7.62x39mm
Introduced 1944Nikolai Elizarov and Boris SeminCIP standard
Also known as M43, 7.62 Soviet — the same cartridge under different names, all of which find this page.
Dimensions and pressure
Generated from the schema, like every specification table on this site, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table.
Identity
- Designed by
- Nikolai Elizarov and Boris Semin
- Introduced
- 1944
- Production
- not recorded
- Standards body
- C.I.P.
- Case type
- Rimless
- Case shape
- Bottleneck
Dimensions
- Bullet diameter
- 7.92 mm0.3118 insource
Cartridge maximum, dimension G1.
- Bore diameter
- not recorded
- Case length
- 38.7 mm1.524 insource
Cartridge maximum, dimension L3.
- Overall length
- 56 mm2.205 insource
Cartridge maximum, dimension L6.
- Rim diameter
- 11.35 mm0.4469 insource
Dimension R1.
- Neck diameter
- 8.6 mm0.3386 insource
Dimension H2.
- Base diameter
- 11.35 mm0.4469 insource
Dimension P1.
Pressure
- Maximum pressure
- 355 MPa51,488 psisource
Pmax 3550 bar, transducer method.
- Pressure standard
- C.I.P.
SAAMI and C.I.P. measure pressure differently and their figures are not interchangeable, which is why the body is always named beside the figure.
Loads
Velocity is recorded per barrel length as published. A gun page interpolates between these points and never projects beyond them.
Sellier & Bellot 124 gr FMJ
Sellier & Bellot
- Bullet mass
- 8 g123.5 grsource
Ballistics table of the cited article.
- Cartridge mass
- not recorded
- Bullet type
- FMJ
- G1 BC
- not recorded
- G7 BC
- not recorded
| Barrel | Velocity |
|---|---|
| 520 mm20.47 in | 738 m/s2,421 fps |
Chambered in
Computed from every entry that lists this cartridge. Nothing here is hand-maintained.
- AK-47
Izhmash
- OTs-14 Groza
TsKIB SOO
- Type 56
Norinco
Gallery
Image credit
- Title
- Cartridge 7.62x39mm M43 Steel CC BY-SA 4.0 by Grasyl
- Author
- Grasyl(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cartridge_7.62x39mm_M43_Steel_CC_BY-SA_4.0_by_Grasyl.jpg
Detail
The Soviet intermediate round was specified in 1943 against captured German 7.92x33mm ammunition and the rifle built for it, and it reached service in the SKS before the rifle it is now inseparable from existed. Its case is strongly tapered, which is what lets a badly fouled or badly made chamber still extract, and which forces the pronounced curve of every magazine that feeds it.
Bullet diameter is 7.92 mm, the same nominal figure as the 7.62x54mmR and the German 7.92x57mm, all of which measure their calibre across the lands rather than the grooves. A cartridge called 7.62 firing a 7.92 mm bullet is not a contradiction, and it catches out a great many specification tables.
References
- C.I.P. TDCC datasheet, 7,62 x 39 · Tab. I, dated 1989-01-04, revision 2013-05-22 · read 2026-08-27
- 7.62x39mm · 1371601372 · read 2026-08-27
Last verified 2026-08-27 · review status: spot-checked