By Major Van Harl USAF Ret
Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)- I am old enough to remember buying a used British Enfield military rifle in 1973 at K-Mart for $39.
It was my first center fire rifle and the surplus .303 British military ammo was everywhere and really cheap. So shooting the Enfield through the 1970s was very inexpensive.
Then the Russians invaded Afghanistan. The Brits had been in that area of the world for hundreds of years and the classic photo of an Afghan freedom fighter was a Pashtu, holding his Enfield, with a bandoleer of .303 ammo slung across his chest. The logistics types of the Western world started to buy up all the G.I. .303 ammo they could get their hands on to ship to the (alleged) good-guy Afghan freedom fighters. The cheap shooting ammo for my K-Mart special Enfield rifle forever dried up.
As we use to say in Mississippi “it’s fixin’ to happen again.”
The Russians will invade Ukraine. They are having major training exercises on the Ukraine-Russian border as you read this. Even though Russia has been run by religion-hating communists since 1917 there is still great respect for the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russians are waiting for Easter to get over with before they invade Ukraine.
Usually Orthodox Easter falls a week after the Western Christian Easter Sunday, but not this year. Last year, if Russia had invaded you would have had an extra week to get ready. This year Easter will be on 20 April 2014 for both the East and the West. Those military exercising Russians are only working out the kinks in their plans and adjusting for operational short-falls.
On or about the 21st of April 2014 the Godless (except for the Orthodox ones) past and present communist aggressors will turn their vehicles east and roll into Ukraine. The first Ukrainians they will run into will be Russian-speaking Ukrainians. These less than stellar Ukrainian citizens will be waving Russian flags and handing out free vodka to their perceived liberators. Sort of the way the Ukrainians did with the invading Germans in 1941.
Once the Russian army hordes drink the vodka and steal the flags they will begin suppressing the surprised Russian-speaking Ukrainians. I however will not be surprised. When this happens the rest of the former Soviet satellite countries will panic and realize they should have been spending their new found Euros on weapons and ammo resupply.
They will demand that the West ship them all the 7.62 X 39 ammo, NATO and the EU can find and send it for free, real fast. When this happens the logistics types (yet again) will start issuing purchase orders for every round of available 7.62 X 39 on the free market. This of course will cause the 7.62 X 39 to disappear.
For you non-gun people, 7.62 x 39 is the standard round of ammunition that the Russian AK 47 battle rifle fires. All the countries the old Soviet Union controlled were, and in most cases still are, armed with rifles in that round, but nobody has bought any new, fresh Russian designed rifle ammo in years.
After all, the Russians are the nice guys now, and even if they turn out not to be, the good old USA will always do the heavy lifting for NATO and the EU if a conflict should ever arise.
Black rifles are back on the shelves of gun stores in good supply and good prices again, but this will not last. I was approached for advice on whether to buy a Ruger Mini 14 in 223 Remington or a Ruger Mini 30 in the Russian 7.62 X39. The individual wants a magazine feed, self-loading rifle for social purposes in time of crisis, but also wants to be able to shoot a white tail deer with the Ruger.
I called Tim Sundles at Buffalo Bore Ammunition (buffalobore.com) and asked him about it. 223 Remington is a more accurate round and designed to shoot out to beyond 400 yards. The 7.62 x 39 is a 200 yard round and most military ammo is not really designed for hunting. After a long conversation with Tim and given the uncertainty of the future with Mr. Putin, I suggest you stick to the Mini 14 or any other black rifle in 223 Rem.
Buffalo Bore has two loads of 223 Rem that will take care of the deer hunting issue for your self-loading rifle; S223-77/ 20 which uses a 77 grain bullet moving out at 2800fps or the S223-69 which is loaded with a 69 grain bullet at 2900fps. Either of these rounds will stop your white tail or perhaps evil DNA that means to do you harm. Hard times are coming and so are the Russians. Stick to 223 Remington black rifles.
If you do not have one, get one and get your ammunition now, it will only be a short time before the next ammo crisis starts again. This time you may really need the stuff. Happy Easter, while it last.
Major Van Harl USAF Ret. / [email protected]
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” [email protected]
Well it’s now August of 18 and well still no “dry up”, although that might change in the next few months…my concern is that Trump admin will follow though on sanctioning Russia to the point that all trade will be cut off entirely and no product is off limits (not just ammo but anything that says “made in Russia” will disappear from the US Market for eternity and never return). If 7.62×39 thats foreign made, permanently disappear from the American market its will be a death blow to the US AK community and wet dream for the libtard agenda, So… Read more »
All this time has passed and I have seen no appreciable reduction in stocks of 7.62X39mm, but then I usually don’t get excited at these “chicken little” predictions. I have bought a few hundred to a half case of rounds almost every month for the past couple of years. I have close to 6K rounds of cartridges made in the Ukraine & Russia with no problems ordering or receiving shipment of them. The range we frequent has a maximum rifle range of 200 yards, my wife & I have never fired our SKS carbines or AR15s (7.62X39mm caliber also) beyond… Read more »
7.62×39 all the way over 223 and 5.56. Ruger mini 14 and 30 – thin barrels – picky about ammo – Not a good combat choice. ar15/m16 – to high maintenance because of tight tolerances and direct gas system. Not reliable in prolonged fire fight. 223/5.56 is a poor penetrator at longer ranges – Not a good combat choice. Russian made AK or Russian spec AK – little maintenance, reliable, eats any ammo – accurate enough to drop a man sized target out to 400 meters. If I wanted a rifle that would shoot out to 600 meters or more… Read more »
This whole post is f***ing retarded. First Russia is now a democracy with Orthodox Christianity as the official state religion, not a communist state with atheism as the official religion. Second all of Ukraine speaks Russian. Third Russia is not the only that produces the 7.62x39mm, many other countries do as well, including eastern Europe and America. Finally 7.62x39mm is not even a standard cartridge for the Russian Army anymore, the 5.45x39mm is, most eastern European countries have switched to AK’s in 5.56 too. In conclusion this post is complete trash. Ruger mini 14 rifles are also overpriced and the… Read more »
You must be kidding, obviously the man has never hunted with a 7.62×39 for “Whitetail” in his life time. I, however, have used this amazing round for whitetail hunting and had amazing results. As you know the 7.62 is made for destruction and whether or not it is used on the enemy or deer it has devastating power. The first buck I shot was at 75 yards on the run (stopped dead in it’s tracks), I shot it directly through the heart, I assume, because I could not find the dam thing when dressing out my deer. The second buck… Read more »
This article was posted 659 days ago… I’m still able to buy cheap Russian tula ammo and brown bear cheaper than ever, in the 7.62×39 caliber. I just bought 1000 rounds for 213$ USD today. I guess your article was wrong… At-least-as-of-right-now. The only way I can see us not being able to get this ammo is if Obama uses more sanctions against Russia… Which I doubt will happen.
learn your ballistics buddy, the 762×39 is accurate for more that 200yds. I hit out to 400 yds easily.
It is Aug. 18 2021. Let me be the first to congradulate you on being right. Everything you said has either happened or is happening right now. Who ever would have thought you would see such a crisis in nearly ALL calibers? And all this happening in the Ukraine and Afghanistan too? Well I’m a little late stocking up on ammo but better late then never I suppose.
I also believe therefore, perfectly composed post! .
Well, it’s 4/23/2017 and just last month I received 3,000 rounds of Golden Tiger 7.62×39 ammunition and loaded another 1,000 with Hornady [on sale] Z-Max bullets. That brings my total 7.62×39 up to just shy of 5,000 rounds. I know … paltry.
So yeah, this is another “the author doesn’t know what he’s taking about” comment on a long [deservedly] dead article.