TELL ME ABOUT THE 5.45x39 I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS

H

handgunfan101

New member
The reason i ask is i am thinking of buying an AK 74 at a decent price. But i know very little if anything about the 5.45 round. Everything on the net seems to love it or hate it no in between. I seem to find that for every positive there seems to be a guy that will tell you the total opposite in the negative.

So please fill me in on a few things.

are the rounds corrosive?
is it a pretty under powered round?
is the AK 74 an unreliable rifle?

Please fill me in on anything else you have to add from personal experience.

thanks
 
The ammo I've seen is non corrosive.
Energy is very similar to the 5.56x45
The ammo is a reliable feeder, rifles may or may not be reliable.
 
thank you, i also was wondering on real world ballistics. I seen a few vis online about it has low penetration power and is nowhere near the takedown power of the 5.56x45 round is that true do you know?
 
Military surplus ammo is corrosive primed.
Commercial ammo is NOT corrosive.

The price and effectiveness of the surplus ammo is so good it's almost impossible not to buy it in bulk. All you have to do extra is to flush the bore and gas system with hot water prior to normal cleaning as any other rifle.
You can buy surplus 1080 round cans for around $140 plus shipping.
That's CHEAP.

There's a difference between power and effectiveness. The 5.45x39 is lower powered than the .223/5.56 round, but real world use indicates that it's about as effective as the US round and possibly slightly more so.

The surplus 5.45x39 is a very good penetrator. It won't penetrate brick walls as well as the 7.62x39 round, but the all-steel 5.45x39 is well known for penetration and devastating wounds caused by the tumbling bullet.
Author and gun expert David Fortier was able to put 5.45x39 bullets through both sides of a US steel helmet at 300 yards during testing at the Marine Firepower Division in the 1980's.

Like all Russian designs, the AK-74 is about as reliable as a rifle can get.
Commercial AK rifles that are unreliable are poorly built, defective rifles.
 
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you actually put water through the barrel and gas system? wow, thats good to know.
Click to expand...

I've taken M16's into the shower with me for a good flushing. I've also stripped the handguards from an upper and dropped it in a boiling drum of Simple Green and water after a long exercise. Cleans it right up. I've seen as many as 50 uppers in one boiling pot of water/soap mix. The hotter the better. It helps the water evaporate when you take it out.

I clean black powder rifles with boiling water, too. It's an ancient and honored method of getting the crud and salts from corrosive propellants out of all the nooks and crannies.

I can't imagine that getting an AK wet would hurt it. It's a combat rifle. Dry it thoroughly afterwards, oil it, and you should be good-to-go.
 
I have an AK74 and an AR 15 in 5.45x39 and have shot most of the various commercial ammo for this caliber. The velocity of the 5.45 is lower than the 5.56 with similar weight bullets.
In my rifles, the RWS FMJ has an accuracy edge over the othe European made ammo but I haven't tested the Hornady enough to know if it beats the RWS. I'm hoping the Hornady shows enough accuracy to be worthwhile as a 200 yard+ varmint round.
 
what is the total effective distance this rifle? 300yds would be nice but what i read on line its not that accurate beyond 100 yards. not sure if thats an honest statement made by the reviewer....
 
I have shot my Saiga 5.45 and S&W 5.45 Ar-15 with Bulgy 7n6 at 300 yards. It is as accurate as my 5.56 AR's with Russian Brown Bear 55gr FMJBT.
 
I read the 5.45 has a little air bubble in the tip to cause it to yaw like a mo fo...


The afgans called it the poison bullet because it F their guys up with horrific wounds and latter died of gangrene infections, just like the beloved 5.56.

Only issue I see with it, is not a good manufacture in the US so when Supply lines go down you will be SOL... And any US maker will rape you over price like they do with everything else.


So for them reasons if I do buy an AK it is going to be 223/5.56. I live in North America after all.
 
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