5.45x39 cartridge?

[gunneyrabbit]

OK guys, I'm the first to admit I don't know beans about rifle caliber bullets. If it's not the .223, 308, 7.62x39 or 7.62x54 I'm lost.
Recently I've seen adds about the 5.45x39 caliber cartridge, what is it?
A jazzed up .22 ?
Looking foreword to your tutorial.
G.R.

[juniustaylor]

You shoot it out of an AK-74... not an AK-47, an AK-74. It was introduced in 1974 and supplemented the 7.62x39mm cartridge and then mostly replaced it. www.wikipedia.com

[gunneyrabbit]

juniustaylor, thanks for the heads up, did I understand you correctly that it replaced the 7.62x39 cartridge?
Thank you in advance for the information.
G.R.

[juniustaylor]

The article I read stated that it had largely replaced the 7.62x39mm in service.

It's from wikipedia... so all info isn't necessarily 100% true in every case. However, for what it's worth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45x39mm

I'm sure more research would yield better results. I was getting ready for work and simply posted what I read.

[gunneyrabbit]

juniustaylor, thanks again for the information.
G.R.

[dfunk]

S&W makes an M&P rifle for this cartridge, too.
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... tegory_rn=
I think I'd rather have a 7.62x39 round over the 5.45

[rottenrick]

I have three rifles for the 7.62x39. The soviets are reverting to it, sometimes like we will revert to the 7.62x51 Nato. Two sks's and a Amd-65 is enough for me. The price seems good, depending on who assembles the rifle. Ammo is still pretty cheep, and just found a site that offers 5.45x39 softpoints, still cheap at 30 rds a box. I could just as easily talk myself out of it though, with the new Yugoslav ammo coming into the country, while not cheap is better than Wolf.

[Arik]

Overall its a lot like the 223/5.56. Low recoil, small cal, fast, meant to transfer all its energy inside soft tissue. Has a hollow cavity in the tip forcing the bullet to drop once it hits soft tissue. Afghans called it the poison bullet for its ability to enter the chest and come out the ass ripping through everything along the way. Think of it as acting like a miniature buzz saw. More accurate than the x39 but it wont win you any competitions.

Its drawbacks are ...
.It only works when it works. Meaning that if it goes through and through there isnt much stopping power.
.Barriers pose a problem for it too.
.Cant reload. That I'm aware off
.Not a lot of ammo options. Not every store carries it. If you have to order the price comes out to about the same as the 5.56
.Surplus IS corrosive. If that bothers you

[gunneyrabbit]

Arik, sounds like a cartridge I'll stay away from. I think I'll stick with an AK 47 or variant.
G.R.

[manicmechanic]

My Tantal, AK74, fires that round and I don't think you'll find a better deal on ammo for a rifle than this, unless your shooting a 22. Aim has a good deal on shipping too. As far as corrosive ammo, just clean it soon after shooting, or what I do is fire 10+ rounds of non-corrosive to blow out the majority of the salts at the end of my range day, this gives me a longer window, 2-3days, before I have to clean it.
http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=A54539R

[rottenrick]

I'm having a hard time with the issue of Century building these rifles. They've gotten some bad pr concerning quality issues. Any thoughts guys?? Maybe a Tantal would be better, or an Arsenal model, but price whew!! Guess you get what you pay for though. Any bad luck with Century period??