First- aviable in 7.62X39
It an excelent deer rifle for buhs unthing were I often hunt.
the 7.62X39 can be a perfect predators rifle as it cause less domage to fur for those who sell their pelts

Second-As for accrucy this calibre is well capable insid the 300 yards.
with a simple Norinco SkS iron siht I did an average of 1.5 inch at 100yards using diferent ammo. militaries as well as winchester comercial load.
I also fire in the 2″ with norinco MK90 the canadien version had come with 19″ medium HB use on RPK and forged reciver insted of stnaping.

Third- as for the 8.5 pond it not much hevier than many 30-06 or 300mg.

Fort- as coming dress as a taget barel as is name indicat T for tactical and many information on urban police sniper senario are often withing 50 t0 75 yards the 7.62X39 wold be a great asset for light baricade like glase window in situation like ostage taking.

Fisty- The s=sporter for a good predators rifle precision is well comming as the 7.62X39 well reloded or good grade comercial lod can give real precision to the demander and the good punch to the criter to avoid an useless sufring to coytes or wolf,

so whant a rifle capable than more than we usely need, I mean good precision excelent for sporting as is name said tactical sporting rifle. it come in sort action if you prefere the .223 remington.

But if you prefre lighter you have choice betwen the CZ527, the new Remington 799 made also in Europe, to by aslo Ruger77 I just read recently that Ruger was comming back with it as well, or semiauto, CZ58, the old SKS, or AK model, Also come if you still find the VZ52, Hakings made in Egyt, other option will be to buy T/C centre and buy a separat barel for it in 7.62X39 the advantage of that last one is that you can buy diferent set of barel insted of diferent rifle.

To finish I will said that the FN STR USA is a more than welcome adition.
ready out of the factorie for the task you whant from a rifle of this category.

Though like other NORINCOs it will probably be getting re-branded as a Poly Technologies for the next shipment if they decide to continue on with it.

They were selling for around $275 new but aren’t available right now. People seemed to think they were a good value.

Bench rest shooting is about a perfect combination of ballistic components at set ranges that are relatively short. The 6mm PPC might be great for the highly unrealistic and totally impractical sport of benchrest shooting, but you bring one to a NRA highpower match, and you’ll get eaten alive at 600 yards. Why? Because why it’s a very accurate cartridge, that accuracy is at a given range. A short range. At longer ranges, the .243 or .244 Remington are much better choices. Accuracy is about consistency, and the short fat powder column burns powder with great consistency, but not much of it. That’s why it’s a short range number for benchrest shooting ONLY, not highpower, or Sniping, or anything else.

You stick a 240 grain VLD bullet from Berger or JLK on top of a 7.62×39 case in a heavy barreled rifle, it will shoot as well as nearly any cartridge out there at a given range in a gun of similar design. Accuracy is about Ballistic Coefficients and barrel harmonics, that is bullet design and rifle design, not cartridge design people.

The .22 Long Rifle is an extremely inefficient and inaccurate design, but it’s used in Olympic shooting competition. There are entire sports set up around shooting small bore, and an outside lubricated, heal-type bullet is about as far as you can get from a jacketed, bottlenecked, high pressure, centerfire. I guess those Olympic grade .22s are really inaccurate.

Nobody on this post is going to demand more accuracy from a bolt-gun than this rifle in this caliber is capable of delivering, and if they do, they either compete, or they get their guns issued, so it’s a no brainer.

Seems as though this paticalur post on the up and coming FN bolt rifle has turned into subject on accuracy. Specifically the accuracy or inaccuracy of the 7.62X39. I agree that cheap/bulk steel cased ammo would not be as accurate as match grade or premium ammo. And definately not as accurate as a methodically worked up handload. This would apply to any caliber of cartridge. However, the fact of the matter is some cartridges are inherently more accurate than others. This has little to do with velocity, caliber, OAL, powder, primer, type of bullet or the brand of brass that is used. It has everything to do with the dimensions and properties of the cartridge at hand. Take for example the 6mm PPC. Ironically the 7.62X39 is the 6mm PPC’s parent cartridge. It was developed from the ground up for nothing more than accuracy. And it’s designers, Ferris Pindell and Dr. Louis Palmisano, suceeded tremendously. The 6mm PPC has PROVEN itself to be the most accurate cartdrige ever to be developed. Today the “six” holds more records than any other cartridge. The .243 Winchester and the 6mm Remington shoot the same diameter bullet, but they couldn’t even come close to the same level of accuracy as the “six”, regardless of the powder/bullet/primer combination. The reason? Cartridge design. Which brings me to this unfortunate conclusion. The 7.62X39 has an extremely inefficient cartidge design, which is why it is a true ‘pie plate’ round. At best a good brush gun. And it is, right up there with the 30/30 Winchester.

I would buy this rifle only if FN came out with a benchrest/match/race gun configuration. That’s right, it would have to be chambered in 7.62X39, completely match ready, and priced for no less than five thousand dollars.

Is .308 ammo accurate? How about .308 Match ammo? Wolf ammo is just as good as .308 Match ammo, right? Wrong. Steel Cases and Steel Jackets are often inaccurate, but not everything in a certain caliber is made in Russia. This is the 21st century. If .308 can be considered accurate in some formats and loadings, then a .311 bullet can be made accurate, too.

Pressure specifications, Ballistic Coefficients, and OAL aside, there is nothing inherent to a chambering which will effect accuracy. The Chamber itself can, but that’s another story. Thirty Caliber bullets are either inaccurate, or they aren’t. There’s no way you can make the argument that .308 is accurate and then turn around and say 7.62×39 is inaccurate. The difference is ammunition quality and there is some very high quality 7.62×39 ammo out there. There are also match grade bullets made in .311 caliber. Unfortunately, there’s a distinct lack of accurate 7.62×39 rifles, which is what FN, to their credit, is trying to address.

If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. I personally think the .300 Win Mag is stupid, and nothing is more inaccurate than a flinch, but I bet at least one of the “7.62×39 is inaccurate” posters on this blog own one or something similar, and I’ll bet they rarely shoot it. Ammo’s too expensive, and it kicks too damn much, right? See my point?

It’s longer and heavier than I’d want for deer in dense woodland. The 7.62×39mm round isn’t much good past 300 yards on deer, so why the 8.5+ pounds and 20″ barrel.

I guess you could use it on coyotes, but I’d probably use a semi-auto to gun down those suckers.

It will probably sell for about the same or more than a Century WASR (AK clone), which would be more fun to plink with.

I’m not quite seeing what it’s intended purpose is.

Matt, I am with you on this. I to would love a 76239 non-semi auto. I have seen the Baikal and it is a very pretty gun. The barrel exterior is spiraled and looks great. The downside is that they are not known to be quick to operate. A gunsmith could probably make one easier to open and cock.

Matt and Daniel. I was not aware of the Remington Model 799 (Interarms Mark X). I have updated the blog post.

Doug, I am pretty sure it is .311 (.303 British), although I remember talking to a guy who reloaded for it and he told me American and Soviet rifles tend to have different bore sizes (the conversation was years ago and I cannot remember the technical details). I am pleased you are enjoying the blog, I hope to see many more comments

I have always liked the 7.62×39. Personally I would rather have a 6.8 SPC for hunting – *if* there was cheap factory ammunition. I am sure to get a 6.8 SPC one day but for now the 7.62×39 is what I want to stick with.

- I wonder what would happen to the AK cartridge craze if cheap Russian ammo was no longer imported to the US ? It’s coming boys! Commercial USA made AK ammo is as expensive (or more) than 308..

First comment by the way.. I am really beginning to like this blog – great job!

By the way, is it legal to hunt in most states with 5.45×39? That’s the problem with 5.56 isn’t it? If this is meant to be a sporting rifle, that caliber won’t be very useful.

Around the same time in the early 1990s that Ruger made a special run of M77 rifles in 7.62×39mm, Interarms offered their Zastava-made Mini-Mark X bolt action in the same caliber.

Sounds like a certain kind of workman is blaming his tools…

I can think of a couple you missed in 7.62×39 Steve:
Remington Model 799 (formerly the Interarms Mark X)
Russian American Armory “Bars 4-1″ (I’ve only seen it at SHOT and on their website, never anywhere else)
AIA M10A2 (Lee-Enfield Clone with detachable magazine and chrome lined barrel, banned from importation for using parts made in Vietnam)

And let’s not forget single shots! I would buy one if I could fine one:
Remington-Baikal SPR-18
Rossi R762MBS