Target Sports

MODERN MILITARY MASTERPIECES: WAR AND GLORY

Created on 14th May 2009

LAURIE HOLLAND tells the history of the 7.62X39mm M43, made in large quantities after WW2 and adopted by scores of countries

THE GERMAN 7.92x33mm came first, but the Russians set the pace after WW2 with their 7.62x39mm M43 cartridge for the SKS and AK47 rifles and the RPD light machine-gun. Although little known here, Sergey Simonov's SKS carbine with its traditional one-piece stock and fixed 10-round magazine preceded the Kalashnikov by a few years. It was made in huge numbers with tooling provided to China and Soviet-bloc satellites. The cartridge and its various weapons have since been adopted by many scores of other countries worldwide, although Finland was the sole major western user.

Notorious

During the Cold War, vast numbers of these weapons were sold cheaply or given free to client states, insurgent groups and anybody who might assist Marxist-Leninist world domination through force. With IRA, Black September and similar terrorist connections, the AK got a very bad press in the west. British media and establishment hostility was further fuelled by the Hungerford mass-murder featuring a legally owned example. Few Americans were fans, but here it was because the rifle was ‘crude and inaccurate' and sullied by its communist connection. Servicemen bringing souvenirs home from Vietnam and elsewhere, and the end of the Cold War, softened American attitudes. The big change here, though, was Sturm-Ruger adopting the cartridge for its Mini-30 sporting rifle causing Federal, PMC, Remington, and Winchester to start ammunition production. In recent years, dirt-cheap Chinese Type 56 (SKS) rifles and cartridges have flooded some countries, bought by farmers, Sporting and plinking shooters, especially in Australia (imports since banned) and America. In Western Europe, Sellier & Bellot, Prvi-Partizan, and Lapua produce the cartridge.

Banana form

This is a short, steeply tapered rimless design, COAL set at 55.6mm (2.19") with a case-length of 38.35mm (1.51"). Unlike the 7.92x33mm and 7.62x51mm, which used the Mauser 12mm/0.473" case-head, the Russian cartridge is a smaller 11.28mm/0.444". This is uncommon, but not unique; it appears to have been copied from the Italian 6.5x52mm via a secret German Gustav Genschow & Co AG cartridge that was not adopted. The body has a marked taper, losing nearly 50 thou diameter in just over an inch and its shallow (17º) shoulder angle gives ultra-reliable feed and extraction. This degree of taper gives the signature ‘banana form' AK47 magazine. Military ammunition is supplied in 10-round charger clips that slot into the SKS action and AK magazine for rapid filling. Their cases are Berdan primed and made of steel, with some Chinese exceptions. A copper or brass wash may be used on the case, but most seen here have a grey or green-brown lacquer coating. Despite the small case and powder charge, large primers are the norm for reliable ignition in Arctic temperatures, an exception being UMC (Remington) commercial examples with a small type.

The Russians designate the calibre as 7.62mm, but as with the older 7.62x54R employ bullet and barrel dimensions that would be classed as 0.303"/7.7mm elsewhere; the 123gn bullet is 0.311". The military ball version has a slight boat-tail and uses a mild steel core inside a lead sheath. These are contained within a copper or copper alloy-washed mild steel jacket. The core material regularly sees the cartridges described as ‘armour-piercing,' as in HM Chief Inspector of Police's Hungerford review. This is incorrect, however, as AP ball uses hardened ‘penetrators.' Commercial ammunition employs boxer primed brass cases and flat-base lead-core gilding metal bullets, sticking with large primers.

Ball powders are the norm in military loads, the Russian specification calling for 24.7gn of SSNF 50 propellant. This produces 2,300fps MV for 1,480ft/lb ME, although much East European stuff is ‘hotter,' giving up to 200fps more. The cartridge has a reputation for greater terminal effectiveness than its 5.56 NATO opponent, as well as penetrating obstacles better, but the military bullet rarely tumbles and doesn't break up. The wound track is narrow, closer to that of a small-calibre pistol bullet than a high-velocity rifle projectile. A combination of cartridge materials, weapons that achieve their legendary reliability through internal looseness, and rainbow-form bullet trajectory have given it a reputation for poor accuracy, but Lapua cartridges provide 1-1.5MOA 100yd groups in the Cz527 bolt-action carbine.

Plagiarised?

With the M43 having a similar form and identical ballistics to the German 7.92x33mm, it is usually assumed the Russians plagiarised this design from captured rifles and ammunition. This doesn't appear to be true, as serious work on ‘intermediate' cartridges and light automatic rifles began around 1938. This was suspended after the 1941 German invasion, but resumed two years later as the tide of war turned in the USSR's favour. Cartridges were available in time for Simonov to finalise his SKS-45g design during 1944/45. In 1974, the AK47 and M43 were superseded in front-line service by the AK74 and 5.45x39mm M74 7N6 cartridge, a complete redesign, not a necked-down M43. 7.62mm rifles and ammunition are now held as ‘reserve' supplies for the Russian Federation armed forces.

MODERN MILITARY MASTERPIECES: WAR AND GLORY

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MODERN MILITARY MASTERPIECES: WAR AND GLORY

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