The 7.62x39mm cartridge, also known as the 7.62 Soviet, is a great cartridge. It is widely available, usually very affordable, and useful for a whole lot of shooting applications and disciplines.
On that note, let’s take a look at some of the best uses for 7.62 full metal jacket ammo.
Training and Drilling
If you’re teaching a new shooter the ropes, 7.62 full metal jacket makes a great option for training and drilling.
It is lightweight, affordable, and produces relatively low recoil, making it ideal as a “beginner’s” centerfire cartridge.
This makes it great for drilling, teaching, and just generally training at the range.
Competition
A 7.62 full metal jacket round is a great cartridge for competition, especially up close, as long as the ammo is reliable, accurate, and non-corrosive.
At close ranging, this is a solid cartridge for competition like 3-gun, especially considering its cost and availability.
Target Shooting, Plinking, Range Therapy
This is arguably the chief, best use of 7.62 full metal jacket ammo. High-volume target shooting, plinking, range therapy – they’re all great uses for this cartridge.
You don’t need stellar accuracy for this, and the low cost, low recoil, and wide availability of 7.62 Soviet makes it a good choice for this application.
Just make sure you buy a reputable round, with non-corrosive primers and propellant. Also, if you’re looking to drive down costs further, consider shooting a steel-cased variant, like TulAmmo.
What Is 7.62 Full Metal Jacket Not Good for?
Equally as important as what 7.62 full metal jacket is useful for is what you should not use it for, so we would be remiss if we didn’t mention this.
Here are some of the things you should definitely not use 7.62 FMJ for.
Hunting
As a general rule, FMJ ammo is designed for stability and accuracy, not for controlled expansion on contact with a soft target.
Now, to be quite transparent: this cartridge is a great one for pursuing small and medium game. It’s just that a full metal jacket bullet is not useful for this application.
FMJ ammo produces a risk of overpenetration, not to mention the fact that it also doesn’t generate the best stopping power.
Defensive Applications
As with hunting, 7.62 Soviet is a great cartridge for defensive applications – this was developed as an intermediate cartridge for the Red Army, after all.
But, full metal jacket? No dice. In a cartridge of this caliber, it produces far too much risk of overpenetration, not to mention the fact that most energy will be wasted.
If you’re going to use this cartridge for any sort of defensive application, it only makes sense that you use a round with a hollow point bullet.
Long-Range Shooting
Now this one has nothing to do with full metal jacket bullets. In fact, full metal jacket ammo, or even OTM, or open-tip match ammo, is great for long-range shooting.
But 7.62 Soviet? Just don’t waste your time. As an intermediate cartridge, this one is good for up-close competition and sporting applications – with an appropriate bullet.
It just drops way too much past 200 yards to make it a suitable long-range cartridge. Choose another one of similar caliber with a flatter trajectory, like .223 or 5.56.
Where to Get 7.62 Full Metal Jacket Ammo Online?
Ready to stock up on 7.62 full metal jacket to fuel your competition shooting, training, and range therapy?
Get it online at Bucking Horse Outpost. They carry a wide range of popular calibers, including 7.62x39mm, from top brands, much of it priced very competitively. They also offer a number of bulk ammo deals as well as police trade-in specials so don’t miss a chance to check these out.
For more information about Green Tip 5.56 and Lake City Ammo please visit:- Bucking Horse Outpost
