Hello - a friend has these three 7.62x39 rounds in link and the centre one has what appears to be a two-piece projectile. Any idea what it is?
This is the API minus the color marking.
Thanks Alex. What colour should the tip be?
Here’s a section drawing of the bullet (Labbett / Brown, 1987). Because it’s Chinese pre-1967, it should be black tip over red band (in China, 1967 & later was just black), Pete.
Thanks Pete.
often the later Chinese ‘black’ for API looks more like a very dark purple…just a personal observation.
Tony
Hi Tony / Darren. There does appear to be a wide variety of standard, particularly on coloured tip / band depth. Below is an example of a selection of the BZ style API 7.62mmx39. The first three are all Chinese Factory 71 (1962, 1973 & 1978), and for comparison, one from Tula Cartridge Works (‘K’=1956), and another from Krupski Mlyn state munitions factory in Poland, Pete.
Thanks Pete - appreciate you taking the time to photograph these.
Never a problem Darren! Cheers, and thanks for raising interesting topics.