Reloading for Milsurp, Need help again

[r22r]

First, as I already did a while ago, thanks again to all who helped me with my questions regarding the reloading of 303 british for my old enfields. The results are awesomes. Now I need to reload the 7,62 X 54r caliber... I got plenty of brasses, got the dies, but I dont really know wich bullets would be the best fitted for this purpose. Sould I go with .308 or .303? wich would be the safest bet? I have to reload 7,62 X 54r because surplus ammo isnt available anymore in Canada in this caliber... I also have to reload 8mm Mauser, Anyone can recommend a bullet brand ?

thanks for your help guys

JP

Information

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[Parashooter]

Unless you have a tight-bore (Finnish) barrel, make life simple by using the same bullets and charges for 7.62x54R as you use for .303 British. Slug the bore to find out if .308" bullets would be a better match to your rifle's groove diameter. Powder charges for .303 will normally give slightly lower pressure in the slightly larger 7.62 case - pleasant shooting and kind to brass.

[rikkor]

I have a 7.62x54r MN 91/30. I'd like to reload with my cast bullets. My mold is .312", 185 grains. Should that work?

[Parashooter]

Slug your bore and you'll answer that question for yourself. Worth far more than somebody here guessing.

[Gun Surfer]

r22r, I use Sierra 174 FMJBT Match in 0.311 and Hornady 174 gr FMJBT 0.3105 in my Finn M39. Sierra and Speer also make hunting bullets in including 150gr weights which might work better than 174. Hornady also makes a 150gr bullet in 0.312. These should work reasonably in a M91 Mosin assuming that is what you are using, and that you are including jacketed bullets in your search. If you slug your bore you can get more precise. My guess is that 0.308 will not be optimal.

[smellie]

Friend and myself recently spent 8 years experimenting with 7.62x54R and .303, side by side. We found that .312 is the only practical diameter for a good .303.

As far as the 7.62x54R is concerned, we found that every rifle we tried (3 of his, 2 of mine) shot MUCH better with a .311 or a .312 than it did with a .308 and that 4 out of the 5 showed a vast preference for the .312" diameter.

We were using Hornady 150s in .312" and Sierra Pro-Hunter and HPBTM in .311".

Hope this helps.

[jimb16]

Almost all of us cast shooters will give you the same basic answer.....slug your bore and go from there.

[TDH]

And the best answer is to slug your barrel and be sure. I have read a lot about using pulled 7.62x 54 bullets for the .303. I beleive the bore is .312. Some of the bullets I have found for my AK measure anywhere between .310 all the way to a heavy .312. I size my cast bullets to .310
To find the optimum load you will have to do a lot of tinkering.

---------- Post added at 12:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 AM ----------

By the way Jimb16 I like your quote and I use it often I hope you don't mind