" bullets. Since you mentioned inexpensive ammo, I'm assuming you mean Brown Bear or war surplus stuff with .311" bullets, so you'll want a matching barrel. There are basically two choices - go to a premium barrel maker and pay what they ask, or go to Green Mountain and buy one of their 1" x 20" blanks for $35. There don't seem to be any midprice barrels with that bore.

 

[ScrapMetal]

I don't know about the quality but Http://www.sportsmansguide.com has 7.62 barrel blanks listed for $49.97 http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/762-mm-barrel-blank.aspx?a=938885 or a Romanian SKS barrel for $59.97 http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/romanian-sks-barrel.aspx?a=965880&e=Y , then there's the AK barrel for $89.97 http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/ak-47-barrel.aspx?a=891186&e=Y

They've got a bunch of other barrels and blanks, just do a search.

Hope that helps,

-Ron

 

[MG-42]

For just fun shooting I would go with the 7.62x39. I have a couple of copies that the Chinese did to the Japanese rifle after WW2.

 

[rennie]

) Thank you guys. I also got my lathe up and running today. It is an old Atlas " with a 44" bed and quick change gear box. I played a little bit with it and after not running a lathe for some 20 yrs can still do +_ .001. Not bad for an old fart.)