7.62x54r Reviews

[ineedmoney]

iam going to be buying like 200 rounds for my mosin, the kind that im looking at is burgarian 147. grain steel core light ball ammo, and original russian 148 grain boattail spitzer tip steel core ammo. i just wanted to see if any of you guys had any experiance with it. i was also thinking about maybe getting some brown bear or silver bear........what kind of ammo have you had the best accuarcy with?

 

[OldMac]

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmo.htm

This is a good resource for planning and purchasing which ammo you want to shoot.

 

[NCsmitty]

Just remember to treat all surplus as corrosive, regardless of the statements like "mildly corrosive", and clean your firearm properly after use.



NCsmitty

 

[ineedmoney]

oh yeah, i love to clean.........sometimes but if i shoot corrosive you can best beleive im going to be cleaning...... i would still like to know what you guys think of different types of ammo....accuracy

 

[stubbicatt]

each rifle is a law unto itself. Some will shoot one type of ammo better than others. It is hard to know what your rifle will like without experimenting with what's available. Don't fret over it, the experimentation requires shooting... which is fun!

 

[ineedmoney]

yeah....i shot some winchester i think the diameter mesures .308 well i did hit the 12 in target from 100 yards barely. i hope that if i shoot .310 or .311 my grouping will get alot better

 

[TomADC]

I bought a tuna can of ammo the 440 rds one the can has the following markings on it:
7.62 LPSZ GSZ
06-83-21 VT16/82 51
Its Hungarian and shoots very well, my main problem is the knotch in the rear sight is way to small for my eye's, I can hardly see the front sight to line it up and get a good sight picture. my grandson (23) was able to shoot much smaller groups with it. Ammo was very clean showed no outward signs of age. I may try and make the groove a tad wider but no deeper with a jewlers file.
I do clean the rifle well after shooting this stuff. $85.00 from Sportsman Guide a while back.

 

[George757]

The Bulgarian ammo that Sportsman's Guide sells is very high quality. Accurate & reliable. If you're hand loading, every rifle is a bit different and you'll have to experiment. For example, my rifle likes .311 bullets, but is inconsistant with .308's. My friends rifle, on the other hand, will shoot snake-eyes with .308's, even tho both of our bores slugged at .312. Go figure.

 

[rangerruck]

I shoot lots of x54 stuff... alot! I have noticed that generally speaking, the bullets in the 170 class can be very accurate. And also generally speaking, the silver bear 205 bimetals are the most accurate, but your poi definitely changes; about 6 inches down at 100 yds!!!
Russians changed to a 172 or 175 grain bullet sometime in the 1900's, to get longer volley fire out of their 91's, added an extra 500m of rainbow like trajectory, but it also turned out they got better accuracy from them as well.
There is a milsurp ammo, from some country , that is in this weight class, but I can't remember whom it is; but it is good and hot loaded.

 

[navyretired 1]

Except for shoulder bruising 7.62x54 is lots of fun and as cheap as you can get, don't forget that the bayonet is supposed to be mounted for shooting to POA. I have a Westinghouse 91/30 which I wished would do better than yard-of-angle at 100 yds but it doesn't. I do have a 1937 Tula though that is plenty good for anything but bench rest with almost any ammo except some Egytian I got about 20 years ago, if it wasn't so difficult I'd break it down for projectiles. I really think they're the problem though? Mic at .3091 anyone else seen this stuff. I've got some 8X57 mm with almost identical head stamp which is so hot it makes 98 mauser's bolts to stick and ruined a nice 1888 commision rifle(set back lug shoulders). I bought them in cardboard boxes in wood crate in about 1992. Anyone with same experience?

 

[stubbicatt]

Other things you can do to your rifle include corking the barrel and the recoil lug. Often this will really improve your accuracy. It sure did to mine.

 

[GD]

Navyretired 1, don't shoot any surplus 8mm in an 88 Commission rifle. Just use the lowered powered commericial ammo. Turkish 8mm is extremely hot and would be dangerous to use in the 88 or for that matter in any Pre1898 Mauser.
When it comes to mosins, the Finnish ones outshine all the others in terms of accuracy. As far as bayonets are concerned, I have only noticed accuracy issues with the bayonet extended on the Model 1944 mosins. My finns usually shoot under 2 MOA pretty much on target - a few shoot high. My Soviet mosins generally get 3-4 MOA and almost always shoot high. Increasing the front sight height will solve that problem. I have had some Soviet mosins print like a shotgun.

 

[wally]

I'm generally happy with what ever is cheapest when I need more. More shooting is better shooting

Variations of individual guns and their propensity for a given ammo are such that if you find a particularly accurate ammo for your gun, run out and buy all you can find and possibly afford!

--wally.

 

[geo57]

My 1944 Russian M44, which I removed the bayonet from upon buying, likes Wolf 148 gr. FMJ, Silver Bear 174 gr. FMJ and Privi Partizan 150 gr. SP, which I used this fall to harvest my whitetail buck. It shoots all three loads to POA . I have a yet untested by me, 1943 Russian 91/30 that I'm hoping to work with when the weather straightens out. If it works out, my plans are to use S & B 180 gr. SP for deer from it .

 

[greenlion]

I bought a couple of big cases of the newer Czech light ball ammo. It was loaded VERY hot, and I had a lot of case ruptures with it in a couple of rifles. I ended up buyin an rcbs bullet puller and reseating die. I now take the Czech 7.62x54 surplus ammo apart, remove 5% of the load (down to about 45-46 grains of powder) and reseat the bullets. It makes a fantatic load, is highly accurate, and a lot easier on the shoulder. I've gone down as low as 40 grains of powder, making a round with about the same velocity as the 7.62x39, and it makes a great plinking round. (By the way, you need to read up on this yourself if you actually try this, I'm not recommending anyone follow my advice)

I've never had other brands cause these problems. I've had good luck with Hungarian, Rusian, and Bulgarian. Even the old Czech light ball in the blue boxes was good ammo, although it and the older wolf ammo were some of the worst to cause sticky bolt syndrome in my rifles.

Some of the most accurate I've ever shot was brass cased yellow tipped HEAVY ball that I bought many years ago. I've shot it all up and can't remember the country of origin though.
Thats my 2cents.

 

[navyretired 1]

When I damaged my 1888 commision rifle I was young and full of p_ss and vinager. the gun cost 19.95 and I moan every time I think about it. BTW I just saw some of that Egyptian ammo at a gun store so be carefull.
The bayonet issue is mentioned in almost all collector books, it's not something I made up.
Some Turkish machine gun ammo is too hot but that surplus turk ammo is routinely fired in 1930 Mauser small rings converted to 8X57 mm without problems. I've learned to find the loading printed on the box from the net or collector books and fire if good quality. Corrosive primmers were used becaused the ammo is good into forever if not exposed to elements. That is why our goverment was reluctant to change and many countries didn't. With proper cleaning that ammo is good shooting stuff. Egyptians are apparently very tuff as I also have 880 rounds of 9X19 mm subgun ammo not to be shot in weak 9 mm guns. I cracked a barrel lug on a nice Belgian High Power with it.
I seldom quote info without have read in source books, I have several hundred books on guns, reloading, gunsmithing and gun collecting. I don't remember it all but I can find it.
I know that the Fins and Checs made the best MN the american made MN were also good as the Russians insisted on the best steel and workmanship, but then with revolution couldn't pay for a bunch of them. The history of the Moisan Nagant 1890/30 is very interesting and should probably be read before contradicting about verified info.

 

[farmerboy78]

what does it mean to cork the barrel or something about the recoil lug? im new to this rifle...

 

[svaz]

I can only image the surprise on someone's face when they set off a Mosin w/ a champagne cork jammed in the barrel.

By "corking" stubbicatt means to "bed" the action w/ cork (I use oiled felt). Basically, you put a thin piece of cork, or what have you, under the first inch of barrel (where it meets the action), behind the recoil lug, and under the tang where they mate w/ the stock. Because the stock & the metal are not form fitted they shift positions (and pressure points) every time the rifle is shot. The basic theory of bedding is to create that form fitting layer in order to improve shot-to-shot metal-to-wood consistency.

You can shim the recoil lug, in the stock, w/ brass or steel so that it doesn't shift fore & aft in the stock with each shot - again, it's all about consistency.

Here is a good thread on the procedure.

 

[JuryRig]

Box of Truth corked the barrel while at the range, so it can't be very hard to do.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu63.htm

 

[Dain Bramage]

I like Yugo surplus, especially '70s and '80s production. Non-steel 182 gr FMJBT, nice clean brass. It's more accurate in my three Mosins than light ball. Amazingly, it's more accurate in my Finn M39 than current "*Bear" hunting ammo., approaching 1-2 MOA at 100 yds.

 

[farmerboy78]

cool guys thanks, but one more, does the red band aroundthe neck of the case on the ammo mean anything?

 

[farmerboy78]

right now i have some light ball ammo that i havent tried in my nagant, but i have tried the brown bear 174gr fmjbt and got around a 3-4" group at 450 yds with 3 shot groups. hope the 7n1 is comparible

 

[svaz]

'around the neck' - where the bullet meets the neck? That is probably lacquer sealer. If so, the primer is probably sealed too.

If it is painted, I dunno what it could mean, sorry.

 

[lopezni]

the best surplus rounds are the yugo 182gr fmj's from the 1980's. That Bulgarian stuff is very corrosive, anyone who shoots corrosive ammo through a nice surplus rifle does not deserve to own it.

 

[svaz]

Most surplus ammo on the market today is corrosive. Usually the primer is the culprit, when fired it coats the inside of the firearm with corrosive salt residue. When the salts combine with moisture, damage starts to occur to the metal surfaces ...

Cleaning a Mil-Surp Rifle after Shooting Corrosive Ammo