Do you guys that shoot these shoot the cheap steel case ammo and how does it function?

I'll be able to tell you in a month or two. I'm going to upload a range report to YouTube when I get my upper built and I'll post it here.

My personal experience with x39 ARs is admittedly limited, but it directly contradicts a lot of the naysayers on arfcom, for example.

A common theme with x39 bolts for the AR is that they will fail at the lugs since it's just a 5.56 bolt that has been milled out to accept the larger casing, which weakens the webbing between the lugs. If you're a hunter or just poking around for fun, that's probably not such a huge deal and keeping an extra $60 bolt in the grip pretty much solves that problem. If you want to depend on the weapon to kill someone or something that may be trying to kill you, you probably want to call LMT or ARP to see if they have any more 7.62x39 bolts. I think ARP is getting completely out of the x39 business, but the most recent report I have heard is that LMT may be able to find one in the back if you call and ask really nicely.

In any event, FMJs, hollowpoints and tipped bullets seem to do fine. Soft points seem to be problematic for some. Wear and tear between steel case and brass case seems to be about the same, steel case is dirtier.

I shoot the cheap steel case stuff in mine, its always 100%. The steel case 154 grain soft points expand great and work for the pigs.

I would never own one of those evil black rifles But a "friend's" Bushmaster one runs the steel ammo great. Haven't seen any issues as long as the ammo actually goes bang. I've had a few wolf rounds that were duds. Good firing pin dent, but no joy. My wife prefers I use the steel case so I actually get all of the cases out of the yard after practice. I use a nail magnet to pick them all up.

It sounds like your wife likes your friends "Bushmaster". And with a name like "LittleFrank", not sure i can blame her.

Barnaul, Wolf, Herters, whatever....100%. But mine has the special firing pin for 7.62x39.

Other shooters who've experienced misfires have solved that issue by putting in a stronger hammer spring (or buying the firing pin).

My first one liked everything but Wolf HPs.
Of course I had spam cans full of Wolf HPs at the time...
Trying again with different barrel/bolt/mags but collecting parts right now is kinda hit and miss...mostly miss!

How is you accuracy compared to an ak? I ask because I have a few and I'm thinking of letting one go to buy another upper.

much laughter

X2

My friends bolt on his 7.62 upper was trashed this weekend. All the locking lugs were ripped off. I would go ahead a purchase a 300 blackout or a saiga 107-c ak.

I have an oly arms with 16" bull barrel and it shoots 1" groups with cheap stuff. Eats it up with no issues.

I put the 7.62 upper on my DPMS AR over 4 months ago and have been shooting whatever I can find with no problems. I have both 30 and 10 round mags and a red dot. With the cost of .223 ammo, I can like it, like it alot.

Or an LMT bolt... I called Lewis Machine & Tool about five minutes ago and bought one over the phone. Pretty expensive for an AR bolt, but a lot cheaper than a 300 BO upper AND I have lots of 7.62x39 ammo.

I had a few hiccups with my bushmaster, but found that the "Special" firing pin, and keeping it clean has cleared up all the problems.

I much prefer it to the mouse gun for my hunting/blasting. I don't even break out the AK much anymore. Better optics and handling/ ergonomics.

5.45 upper is where its at

Got me a Spikes melonited with nickle boron bcg. It is nice and ammo is cheaper than 5.56 and 7.62x39 when and if you can find 7n6 surplus

I had one an gave up on it. Had the firing pin assembly switched out. It was a custom build and everything was properly put together by my smith. It was finicky, but accurate. I know guys with pws 7.62 uppers and run like a machine theirs was piston mine wasn't, but I doubt that was the cause. I've heard mixed reviews beside my own. If you do get one stick with a reputable brand they seem to work better. I do own a 300 blk out and we chrono'd a friends hand loads and did some quick load stuff. With the lighter pills he's duplicating the 7.62x39 plus with a 1-8 twist he has a large variety of pills. I'm glad I choose the 300 blk out, but if your set on a 7.62 make sure u do the firing pin swap.

The 7.63x39 doesn't suffer from accuracy problems.
Mine were as accurate as the 300BOs I had at the same time.
When the second bolt spit lugs, I abandoned the project.
Later, I found the ARP superbolt and am just waiting on a bolt carrier to complete another one.

Dropping to lighter bullets to bring the 300BO up to speed FPS wise of a 7.62x39 doesn't gain anything.
If you want speed, accuracy, knockdown AND range from an AR platform, 6.8x43 is the only way to go.
The 223 will have more speed, but lacks knockdown.
The 450 and bigger will have knockdown but no speed or range.
The 300 BO works well suppressed shooting feral cats in the back yard.....LOL!!!
The 6.8 will launch a 95gr TTSX near 3000 FPS, is accurate as anything in that platform, drops pigs right there and still has a legitimate 300 plus yard range.

Found this post on another site about steel cased ammo in the AR specifically 5.56. But it might translate to the 7.62x39 steel cased ammo.

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

In summary the case doesnt damage the gun its the Russian bullets alloy jacket that reduces barrel life. In reference to dirty powder it seems because the barrels dont wear at the same rate the bear and wolf shot barrels lost pressure due to wear and thus didnt burn powder as well in the neighborhood of 5000's of rounds of use. By 6000 rounds the wolf and bear shot barrels where beyond minimum milspec for muzzle velocity.

With the cost of barrels vs. the cost difference of 1000's of quality jacketed bullets, it seems a wash. The question changes to, when do you want to spend the money, on the front end or the back.

The next thought is how much ammo are you actually going to shoot? And if you dont torture the gun like they did in the test then the Russian ammo is really a bargain and sufficiently acceptable. IMHO

My initial range report. Some things surprised me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma7tQ4kS_xU

I ran a DPMS Sportacle 7.62x39 upper last summer without many issues. I originally had light-strikes on TulAmmo, but replaced the firing pin with one suggested on another forum and never had a problem again. I did end up selling the upper off when I got a converted Saiga. I just liked the Saiga better.

And that could be exacerbated on a X39 if the bore is .308" and not .311", like old Mini-30s.

I just took my new one to the range yesterday.
I think this one is a keeper folks!

I did change a few things this time around:
16" stainless barrel with mid-length gas system to smooth it out - last one was carbine length.
ARP Superbolt in a Fail Zero XO BC in auto weight.
Rifle length ACE Skeleton stock with rifle buffer.
Using 10 round AR Stoner magazines, it feeds nicely, even the Wolf HPs that had been problem children in my others.

Using a simple 6x scope and a laser boresighter, I was within 1/2 of perfect before first shot at 50 yards.
After some adjusting, I moved out to 100 yards and was shooting nice 1.5" groups with standard Wolf FMJs and HPs.
After I was happy with the zero, I procedeed to ring the steel gongs with another 20 rounds of Wolf HP.

I'm really happy with this one!
The combination of mid gas, heavy bolt carrier and rifle length stock/buffer really smoothed it out.

It is certainly accurate enough and should work well on pigs with either FMJs or HPs.

That's pretty similar to my setup. 16" with mid-length gas. I wanted the ARP bolt but couldn't find one within what I considered an acceptable timeframe so I called Lewis Machine & Tool to see if they had anymore of their x39 bolts. They did.

Are you running an AR15 bolt carrier? The carrier I have in mine right now is actually the M16 configuration and I'm wondering if the AR carrier wouldn't remediate some short-stroking that I observed with Wolf SPs.

I'm a very happy camper at this point. I think I'm going to lock this one down with my night scope and zero it at 50 yards. Perfect for those purposes.

I'm running a M16/FA BC on this one.
Haven't tried any Wolf SPs yet but have some Norinco SPs that I can try out.
Are you sure it's short stroking?
My first couple would not feed Wolf HPs because the HP would dig into the feedramps.

I also had feeding problems with the 110gr soft tips in a 300 Blackout I had until I shortened the OAL down to 1.90 to clear the tips.

After you chamber a SP, pull it out before you shoot it and check the soft lead tip on the bullet and see if it's hitting the feed ramps.

I'm very happy this one feeds HPs as I have spam cans full of it I use in my SKSs!