7.62x39

I’m not a fan of AKs, but feel like I need to own one in that caliber. I’ve got plenty of lowers I could throw an upper on. Should I just buy an upper and a few mags, or just buy an AK and throw it in the safe? Pros and cons?

I’m an Ak guy. ARs don’t do anything for me. I grew up watching action movies, so I think AKs are sexy.

I have an SKS I literally never shoot. I see very little to like about 7.62x39

I'm a fan of the 7.63x39 and it has become one of my favorite deer and hog cartridges. I have owned a number of rifles chambered in the cartridge but have two that will stick with me; a Ruger Mini-30 and a Savage 10FCM Scout. They both have a .308" groove diameter so I use .308' jacketed bullets. They are great short-action South Texas hunting rifles.

Buy an AK. As long as you choose well, it will always increase in value. An AK can and will shoot with good hunting accuracy with open sights. The bad reputation is mostly made up.

Talk about boring...can't get more boring than a 7.62X39 AR-15 style rifle.

Now I want a mini-30 too. Blued and wood please.

The AR-15 rifle chambered in 7.62X39 may be more accurate than many AKs and is a less expensive round than the 300 BO.

The round is great for Texas deer as well as pigs and will turn a jihadist into jelly. But AKs are very cool as well. I'm a fan of the Saigas but they are stupid expensive now.

The only reason I ever considered 7.62x39 is the ability to collect large quantities of ammo cheap.

AK or Sks, or bolt gun. I run all 3 in 762x39. Love them all, sks for the kids especially. Palmetto GF3 AKs are where it's at for the $, forged trunion and bolt for 600$ and all USA made. Stay away from Gen 1 & 2 palmettos though if you look on the used market

You may want to consider a CMMG Mutant. They are, imo, the best of both worlds in regards to semi auto mag fed commie x 39 options.

I do not cross the streams.

ARs are for standard Millspec 5.56 bolts and STANAG pattern mags. I’ve had 100 x39 variants cross my hands over the years and not a single one has ran flawlessly or been durable enough to count on shooting up my stash of ammo after the rest of the calibers stashes disappear. The converted AR15 Bolt faces are too thin, they have regular extractor failures, the magazines are hit and miss, and the gas systems are not conducive to running moderate amounts of old surplus comblock ammo and cheap imported steel case ammo.

AKs are reliable and accurate enough for any mid range use but they are unforgiving ergonomically and for reliably mounting optics of most sorts.

I ran through the Sig x39 options and toyed with a couple newer guicci guns before settling on the Mutant. It checked all the boxes for AR ergonomics and optic mounting options and it uses surplus/magpul AK pattern mags. It does have a non standard AR type bolt and carrier but I accept it because it is a beefier ar10 type bolt with extra material on the bolt face vs an ar15 weakened by milling it out to fit a x39 case.

I ran several hundred rounds of at least a dozen and a half types of ammo through my first one before grabbing a couple more rifles to squirrel away.

Now I just need to come up with a CZ x39 bolt gun and have a 5.45x39 bolt gun built and I’ll be set for the rest of my life.

7.62x39 in most AKs or SKSs shoot 4" to pie plate groups at 100 yards.
I did say MOST, not all...before you get too excited and yes, I do own both.
Most ARs chambered in 7.62x39 shoot 1.5" groups and quite a few hover around 1" at 100 yards.
A real bonus for old eyes is you can actually solidly and reliably mount optics to an AR.

You can do the optics part with the AK too.

OP, I would say buy the PSA AK.

I just bought my first 7.62 x 39 AR from Bear Creek Arsenal. 10.5" pistol. The price was right so I grabbed one. Shot it for the first time this weekend and was impressed. Only one misfire out of about 100 rounds of some good cheap Global Ordinance Ammo ($12 a box). Looking forward to see what it does to a hog.

Just an inexpensive Bear Creek Arsenal 16" upper. Did some testing, and this was the best load. Not bad for what it is, in my opinion. Vertical spread 1 1/16" at 200Y

Galil ACE is a good option for decent accuracy and dead nutz reliability.

Ive run a couple ARs in 7.62x39 and they are very hit or miss on reliability. Now I only run 7.62x39 in AKs and 5.56 in ARs the way they were intended.

If I were you, Id look hard at a non-US AK. I have a feeling the prices will continue to climb and they wont even be any option one day. Just 1 stroke of the pen and Saigas went from low demand sporter AKs to what they are now.

THIS

Glad I got my Yugo O-PAP cheap when I did because it tripled in price shortly after. I sold the only 7.62X39 AR I ever had before I shot it.

Mini 30

I think it is a great idea to have an upper in 7.62. Why not. Good round for hogs and deer at close ranges and like you said cheap to shoot.

A nice AK is very sexy!. I am having a good time learning about them now after acquiring a few.

Im still working on my 545 at this point but the 762 is next. I have to say the accuracy on my first range trip with the 74 sucked and it wasn't what I was expecting at all. We will see what happens on the next range trip with a different optic

I've bought and sold a bunch of AKs, just never found one that was anywhere close to accurate in my hands.

I've owned a few ARs in 7.62x39 and I've found the best reliability comes with the shorter mags, and even the worst one shot better than the best AK for me.

Since I'm not a huge fan of the longer curved mags, it hasn't been a problem for me. 15 round mags work great in my guns, both the 7.62 and Grendel, so that is my max load. I have ARs and SBRs in 5.56 and .300 AAC for any situations that might prompt me to use a 30rd mag.

Not really a fan of the AK platform but I have a couple PWS 7.62x39 AR’s that have been nothing but reliable. If you haven’t heard of PWS you should check them out. They use a long stroke piston similar to an AK and are probably one of the nicest shooting rifles that I own.

Yeah, PWS is the only 7.62x39 AR I'd ever consider. Top quality. The Bear Creek and Radical ones are junk.