Last year I purchased the 300blk version of this gun as a suppressor host and to hunt pigs. It has put down several nice hogs but the 7.62x39 version has intrigued me as well. The internet is full of videos and discussions about the accuracy of this gun with steel cased ammo, so I had to try it out for myself. The gun did not disappoint in the accuracy department for sure.

I used 3 different types of Wolf ammo, the classic green box, classic black box and the poly performance. All provided good accuracy. My 300blk has a Leupold XVR Patrol 3x9 and the 7.62x39 has a Vortex Viper PST 1-4. The Vortex 1-4 is perfect for this gun, super fast close up for running pigs and just enough magnification to make longer shots accurately.

The gun functioned perfectly, but the bolt is a little harder to work than on the 300blk. All in all, they are both great guns and for $500, they cannot be beat.

First 5 shots out of the gun at 50yds. Wolf Classic black box



100yds groups









50yd groups

I'm a believer!
Never thought much of that steel cased round. Got a CZ 527 carbine and was amazed at the accuracy. Mags were only 5 rds and pricey so it got traded.

Picked up the ruger. 1x6 scope. Cheap mags, 10 and 20. Hitting steel out to 300yds.

It will smooth out. Great gun and useful cartridge.

That's impressive. I understand that the rifle was designed and billed as being affordable, but it might be within Ruger's reach to give the CZ 527 a run for its money.

The more so, perhaps, since the 527 was recently discontinued and the 600 series that replaced it has apparently had some serious teething problems.

I hunt with a 450 Bushmaster version of the rifle and it is stupidly accurate - and devastating. Have a can in jail and will am intrigues to see how it works.

I was this close to picking up one of these for hog hunting, but I lost the opportunity for frequent hog hunts a few years back.

7.62x39 was a great round for the type of hog hunting I was doing, sub-100 yards in pine forests with dense overgrowth.

Hornady SST was my go-to x39 hunting load, but the older Russian 8M3 hollow points worked well too.

Very good performance. Have you tried the Brown Bear 196 grain subsonic rounds yet?

Thank you, OP, for posting this.
That rifle could be my entry into the 7.62x39 world.

I had the early .300 blk. version with the crappy plastic mags. Sold that and picked up the 7.62x39 version. put a fixed Burris 4x on it. I run a can on it. It's a joy to shoot and plenty accurate. I have some PRVI subsonic ammo that's just as quiet as .300 blk.

So. You people have me intrigued. I want one of these Ruger American rifles. But, I can’t decide what caliber. I am torn between the 300 Blackout and the 7.62x39. I have a .30 caliber can so I got that taken care of. In the Ruger platform which caliber is more accurate/reliable, etc….?

Thanks.

Cool deal

Could you please provide the vortex # off the box

For some additional research please

quote:

Originally posted by TampaSIG:
I hunt with a 450 Bushmaster version of the rifle and it is stupidly accurate - and devastating. Have a can in jail and will am intrigues to see how it works.

Good to hear! I just picked one up in .450bm and have a can already to put on it. Just need to pick up a mount and then figure out what glass I'll top it with.

I've used .450bm for black bear a few times through my 20" Bushy that it was original to but damn, it's heavy to tote around so I'm looking forward to the lightweight portability of this Ruger.

I have one of these in 300blk. The ideal optic for me was one of the Sig BDX scopes. Makes shooting subsonics at distance a breeze, simply hit my target with my LRF and the illuminated dot in the reticle moves to compensate for distance.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
In the Ruger platform which caliber is more accurate/reliable

7.62x39 can rarely be considered an accurate cartridge. Part of this is due to common usage in AKs, which are not considered accurate rifles. Part is due to the FMJ bullets that are commonly loaded.

300 blackout accuracy varies dramatically, depending on the load. I'll put the loads in 3 basic categories -- heavy bullet subsonic, mid-weight FMJ supersonic, lighter quality bullet supersonic.

I find the accuracy of supersonic loads disappointing. The heavy bullets show minimal horizontal wind drift, but their vertical stringing isn't good. At 25 yards accuracy is pretty good, and often at 50 yards. By 100 yards the vertical stringing on targets is often in the WTF category. At 200 yards I've seen keyhole strikes using match-grade bullets.

300 blk FMJ ammo with bullets in the 145-160 grain ballpark show accuracy similar to 55 FMJ in 223 and to 123 FMJ in 7.62x39 -- meaning not very good.

300 blk with quality 110-125 grain bullets is quite accurate in rifles with good chambers and barrels. Accurate loads include 110 Vmax, 110 Barnes, 120 Barnes, and 125 HPBT bullets. If you really want accuracy out of a 300blk, this is it.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
In the Ruger platform which caliber is more accurate/reliable

7.62x39 can rarely be considered an accurate cartridge. Part of this is due to common usage in AKs, which are not considered accurate rifles. Part is due to the FMJ bullets that are commonly loaded.

300 blackout accuracy varies dramatically, depending on the load. I'll put the loads in 3 basic categories -- heavy bullet subsonic, mid-weight FMJ supersonic, lighter quality bullet supersonic.

I find the accuracy of supersonic loads disappointing. The heavy bullets show minimal horizontal wind drift, but their vertical stringing isn't good. At 25 yards accuracy is pretty good, and often at 50 yards. By 100 yards the vertical stringing on targets is often in the WTF category. At 200 yards I've seen keyhole strikes using match-grade bullets.

300 blk FMJ ammo with bullets in the 145-160 grain ballpark show accuracy similar to 55 FMJ in 223 and to 123 FMJ in 7.62x39 -- meaning not very good.

300 blk with quality 110-125 grain bullets is quite accurate in rifles with good chambers and barrels. Accurate loads include 110 Vmax, 110 Barnes, 120 Barnes, and 125 HPBT bullets. If you really want accuracy out of a 300blk, this is it.

Cool. Thanks. Yeah the 7.62x39 doesn’t have the best rep for accuracy however, there is a guy at my range that reloads for a CZ bolt gun in 7.62x39 that is crazy accurate! I was hoping to give him a little competition.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
Yeah the 7.62x39 doesn’t have the best rep for accuracy however, there is a guy at my range that reloads for a CZ bolt gun in 7.62x39 that is crazy accurate! I was hoping to give him a little competition.

If competition for accuracy is the game, 300blk is the better tool. I thought I had target pictures on my thumb drive, but I must have saved them elsewhere. I did a fair amount of load testing a few years ago with my Wilson Combat 300blk AR15 upper with an 11" barrel. Crosswinds were variable in that October & November, and results were telling with ammo types.

ADI's 125 HPBT match load was the most consistent. My best two 5-round groups at 100 yards were .88" and a handful of them were from 1.04" to 1.25". On windy days or when I was an idiot, 1.50" groups occurred. At longer distances I consider vertical variation the important metric, as our open prairie target area is subject to variable winds. At 250 yards during reasonable breezes I saw 5-round verticals of 2.25" to 2.62". At 370 yards the good days I got 4" to 4.25".

Hornady 110 Vmax was more susceptible to the wind. At 250 yards verticals were 2.25" to 3" on reasonable days, but 4" to 4.75" with 14-18 mph cross winds. At 370 yards I got 2.5" to 2.75" vertical when calm, but 4" to 5" with 14-18 mph crosswinds.

A challenge with the light-for-caliber bullets used in supersonic AK & blackout loads is their low ballistic coefficient. Throw in a little wind, and bullets definitely drift.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
Cool. Thanks. Yeah the 7.62x39 doesn’t have the best rep for accuracy however, there is a guy at my range that reloads for a CZ bolt gun in 7.62x39 that is crazy accurate! I was hoping to give him a little competition.

Aha. The "rep" for accuracy comes from Eastern Bloc ammo in AKs and SKSs. There's nothing inherently more accurate about any other cartridge; it's just that the Blackout became popular in a culture that values precision repeatability.

Go online and look at the results some folks have gotten with CZ 527s and Lapua ammo. Factory ammo may or may not be as good in 7.62x39 - I'd recommend trying Sellier & Bellot, American Eagle and any American hunting loads that are of interest to you (Federal in particular) in the Ruger before deciding whether or not the rifle is accurate if that were possible.

If you're willing to handload, the only relevant differences are bullet velocity and bullet weight. If you're sticking with factory ammo then the Blackout may be more accurate.