Making what I call "Moscow match" ammo is fairly easy to do and is based upon the same procedure military rifle teams used in years past, pulling the 173-grain FMJ-BT from issue 7.62x51 M118 Special Ball and replacing it with a more accurate Sierra 168-grain MatchKing.

Some shooters would dump and then carefully re-measure the powder charge while others would simply seat the new bullet on top of the existing charge. The result was a more accurate load for military competition.

Basically the same thing can be done with 7.62x39 ball. All you need are a quantity of 7.62x39 ball, a reloading press, a bullet puller, 7.62x39 dies and replacement projectiles.

Good choices include Hornady's .310-diameter 123-grain spire point and V-MAX; Sierra's .311-diameter 12-grain Pro Hunter; Speer's .310-diameter 123-grain Hot-Cor softpoint; and Winchester's .310-diameter 123-grain PowerPoint. More expensive are Barnes' .310-diameter 108-grain RRLP frangible and 123-grain Triple-Shock and TAC-X.

Start by pulling the factory FMJ projectile. For very small quantities an inertia puller will work, as long as your arm holds out. A press-mounted bullet puller such as Hornady's Cam-Lock makes the process quicker and easier.

Once the projectile is pulled, you have two options: load a bullet of identical weight and bearing surface as the one pulled or dump the existing powder charge and reload the case with a new powder charge and projectile.

That's it. Sound simple? It is, but you do need to keep a few things in mind. For the sake of safety I recommend weighing the powder charges and finding out what the average is. Then reduce this by 10 percent and load five rounds. If there are no pressure signs, then load another five with the factory charge. If again there are no pressure signs then you are good to go.

If you desire to load a different weight projectile, a projectile with a longer bearing surface or a solid copper projectile then you need to go to your loading manuals to find an appropriate powder charge. Otherwise pressure can spike.

Careful bullet selection and a little work is all that's required to turn a large quantity of inexpensive ball into a top performing load. Exterior ballistics? Due to its relatively low muzzle velocity and use of projectiles with very low ballistic coefficients, the 7.62x39 will never be flat shooting. But you can improve the accuracy.

What the 7.62x39 does best though is to put a respectable amount of power in a small package. Teamed with a modern projectile, the 7.62x39 cartridge is capable of fully realizing its potential.