If you must shoot and worship AK's like Brandon Herrera then maybe this caliber is interesting to you. Ok - maybe it's a good cartridge. Maybe even in its "Da! Good!" way, a great round.
The 7.62x39 is the Soviet Union's 1943 intermediate cartridge, carried around the world by the SKS and the aforementioned AK-47 — the most-produced rifle family in human history. In America it built its whole reputation on cheap imported rifles and super cheap steel-case ammunition. Then the rule changes came and rearranged the map. Supply shifted to often changing overseas producers and also to American brass-case lines. Prices moved, too.
The standard load is a 122 or 123 grain FMJ. Soft points in the same weight class do honest work on hogs and deer inside woods ranges, in roughly .30-30 territory.
Steel case remains the value play where you can find it. Steel availability is not like the old days, friends. Brass costs more and buys you reloadability and range compliance. Watch the rounds-per-case number in this caliber — it ships in everything from 20-round boxes to 1,000-round crates, and the sticker price means nothing until you divide (or multiply).
