Bullets used to reload 7.62 X 54R

[Mikee Loxxer]

This weekend I picked up (100) Speer 150 grain spitzer pointed soft point bullets whose diameter is .311”. These are sold as bullets for loading .303 British.

I have four Mosin Nagant Rifles I would like to be able to shoot by own 7.62 X 54R loads in. My understanding is that the bullets loaded for 7.62 X54R should .310” in diameter. I am also under the impression that bore diameters on the Mosin Nagant range from .309”-.313” as a general rule.

Should I load these .311” bullets into 7.62 X 54R cases and feel comfortable firing them? The guy at Lock Stock and Barrel indicated that I should look for signs of overpressure such as the bolt being hard to open after firing and having the primers fall out of spent cases after firing. He also suggested that if the bore was bigger than .311” that I would see poor accuracy.

Also if I remember correctly the Lee literature recommends not using Speer bullets if I recall correctly. As I will be suing Lee equipment I wonder if I should heed this warning? What possible reason could there be for Lee to dissuade customers from using Speer bullets?

 

[El Barto]

I would say check you bore size first so you won't encounter any surprises. Here is a link for an easy way to check the bore, that way you can really customize the loads for your rifle.

http://www.7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

 

[Chawbaccer]

Lyman 46 recommends 308 in jacketed bullets, 310 for alloys.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Slug the bores on your rifles. Otherwize you are just guessing.

Now that being said unless your handloads produce some ungodly pressures shooting .311 dia bullets in a bore as tight as .308 will only result in somewhat diminished accuracy.

If your rifle has a .310 bore with a good strong rifling you will probably get good results with the more common .308 bullets
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=185447

 

[goon]

Have you shot military, factory, or Wolf ammo through your mosins? If so, pull a bullet and see how big it is.
Slugging the bore will work too.
I have shot .308, .310, and .311 in my M-39 with out any problems but there is enough variance between rifles that what is safe for one may not be safe for others.

 

[Cosmoline]

The only Mosin I'd hesitate to put a .311" bullet through would be one of the M-27 or M-28/30 Finns. Those are very rare rifles. I would not hesitate to put it through any M-39 Finn or any Russian or Soviet Mosin. There's a lot of very outdated and incomplete information about these matters in the old load books, to the point where some suggest only using .308" bullets in ALL Mosins. This is nonsense.

You should slug your bore at some point, esp. if it's USSR. But not because it might be .308". Believe me you will NEVER find a .308" Soviet bore The reason to slug is to see if your bore was re-bored out to .313" or .314", as some were once the first lands started to get smoothed out.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I have fired plenty of Wolf, Barnaul, Yugoslavian, and Albanian through them. I will pull some bullets and find out what their diameters are.

 

[Cosmoline]

Those are all in the .311" range.

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

Are you shooting a USSR 91/30? If so, you're worrying over nothing. Your bore is likely .312" or more. But that doesn't mean the .311's will be inherently inaccurate. A strong crown and tight reciever matter a lot more than being a little overbored.

 

[Edgeofthewoods]

Sometimes I find a deal on MS 7.62x54R and pull the bullets. Mostly stuf tht has missed fired or such. Talk about cheap for handloads. 99% of the surplus is .311 and my M44 loves it all.

Chuck

 

[ocabj]

I slugged one of my M38s at .311 and still was able to shoot .308 jacketed bullets in it with great accuracy.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I have (2) 91/30's and M-38 (with correct M-38 stock) and an M-44 I have never fired.

 

[NateG]

Another thing that might be worth trying... try some cheap .308 bullets. Some mosins will shoot them well. (So I've been told. I haven't gotten around to loading up the .308" bullets I bought.) Especially if slugging the bore shows the bore is a little undersized.

Remember: I haven't tried this yet. Just passing along some advice I've received and intend to try.