7n6: what's the big deal?

B

Bernie Lomax

New member
I am wondering what the big deal is about 7n6. I am probably going to buy an AK74 as my next gun purchase, and am wondering if this type of ammo is special enough so that I should grab a case of it now, while the getting is still good. Is it really that much better than plain old Wolf? What I'm wondering, specifically, is if 7n6 is really that much more effective on body armor than regular, commercial 5.45 ammo is (the reason it's being banned is that it's said to be armor piercing.)

TIA for any info anyone can give me.
 
On level III soft armor (what most LEAs issue) it makes no difference, I don't know of too many (well really any) center fire rifle rounds that won't penetrate. IMO BATFE just saw an opportunity to stick it to gun owners and jumped on it. The real benefit to 7n6 was how cheap it was, $.14/round at times, while still delivering 5.56 like performance.
 
A quick point of clarification

The highest level of SOFT body armor is 3a (2a, 2, 3a) i dont think anyone is making/using level 1 anymore.

Level 3 gets into hard plates and starts to be rifle rated

Trama plates (for soft armor) dont do anything with regards to increasing the threat level of the armor. They help reduce backface deformation (or trauma) over the sternum and spine. There are both hard and soft trama plates but neither will stop rifle rounds

Dont confuse these with rifle plates....totally different animals

I cant think of a centerfire rifle round that WONT defeat soft armor. You need to step up to hard armor (plates, dragon scale, etc) to hope to stop rifle rounds. Way too much velocity for soft panels
 
I don't think it has anything todo with what it will penetrate and what it won't, it's about the bullet construction meeting the legal definition of armor-piercing:

(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or
(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.
​
And it's a big deal if you have a AK74 because I don't think there is any commercial 5.45mm ammo; it's all the military stuff with a steel core.
 
Armor piercing capability is moot if the bullet doesn't hit the vest. The fuzzy guys are getting a little touchy about certain types of ammo now that big zero may call on them to defy the Constitution.
The 5.45 stuff doesn't start to penetrate like some of the steel jacket 8X57 I've shot
 
The two good points of the 7N6-PS ammo is price and effectiveness.

The price can't be beat for center fire ammo, or at least until the ban.

The Soviet 7N6-PS has a well earned reputation as one of the most effective of the assault weapon cartridges.
The round has been extensively used by the Russians in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Georgia with exceptional effectiveness.
According to coyote hunters and a few hunters in states that allow it, it's extremely effective on small deer.

As for armor piercing abilities, it's not technically an armor piercing round since the core is made of mild steel and is blunt on both ends, where armor piercing cores are very sharply pointed and usually made of very hard steel or something like tungsten.

However, gun expert David Fortier says he put 7N6-PS bullets through both sides of a US steel helmet at 300 yards during testing at the US Marine Firepower Division.
According to him, the Russians say it will penetrate 5mm of steel plate at 350 meters.

The commercial Russian ammo has a lead core and the heavier bullets have lower velocity . This makes it a less effective round then the 7N6-PS surplus, and of course it won't penetrate like the mild steel core surplus ammo.

So, the surplus 7N6-PS offered a very effective round at super cheap surplus prices.
 
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/921

US Code 18, Section 921, subsection 17:
(B) The term “armor piercing ammunition” means—
(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or

Can this ammunition be used in a handgun? A simple Google search confirms that it can.

https://www.model1sales.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=343

It is a bad law. But it is the law we have. Contact your congressman.

Jimro
 
Bamaranger,

A couple years back after Oly Arms marketed a 7.62x39 AR pistol the ATF banned the import of steel core Chinese 7.62x39 under the same law.

Even American bullet manufacturers get caught up in that law, especially with the move to "lead free" ammunition requirements in California creating a market for all copper hunting bullets.

https://www.barnesbullets.com/wp-co...rnes-Customer-Update-Banded-Solids-2012-2.pdf

A lot of the military surplus bullets are specifically not "armor piercing" because they were not designed to be fired from a pistol, which is why SS109 and M2 AP projectiles can be imported, bought and sold, with no issues...

Some laws just don't make sense, and this is one of them.

Jimro
 
7n6: what's the big deal?
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People want what they're told they can't have. It's as simple as that.



If Obama signed an executive order that somehow banned donuts, you can bet your bottom dollar that donut shops would see unimaginable increases in demand and massive purchases per buyer....
 
wow didnt know it was getting banned. its just the surplus right not the new non corrosive wolf right? my rifles gonna be really useful with out bullets if its all banned. :rolleyes:
 
The highest level of SOFT body armor is 3a (2a, 2, 3a) i dont think anyone is making/using level 1 anymore.
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Thank you for catching that, I noticed it and was going to edit it out but I was at work and something came up and then I forgot.
 
its just the surplus right not the new non corrosive wolf right

Only the military surplus steel cored ammo is being banned from import.
All the commercial ammo is lead cored and legal
Because the commercial bullets have a lead core the bullets are heavier.
 
Yeah I did a bit of reading and found out. Seems pretty bogus to me. I never really thought 7n6 was cheap enough to bother with. Least around here.
 
so question, why would I spend $240 for 1080 rounds of corrosive ammo that likely has poor accuracy and heavy barrel wear when for $260 I can get the same amount of brand new wolf polyformance which is not corrosive, does not have heavy barrel wear and likely possessed superior accuracy from most rifles?
 
7N6 exhibits excellent accuracy in my Saiga, and I doubt there is any detectable difference in barrel wear between it and the commercial 5.45.
It is a big plus to me to shoot the actual ammo the rifle was designed for.
 
so question, why would I spend $240 for 1080 rounds of corrosive ammo that likely has poor accuracy and heavy barrel wear when for $260 I can get the same amount of brand new wolf polyformance which is not corrosive, does not have heavy barrel wear and likely possessed superior accuracy from most rifles?
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I can't think of any rifle imported from Russia that fires 5.45x39 that doesn't have chrome bore, so the corrosive primer residues wouldn't bother me.

As far as decreased accuracy, the 5.45x39 isn't exactly a long range match option, so as long as accuracy is acceptable I'd shoot it.

I don't have any good data on barrel wear, but with a savings of 20 bucks per 1080 rounds of ammo means that you could probably buy another barrel on the cost savings over the course of 10 cases.

Not saying that buying new Wolf ammo is a bad option at all though, just that someone else might come to a different conclusion.

Jimro
 
7n6: what's the big deal?
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One "big deal" is the 5.45x39mm Onyx pistol BAFTE used to predicate the ban, of which some 200 were manufactured, and none have been proven to ever have been imported into the United States.

The other "big deal" is the fact that banning the importation of this ammo is a clear infringement upon our rights as protected by the 2nd Amendment. It's just one more tiny step to attempt to chip away at our protected rights.
 
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