The Combloc Ammo Reloading Thread

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  • erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    With the unfortunate news about the import situation with regards to former combloc calibers such as 7.62x39, 5.45x39, 7.62x54R, and 9x18, I felt like it might be time to kick open a thread on reloading in these calibers.

    I'll start with some general thoughts.

    7.62x39: Brass ammo is broadly available, which means reloadable brass casings are not super rare (albeit somewhat expensive). What I've discovered is that the projectile situation isn't great. The cheapest FMJ bullet I've found is about 30 cents per bullet. Plus side, you can do some pretty amazing reloads using CFE BLK.

    5.45x39: Dire situation. The only known manufacturer stateside is Hornady, and there's basically one combination of ammo. I've seen some interesting tales of making brass from 222 Remington, but you're firmly in semi-wildcast territory at that point.

    7.62x54R: Not as many sources of reloadable brass as 7.62x39, but still available. Projectile situation isn't great, but is manageable.

    9x18: Brass isn't hard to find. Bullet selection isn't as great as 9mm, but acceptable - worst case, you can always cast your own.

    7.62x25: Honestly don't know much about reloading this caliber. :(
     

    BeoBill

    Crank in the Third Row
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 3, 2013
    27,058
    南馬里蘭州鮑伊
    7.62x25: Honestly don't know much about reloading this caliber. :(

    Star has brass. Doesn't like to run Hollow Points. You can use M-1 carbine bullets in a pinch. AmmoGuide is your best friend. It is possible to mistaken for a Howitzer if properly loaded... :innocent0
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,278
    HoCo
    Get PPU brass boxer primed ammo as you can. If you shoot it but don't reload it, keep it and trade for factory/surplus ammo with reloaders.
    It will be a while before I run out of 7.62x39 at my normal pace of shooting it. I do have dies for it but have not loaded up any test loads (Powder coated cast bullets)
    I"ve already done Mak and Tok years ago so I'm good there.

    For Mak, many people cut 9x19 down, I do so and sharpie black the bases to separate them.
     

    guzma393

    Active Member
    Jan 15, 2020
    736
    Severn, MD
    Desperate times call for desperate measures. Re-primed steel cases using prime-all (yes, it's corrosive but I run these in a stainless steel gun; I make sure to flush out the salts), gas check powder coated casts, and cheapo shooters world blackout powder. Runs decent in my mini30.

    Proof of concept that it works (9 shots, shots were pulling left, mainly tested if reloaded steel cases actually fed and fired).

    1c84937f90e1cdf4c1f467b3b28e762a.jpg


    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    Desperate times call for desperate measures. Re-primed steel cases using prime-all (yes, it's corrosive but I run these in a stainless steel gun; I make sure to flush out the salts), gas check powder coated casts, and cheapo shooters world blackout powder. Runs decent in my mini30.
    What bullets are those? Been thinking about trying to get some 200gr projos going in mine, but that's kinda off the charts in terms of most manuals.
     

    guzma393

    Active Member
    Jan 15, 2020
    736
    Severn, MD
    What bullets are those? Been thinking about trying to get some 200gr projos going in mine, but that's kinda off the charts in terms of most manuals.
    Lee 312/160/2r casts, powder coated with Eastwood lime green and gas checked with 30 cal sage outdoors GC's. Made 1k of them yesterday in light of the news.

    8cf47452cc67c0cc42aabaf265a5366d.jpg


    Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,729
    Socialist State of Maryland
    OP, skip the 7.62x25 and look for a 9mm barrel for your combloc gun. They made them for Tokerev and CZ52.

    In the late sixties, we reloaded for the 7.62x25 for some Tok bring backs. We used .222 cases and I think, 88 grain .32 ACP bullets. It was a pain in the ass to crimp those little bullets. We used modified 7.62 Mauser dies which worked out ok. I wouldn't do it again like that though. Too much work and the damn cases flew all over the place. :mad54:
     
    Last edited:

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    OP, skip the 7.62x25 and look for a 9mm barrel for your combloc gun. They made them for Tokerev and CZ52.
    I bought a 9mm conversion barrel for my Polish Tok when I had one, but then I sold it and got out of the 7.62x25 game entirely a number of years ago. There was like one month when basically the entire supply of 7.62x25 Tok got bought up and the market never recovered. This was way before I reloaded, of course.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Star has brass. Doesn't like to run Hollow Points. You can use M-1 carbine bullets in a pinch. AmmoGuide is your best friend. It is possible to mistaken for a Howitzer if properly loaded... :innocent0

    If you don’t try to reload it hot, my little experience with 7.62x25 is plated 110gr M1 carbine bullets work really well loaded soft. I get 100% function at around 1050fps out of my M57 using 4.4gr or Bullseye. I want to try to work up a load of CFE Pistol. A somewhat slower powder would probably work a ton better. The little I’ve looked at GRT I could probably get it up around 1250fps without pressure issues with CFE Pistol. Likely higher.

    Anyway, very easy to load with them and all I want is holes in paper. The 85gr 30 Mauser bullets I have don’t really like being loaded. The crimp ring doesn’t want to be crimped in to so much. Anyway, I can get them to work okay. But I need a better 85 or 90gr bullet before I am willing to turn up the heat with H110.

    I’ve got a few hundred rounds of Geco I can reload the cases with. About 600 cases of Starline. I’d just gotten 500 about a month ago. MBC coated lead work just dandy. I haven’t tried Berry’s yet, but, I see no reason to think they wouldn’t work well. I run it with Bullseye also.

    You could get 7.62x39 bullets inexpensively. There just haven’t been any available for months now. Going rate when they WERE around seemed to be around 17-20cpb.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    OP, skip the 7.62x25 and look for a 9mm barrel for your combloc gun. They made them for Tokerev and CZ52.

    In the late sixties, we reloaded for the 7.62x25 for some Tok bring backs. We used .222 cases and I think, 88 grain .32 ACP bullets. It was a pain in the ass to crimp those little bullets. We used modified 7.62 Mauser dies which worked out ok. I wouldn't do it again like that though. Too much work and the damn cases flew all over the place. :mad54:

    PS I think why I’ll likely reload 110s for my Tok. Dialed in at 4.4gr of BE and I doesn’t send cases hurtling like commercial loads do. Even mild commercial loads. I mean, yeah they still go a decent distance. But they don’t go in to the next county.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,729
    Socialist State of Maryland
    PS I think why I’ll likely reload 110s for my Tok. Dialed in at 4.4gr of BE and I doesn’t send cases hurtling like commercial loads do. Even mild commercial loads. I mean, yeah they still go a decent distance. But they don’t go in to the next county.

    We literally had to put a 14x24 tarp out if we want to find our brass. Fun days. :lol:
     

    Rocinante

    Active Member
    Jul 19, 2018
    182
    Eastern Shore
    Not a reloader, but I can offer some insight into alternate ammo and component sources.

    7.62x39: Former Yugoslavia was one of the few, if the only, Eastern Bloc countries to use brass casings over steel. It's corrosive, but you can convert the casings from berdan to boxer. A lot of this surplus ammo went on the market last year. PPU, S&B, Fiocchi, PMC, and Winchester make new-production ammo as well.

    5.45x39 is now officially dead in the states. Unless Romania picks up the tab and gets an importer, I know of no alternate sources over OP's. Personally, I wouldn't hope for Bulgaria or Ukraine to pick up the tab- both countries no longer have interest in the cartridge. Romania seems to be the only country left willing to produce (they still officially use 5.45 AKs but are transitioning away to ARX-160 and 5.56 for the army).

    7.62x54R: Going back to Yugoslavia, surplus berdan brass is still available as are new production PPU brass in both berdan and boxer primed. The new military surplus ammo is berdan, the commercial (usually in the blue box) is boxer. As for the projectiles, Finland uses a proprietary cartridge, 7.62x53R for their DMRs. Unlike 54R which uses .311 projectiles (because of how Russians measure bore), 53R uses a .308. 53R is completely interchangeable with 54R so long as the rifle you feed it is chambered in 54R (or has the hybrid "D" barrel on Finn mosins). Given this, I would assume one can reload PPU brass to 53R spec as opposed to 54R. Mosin bore diameters vary greatly, so if your bore diameter is closer to .312+, you can probably supplement .303 Brit projectiles to make up for the loss of accuracy with .308 projectiles.

    9x18: S&B, Norma, Mesko, and PPU make new brass cased Mak ammo. All three to my knowledge are boxer primed. The projectile is .363, so I do not know where to source them.

    7.62x25: PPU makes both boxer brass 7.62x25 and 7.63x25 Mauser. 7.63 Mauser is completely interchangeable in a Tokarev-chambered gun, with the exception of the VZ.52 pistol- 7.63 will not reliably cycle due to lower pressure. Fiocchi also makes new 7.63 Mauser. There's also some Yugo berdan 7.62x25 still floating around, could probably convert that as well. Reforming .223 brass is also an option but much more work is required.

    EDIT: Company in Poland I've never heard of, Mesko, apparently makes new brass 9x18, 7.62x54R, and 7.62x39 both in brass and steel. I don't know what primer they use but looks like they have a back seat but steady presence on the market.
     
    Last edited:

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    Jacketed for 9x 18 probably SOL for the imeadate future . Several of the small to mid sized commercial casting outfits offer cast bullets .

    X39 and x54 R have multiple source of brass boxer , but that's a different catagory than the cheap ( former) commie steel blasting ammo .

    X54R will be better for bullet availability , as the diameter overlaps with .303 Brit .
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    No , actual Russia . Potentially other former Soviet influenced countries with a current arms industry could respond to the sudden market vacuum .

    But the days of dirt cheap ammo have disappeared for foreseeable future .

    The cheap Russian steel ammo was a mixed blessing . It was cheap while it lasted . But US mfgs couldn't compete on price for blasting ammo , so only made/ sold modest quantity of hunting ammo , at full price , and aren't tooled up for mass production .

    At the moment , all the US and US focused Mfgs are selling everything they make , as fast as they make it , and focused on q handful of calibers at that . They're going to catch up with half dozen or so big sellers , and part way down into their mid list calibers , before taking on new to them cals .
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    Someday I plan on playing with cast bullets and the C. E. Lewis "The Load" for my Mosin sniper.

    Should be good for 100 yard vintage sniper matches.
     

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