.310 Bullets for Finn

[Pattern14]

The barrel on my 1942 Finnish Mosin Nagant slugs out at .310 and around here the only available bullets are .308 which produces sooty cases and .312 which I am reluctant to shoot. I have seen (.310) 123 grain Hornadys which I assume are for 7.62x39mm. Has anyone tried these Hornady 123 grainers in a Finn and what have been the results in accuracy. My only other recourse is to size the .312 bullets down to .310 with a custom Lee sizer die.

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[Calif-Steve]

Most Finns slug out at around .309. You should have good luck with nice Sierra 168 gr. Match Kings. Lapua used to make a .309 bullet, but I don't know if they are available in the US. You might try some of the big Lapua bullet importers. Good luck.

[dfrak]

I've used the Hornady 123 grain bullets, both the soft point and FMJ, in my Finns with excellent results at 50 yards in both of my Finns. Their bores measure .309, but I have had no issues with the .310 Hornady bullets. Keep in mind, though, that I have been sticking to pretty mild loads.

Not sure what kind of powder you are looking at, but I've tried those bullets with three different powders and the results are always good.

A friend tried one of the loads in his old Tula and he had good results as well.

Hope this helps!
Dan

[AKA Hugh Uno]

you can SAFELY use just about any bullet you like from .308 to .312.+ Just avoid maximum charges and you will be absolutely fine. 150 grain flat base bullets (Speer, etc) made for .303 Enfields etc. are usually very accurate in Finnish Mosins.

Most FInns slug out around .3087 -.3090). That's of course why your getting blow-by with .308.

Have you not fired any Surplus 7.62X54r?? Do you think that would blow up in your rifle? The Finns were more than well aware of the likelihood the rifles would be shooting Commie 54R ammo (i.e. compared to 53R).

[shaq]

You might want to try the hornaday 174 grain fmjbt.They are listed at .3105. I plan on trying them in my soviet nagant as well as my .303s.They are product #3131.

[Pattern14]

Thanks SHAQ

Since a lot of my loads in various calibers use 150 grain bullets I wasn't thinking about heavier bullets. .3105" ought to work very well in my Finn.

[AKA Hugh Uno]

various .303s and in Nagants, specifically, the BT "Match" SIerras and the 174 BT FMJ Hornaday, the both have proven disappointing in accuracy (with no exceptions that I can recall). I suspect it could be the powder, etc, but for some reason, despite a good bit of trial and error, I have virtually given up on both bullets and heavier bullets in general. 150 grain seems to work best at least at reasonable ranges (not exceeding 220 yards).

[Pattern14]

...I suspect it could be the powder, etc, but for some reason, despite a good bit of trial and error, I have virtually given up on both bullets and heavier bullets in general.

I hope this means I'm not back to square one . I generally use IMR 4895 and was hoping I could stay with this- have you tried heavier bullets with this powder? What about IMR 4064?

[JBS]

Pattern14 if you slugged at .310 then try a .311 or .312 work up loads as you already know. N135, N140, N150 also very good depending on bullet weight. One thing I have found is many of these old barrels have throats and leads that are very sensitive to OAL ( bullet seating depth ) I had a load a while back that gave me 14 fps standard deviation but printed 1.8 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yd. I set the bullet back .035 in the case from the published OAL and what do you know the group dropped to 7/8 th but the SD went up to 22 but what did it matter the group size dropped. Try playing with your bullet depth.

[shaq]

For the 174 to 180 grain range in the 7.62x54r my limited resources point to H4350 and Varget as good powders to try.When I attempt to load for this cartridge I will also try reloader 15 as it seems to be a good substitute for Varget and I have read that reloader 17 works well in some cartridges that like H4350.