7.62x25 Questions

[Firepower!]

1. How come we dont see 7.62x25 being chambered by some of the top brands these days?

2. Does anyone know how does it compare to 9mm and 45? The bullet certtainly looks powerful. Fires very well from my TT.

If there was a polymore and double stacked high cap magazine pistol in 7.62x25, I would buy it immediately and it will become a very strong contender for my CCW.

 

[Conceal Carry]

7.62x25 is an obsolete commy block cartridge. Its considered king of peneration, would pass through a normal human being but not very good at stopping power.

 

[Sparks2112]

I'm pretty sure Wolf makes some HP ammo for it, not sure if it's any good or not. It's a fun cartridge.

You should check out 9x25 dillon. It's similar, and if you have a Glock 20 or 29 and a conversion barrel for it you've got 15+1 / 10+1 or more depending on what magazine you're using.

Doubletapammo.com loads up Gold Dots for it, though I'm not sure what they're policy is on shipping outside the U.S.

 

[Jim Watson]

1. How come we dont see 7.62x25 being chambered by some of the top brands these days?

Because it is a LONG cartridge and no magazine or action of a "top brand" will contain it. And they are not going to go to the expense of tooling up for an all new gun just to shoot Romanian surplus. There would have to be marketing information that a new gun and new ammunition would sell well enough to make it worth the trouble to both gun and ammo companies.

Since most Internet Enthusiasm - a free look at the market - seems devoted to shooting Slobbovian Surplus, the makers probably doubt you would pay for new high performance ammo which is what it would take to make it worth their while.

 

[Firepower!]

stopping power?

 

[Jim Watson]

Doesn't keep FN from selling the 5.7 needleblower.

 

[Sparks2112]

stopping power?

Who knows, it was developed as a gaming cartridge. I don't know of any Self Defense shootings with it. (anyone else?)

They show a 115 grain Gold Dot hollowpoint travelling at 1800 FPS. It probably would hurt but so would anything.

Honestly, just buy a 10mm and be done with it. It hits plenty hard enough for a pistol, and honestly if I were you and had long guns easilly available to me that's what I'd stick with. 7.62x39 or 5.45x39 are VERY effective.

 

[Tortuga12]

Wolf HP

Is what I keep in my CZ-52. I like the stuff, it's accurate and consistent, and brassfetcher's testing shows good expansion and penetration.

 

[Jimbo-Indy]

It's a fun load to play with but the penetration is just too much. The Wolf hollowpoints do perform better than any of the FMJ stuff but still, this is a .30 cal handgun. I handload Hornady 90 gr. XTP hollowpoints over a heavy load of H-110 for my CZ-52 but have not had a chance to do any testing yet. Since the XTP has a good reputation, they should do at least as well as the Wolf.
Just for information, some of us shoot at a local range that is shared with the police. We found an old, out of date Level 2 vest in the trash so we decided to experiment. Taped it over an oil drum as a target and shot it with various handguns. Most would not penetrate, such as 45ACP, 357 Sig and .357 Mag. The CZ52 (7.62X25) sailed through the vest and drum like it wasn't there. We then folded the vest in half to present a double thickness. The same results, want sailing through the whole set-up. Note, this is with surplus military ball ammo. Too much penetration for an SD use and it doesn't leave much of a wound cavity.

 

[Firepower!]

it is really a SOB round that will rip through anything!

 

[chris in va]

It also penetrated an issue kevlar GI helmet.

 

[Firepower!]

wow
If the penetration is so great perhaps Glock should come with Glock 40 chambered in 7.62x39.
I was talking to a police officer and his remarks were to forget about the 9 and 45 just keep a 7.62. He was convinced that its the best handgun round since they most face penetration problems with 9 and 45s

 

[JohnKSa]

stopping power?

The round is somewhat similar to the .30 Mauser but has higher velocity than the .30 Mauser. According to the reports I've seen, the .30 Mauser wasn't a good stopper unless bone was hit. If a bone was hit the high-velocity FMJ bullet tended to shatter the bone creating secondary projectiles which caused additional tissue damage.

Who knows, it was developed as a gaming cartridge.

It was developed as a military cartridge by the Russians.

If there was a polymore and double stacked high cap magazine pistol in 7.62x25...

No handguns in polymer and no handguns in a double-stack for this caliber. The only double-stack gun for this caliber that I'm aware of is the PPSH subgun.

 

[Firepower!]

or the sa 26 or 25 smg

 

[FALPhil]

JohnKSa wrote:
The round is somewhat similar to the .30 Mauser but has higher velocity than the .30 Mauser.

It is the 30 Mauser.

From the cnrfaq:
Indeed, the lack of any significant difference in chamber pressures between the 7.63 Mauser/7.62 Tokarev cartridges, as manufactured today in compliance with the ammunition manufacturing standards imposed by the Commission International Permanente pour l‟Epreuve des Armes a Feu portatives (C.I.P), can be found in the C.I.P. standards; maximum allowable chamber pressures for these cartridges are identical.

This is also confirmed by Jane's Ammunition Handbook.

JohnKSa wrote:
According to the reports I've seen, the .30 Mauser wasn't a good stopper unless bone was hit.

I would be interested in those reports. Are there any links you can share?

 

[BlueTrain]

I am reminded here of the outstanding penetration characteristics of the 7.62x25 and the .30 Mauser (7.63) as well, yet the .30 carbine firing a slightly heavier .30 caliber bullet at a higher velocity was considered a very poor cartridge, at least for a rifle and, according to some (my father), inaccurate as well.

But the original question is still a good one. Practically nothing else ever seems to go away. New guns in .30 Luger have been manufactured relatively recently. Both of these .30 auto pistol rounds were quite popular in parts of the world for going on fifty years. I believe I have even seen a reference to a hollow point bullet being available quite early on for the .30 Mauser. On the other hand, things are never perfect and I've been told the 7.62 Tok produces a spectacular muzzle flash and it is entirely possible the round is a little hard on a handgun, mostly referring to the Tokarev. Maybe that's why they replaced it with the PM, which has itself been replaced by now.

And speaking of the .30 Luger, it was blown out to produce the 9mm Luger. I wonder if anyone ever did the same thing with the 7.63 Mauser? Would that have been the Mars pistol?

 

[Sparks2112]

Who knows, it was developed as a gaming cartridge.

It was developed as a military cartridge by the Russians.

I was talking about the 9x25 Dillon.

 

[woad_yurt]

It's a shame that there aren't any guns being made for the round. The 7.62x25 Wolf hollowpoints are devastating. Maybe the fmj rounds don't have much stopping power because they sail through things like they were made of butter but the hollowpoints make a real mess out of bundled newspapers or a block of wood. I usually try out anything I get on stuff just to see what it'll do and, so far as damage goes, the Wolf hollowpoints have blown away .45 ACP & 9MM by quite a margin.

 

[Conceal Carry]

FirePower! I have a Derra made TT with double stack mag (15 round) for the last 12 years, and it has performed superbly, not a single jam or FTF / FTE. I bought it brand new for about $80/- I don't use it as my primary weapon, just for fun shooting, plinking.

 

[Webleymkv]

The biggest detriments to the 7.62x25 as a self-defense cartridge are the lack of top-notch hollowpoints and the OAL of the cartridge. A 7.62x25 is typically regarded as a poor stopper because it is primarily used with FMJ ammunition which typically does little more than drill a nice little .30 caliber hole through the target. The other problem is that the OAL of the round would require a large-frame handgun such as those chambered for .45 ACP or 10mm auto. Since everyone seems to want a high-capacity these days, the grip would have to be quite large (though the magazine would likely be higher capacity than a comparable sized gun in .45 or 10mm).