Considering you can still find .39 everywhere and basically anywhere on earth I’d go with that. You’ll be dying in the Sahara and find a sealed case of Russian ammo. Ha!

 

Colt 7.62x39 sporter lightweight for me . Reason stated above - easy to find surplus ammo .

 

Prefer the BO in part because I prefer the AR platform. Agree with what has been said about availability

 

I am a huge BO fan, I have neen shooting it since it was 300 whisper. In supers they are very similar but with 39 having a very slight edge but 300blk shines with subs.

 

pretty sure I have these subs and the black tips as mentioned

 

300blk with supers is pretty damn close to a 30-30 that has killed as many deer as any round. My kid uses a 300blk pistol for deer hunting and has not had a deer take more than a step or two out of a half dozen. The Barnes black tips are money on deer out to 125yds from my experience.

 

Ive killed a lot of deer with the 115 grain Lehigh Controlles Chaos and 135 Speer TNT

 

I like the 7.62x39, but I was a teenager when the China import ban happened and those crates and tins of ammo that came free with a $99 SKS or $149 MAK-90 were awesome. I was also able to stack AK74's and 5.45x39 7N6 ammo very, very high when the ammo was 9-18 cents per round.

There is no way that I would get into 5.45 at all these days and if I were starting out now, I'd look seriously at the .300BLK but the 7.62x39 may be loaded with heavies as well and new bolt guns like the CZ 527 and Ruger American Ranch are capable of excellent accuracy. If I shot suppressed a lot, the .300 takes it easily. I don't, so I'd probably go with the 7.62x39 but I accept that the margins are very slim. The consistency of the machining in the age of the .300 is impressive. There are no old, rusty guns from nations pumping them out under duress and the chambers will be more consistent than .270's or other hunting rifles from any previous era. The 6.5 Creedmoor is a great cartridge, but what does it gain from only having chambers cut since '07? I think that adds a lot to it and variation from maker to maker isn't what it used to be.

 

I reload 7.62x39 Star-line Brass, Reloader 7 and Berry's 123 grain FMJ thick plated, I'm making the first round for about $.19 a round buying components in bulk. 300 B.O. I make my own cases from once fired LC .223 Brass, and Plated 220 or 230 grain Plated , those I'm making subsonic and they cost me about $.15 a round with my bulk components. I find both calibers load about the same, velocity is about the same , but I do like the AR-15 platform better for tactical reasons. So I would have to pick 300 B.O. but not by much.

 

Well, I have a 300BLK and I don't have a 7.62x39……so…..

 

7.62x39 any day over 300 BLK, still plentiful ammo available and runs in dirty and rudimentary AKs all over the world.

 

Regrettably, I agree. I want to prefer the 300 Blk but it is too expensive and too scarce at times.

 

I would do 300 for three reasons.

I can make the brass from 223

I can shoot it in an upper without special magazines.

I can shoot hand cast boolits through an AR

 

300blk exit wound, 115 controlled chaos (handload), 65 yards.

 

My 10.5" .300 BO has never required a special mag to feed properly. It goes from loud to suppressed without any special gas block shenanigans. It runs fine with a carbine buffer (Loud/suppressed, Supers/subs), and I don't hear the "SPROING!!!" because I'm smiling so hard. The 220's are slow and drop fast, but they pack one hell of a wallop, and if I want, I can take the can off and send a 110 gr kinda quick. I know that's not everybody's experience, but it's worked that way since I put it together. What it lacks in boiler room and cheapness, it makes up for in versatility. Also, why do people build fancy rifles and insist on pushing the cheapest sh!t ammo they can find? People shoot $15,000 handguns on this forum, so cost per round shouldn't be unsurvivable. Just gotta watch for sales, is all...

 

I have both, 300 is more versatile with all the different ammo selection. Brass supers are almost as cheap as steel case. If .39 had all the variations that 300, I may be in that camp. Love shooting 300 subs, smoothest, softest, quietest round that can do any damage.

Like said above, I have never used any special mags, just 5.56 mags. Not one failure of any kind so far. I didn't even have to tune the buffer system.

Not many subsonic offerings for .39.

 

7.62x39 for me...