AFTE Store - The Effective Ballistic Coefficients of Some Bullets in Imported 7.62X39mm Ammunition

The investigation of suspected long range shooting incidents currently necessitates the use of exterior ballistic calculations coupled with other information for any attempt to estimate the range of fire. Such calculations require the use of a suitable exterior ballistics program and a suitable ballistic coefficient (BC) for the bullet associated with the particular incident.
BCs for most of the common commercial bullets available in the U.S. can be found in the various versions of Sierra Bullets’ exterior ballistics programs. This is not the situation for the numerous variants of the Russian M43 bullet loaded in 7.62x39mm ammunition, nearly all of which are of foreign manufacture. Yet given the popularity and ready availability of a large variety and sources of 7.62x39mm ammunition, one can reasonably expect bullets of this type will be involved in future long distance shooting incidents. The effective G1 and G7 ballistic coefficients of a collection of military M43 bullets from a number of countries as well as several commercial variants of the original design have been determined through the use of Doppler radar and Sierra Bullets’ Infinity-7 exterior ballistics program.