For those not familiar with 7.62X40 it really is just a slightly longer 300 BLK. I forget the chaps name that developed the cartridge, but it really is pretty decent, and pretty serious little cartridge. It has slightly more case capacity than a 300 BLK, and on average you can get 150-200 fps more velocity with it over the BLK.
On the left, 7.62X40 and on the right 300 BLK................. Both loaded with the 100 Raptor from CEB.
My buddy Sam Rose got me interested in the 7.62X40, and pointed out that Wilson was building rifles, uppers and had barrels available as well. Sam is talented, he just got a barrel and put one together. I have no such talents, so I bought the more expensive complete Upper, and put it on a PSA Lower I had.
I was not happy with the choice of barrel twist that Wilson offered, 1:12. I asked if they would change the barrel to a 1:8, or at most 1:10, which they refused. I should have went with my first instinct and had Brian at SSK get a reamer, but no, I wanted one so ordered it anyway.........
Got the upper, it was nice, looked good, like you would expect anything that cost that much and come from Wilson.
I had no intention of using much of the Wilson load data, I decided to create my own. Since WW 296 was top powder for the 300 BLK for me, I figured it would do well with the 100 Raptor in 7.62X40, and it did, except that it would not function the action. I sent the gun to Brian at SSK, and he did whatever magic you do to one to get it to function. Gas system was not set proper......... So Brian sorted that out, sent the gun back.
Now to the range with different bullets and loads.........Well, the damn thing would not shoot 2 inch groups at 50 yards, no matter what I did. I tried other powders, bullets, the works. And I can tell you from experience, if a rifle won't shoot a CNC Machined bullet, such as the 100 Raptor from CEB, then the damn thing won't shoot anything, and it would not. It was awful. I put it off to the side. After a few weeks I was fed up with it, called Brian and told him to get us a Reamer.
When the reamer came in, sent the upper back up to Brian at SSK again, and he put a 1:8 twist barrel on and sent it back. Now it would shoot, almost everything in a hole at 50 yards. Brian said the barrel from Wilson was rough as hell and no wonder it would not shoot. CHEAP CRAP. I imagine there are some Wilson fans out there, and I will only use Wilson magazines in my 1911 guns, but I won't be getting many more things from Wilson in the future, not after this. With the "exception of".... Wilson has ready made 7.62X40 brass, 100 to the bag, I think about $40. It is well formed and ready to load. Well worth the $40 or so per 100 to me. So yeah, I get the 1911 magazines and the 7.62X40 brass from Wilson! HEH....
So now, the gun is shooting good, and with 22.5 gr/WW 296 I get a tad over 2700 fps with the 100 Raptor at 55000 PSI. I loaded several hundred up, and put them away.
I decided since we had a reamer, it was a good idea to have a bolt gun done too. I search around, found a Winchester M70 in 223 and snatched it up, had Brian build it into a 7.62X40 as well. I thought I might try a 18 inc barrel on the bolt gun, but it did not help at all with the WW 296 load. It was burning out at 16 inches and very little to no gain at 18. But I was very happy with the bolt gun regardless, and set up it to do pressures too........
The Winchester would shoot.............If I did my part..........
Got it sighted in proper, but not quite as good a group, I can assure you that is me, not the gun or load.
So I rocked along for a couple of years and did not mess much with 7.62X40..... A few months ago I decided to re-visit the cartridge, loads and powders.......... I had noticed that I had some decent results with LilGun, but did not pursue at the time. I decided to give it a more thorough look.
I hooked the bolt gun up to the Oehler to do pressures and went to work....... I was very pleased with the results as well................also found some anomalies with the cartridge........
With New Formed brass from Wilson I could run 26/Lilgun with the 100 FB Raptor and get 2829 fps at 51500 PSI. With FIRED and Formed brass I needed to drop to 25.5/Lilgun for 2857 fps at 52500 PSI. This is odd, because normally the Formed new brass gives higher pressures than the Fire Formed brass. But Lilgun does strange things anyway. Why? Don't know, just is and not worth the effort to investigate the why, at least not now.
Would this hold in the 16 inch gun as well? Yes, the same 26/LilGun gives a steady 2740 fps in the 16 inch Wilson gun. This is an increase of around 70-80 fps on average, and at lower pressures to boot. Feed/Function no issues at all.
With this information I now made the LilGun the official 7.62X40 powder, but how would it do with other bullets, like the 110 Barnes TTSX? All Wilsons data runs AA 1680 and gives 2500 fps with the 110s. I ran again WW 296 for a little better than 2500, but not by much.
I tried 24/LilGun and the 110 Barnes TTSX with Formed New brass for 2622 fps and 50600 PSI. Fired brass then we drop to 23.5/LilGun for 2601 fps and 51700 PSI to keep things fairly equal.
Yes, I could push that on up a bit, approaching or getting closer to 55000 PSI, but everything is working properly and shooting good. not to mention, that 26/LilGun leaves a pretty full case. LilGun does strange things when compressed, most of the time moves "backwards" less pressure and less velocity when compressed too much. So I don't want to go there either........ I will hang tight with these loads for now anyway........... I am sure I will investigate some of these things later............
For now, load'em up and shoot..................
On the left, 7.62X40 and on the right 300 BLK................. Both loaded with the 100 Raptor from CEB.
My buddy Sam Rose got me interested in the 7.62X40, and pointed out that Wilson was building rifles, uppers and had barrels available as well. Sam is talented, he just got a barrel and put one together. I have no such talents, so I bought the more expensive complete Upper, and put it on a PSA Lower I had.
I was not happy with the choice of barrel twist that Wilson offered, 1:12. I asked if they would change the barrel to a 1:8, or at most 1:10, which they refused. I should have went with my first instinct and had Brian at SSK get a reamer, but no, I wanted one so ordered it anyway.........
Got the upper, it was nice, looked good, like you would expect anything that cost that much and come from Wilson.
I had no intention of using much of the Wilson load data, I decided to create my own. Since WW 296 was top powder for the 300 BLK for me, I figured it would do well with the 100 Raptor in 7.62X40, and it did, except that it would not function the action. I sent the gun to Brian at SSK, and he did whatever magic you do to one to get it to function. Gas system was not set proper......... So Brian sorted that out, sent the gun back.
Now to the range with different bullets and loads.........Well, the damn thing would not shoot 2 inch groups at 50 yards, no matter what I did. I tried other powders, bullets, the works. And I can tell you from experience, if a rifle won't shoot a CNC Machined bullet, such as the 100 Raptor from CEB, then the damn thing won't shoot anything, and it would not. It was awful. I put it off to the side. After a few weeks I was fed up with it, called Brian and told him to get us a Reamer.
When the reamer came in, sent the upper back up to Brian at SSK again, and he put a 1:8 twist barrel on and sent it back. Now it would shoot, almost everything in a hole at 50 yards. Brian said the barrel from Wilson was rough as hell and no wonder it would not shoot. CHEAP CRAP. I imagine there are some Wilson fans out there, and I will only use Wilson magazines in my 1911 guns, but I won't be getting many more things from Wilson in the future, not after this. With the "exception of".... Wilson has ready made 7.62X40 brass, 100 to the bag, I think about $40. It is well formed and ready to load. Well worth the $40 or so per 100 to me. So yeah, I get the 1911 magazines and the 7.62X40 brass from Wilson! HEH....
So now, the gun is shooting good, and with 22.5 gr/WW 296 I get a tad over 2700 fps with the 100 Raptor at 55000 PSI. I loaded several hundred up, and put them away.
I decided since we had a reamer, it was a good idea to have a bolt gun done too. I search around, found a Winchester M70 in 223 and snatched it up, had Brian build it into a 7.62X40 as well. I thought I might try a 18 inc barrel on the bolt gun, but it did not help at all with the WW 296 load. It was burning out at 16 inches and very little to no gain at 18. But I was very happy with the bolt gun regardless, and set up it to do pressures too........
The Winchester would shoot.............If I did my part..........
Got it sighted in proper, but not quite as good a group, I can assure you that is me, not the gun or load.
So I rocked along for a couple of years and did not mess much with 7.62X40..... A few months ago I decided to re-visit the cartridge, loads and powders.......... I had noticed that I had some decent results with LilGun, but did not pursue at the time. I decided to give it a more thorough look.
I hooked the bolt gun up to the Oehler to do pressures and went to work....... I was very pleased with the results as well................also found some anomalies with the cartridge........
With New Formed brass from Wilson I could run 26/Lilgun with the 100 FB Raptor and get 2829 fps at 51500 PSI. With FIRED and Formed brass I needed to drop to 25.5/Lilgun for 2857 fps at 52500 PSI. This is odd, because normally the Formed new brass gives higher pressures than the Fire Formed brass. But Lilgun does strange things anyway. Why? Don't know, just is and not worth the effort to investigate the why, at least not now.
Would this hold in the 16 inch gun as well? Yes, the same 26/LilGun gives a steady 2740 fps in the 16 inch Wilson gun. This is an increase of around 70-80 fps on average, and at lower pressures to boot. Feed/Function no issues at all.
With this information I now made the LilGun the official 7.62X40 powder, but how would it do with other bullets, like the 110 Barnes TTSX? All Wilsons data runs AA 1680 and gives 2500 fps with the 110s. I ran again WW 296 for a little better than 2500, but not by much.
I tried 24/LilGun and the 110 Barnes TTSX with Formed New brass for 2622 fps and 50600 PSI. Fired brass then we drop to 23.5/LilGun for 2601 fps and 51700 PSI to keep things fairly equal.
Yes, I could push that on up a bit, approaching or getting closer to 55000 PSI, but everything is working properly and shooting good. not to mention, that 26/LilGun leaves a pretty full case. LilGun does strange things when compressed, most of the time moves "backwards" less pressure and less velocity when compressed too much. So I don't want to go there either........ I will hang tight with these loads for now anyway........... I am sure I will investigate some of these things later............
For now, load'em up and shoot..................