.30 Steve

Jack @ Rule .303 posted his top five worst new cartridges

1. 7.62×39 Ackley Improved
2. .22 belted magnum
3. .338 rimfire
4. 28 gauge Buckhammer saboted slugs
5. .50 BMG shotshells

I posted a comment saying a hotter 7.62×39 might not be so bad.

Jack went on to post an interesting comment on why this would be a very bad idea, at least economically

Steve,

In theory, one could give the 7.62×39 the Ackley treatment and wind up with a cartridge that makes an extra 120 fps or whatever. And I agree that this would be kinda neat in theory because a little extra oopmh at 150 yards would make this a better deer cartridge.

However, let’s think about this a little bit. The allure of 7.62×39 has little to do with it’s ballistics. America is falling in love with 7.62×39 because it’s become the cheapest centerfire cartridge available (excluding corrosive milsurp ammo). At a time when ammunition costs in general have been going ballistic (heh heh) this thing showed up right on time.

Buying specialty ‘Ackley improved’ ammo would probably cost $16 a box or so. As much as a box of 30-’06 hunting ammo. Kinda defeats the purpose, huh?

As far as reloading goes, one of the attractions of Ackley chamberings has always been that you could shoot the regular ammo in it and the standard cases get blown out to the slightly larger Ackley dimensions of the chamber. Then you can reload that brass and you have cartridges that give you the full Ackley advantage.

That’s great, except that the vast majority of the 7.62×39 that is out there is not brass. It’s steel cased, which is such a pain in the butt to reload that it’s basically impractical. Heck, some of it is even berdan primed as well. I don’t even know if steel cases will blow out to Ackley dimensions on firing the way that brass cases do.

Read the rest of his comment here.

Since when has a bad idea ever stopped a cartridge manufacturer? So if Winchester, Remington, Hornady, Federal or Sierra are reading this and you are looking for the next fad, checkout my .30 Steve.
It is guaranteed to kill deer just as well as the old fashioned 7.62x39mm but costs 5x as much! Your shareholders will love it!