The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

What size reloads are you shooting in your 7.62x54? .308, .310, .311, .312 and what configuration. SP, HP, FMJ, boat tail? Have about 300 pieces of brass to reload and just gathering info to start loading them up in a month or two.

I'm loading Hornady Interlock 150 gr. .312", which is all I can get locally, but it's pricey.

It really depends on what the groove dia. of your particular rifles bore slugs out at,the Finnish Mosins generally have smaller groove dia. bores than the Russian Mosins and will shoot the smaller .308 to .310 bullets with good accuracy.

My Russian M44 has a .312" groove bore,for J bullets I've shot both .311 and .312 dia. bullets. The .312's shoot ok but the .311's shoot the most accurately. For cast lead loads .314" dia. bullets out shoot all the J bullets.

I shoot most of the common bullet designs like RN,SP and FMJ and RN with a small flat point in the cast loads. Can't really tell much difference accuracy wise. For 300 yds. and under I like flat base bullets and in general the BT designs don't really give you much benefit in downrange ballistics till you pass 300 yds. but in this day in time with the shortages you have to take what you can get.

My favorite range has a no fmj rule, so it is either soft point, hollow point, or cast lead. I have good luck with lower power rounds loaded with .313" cast lead bullets, but also like shooting .311 soft point, either 180 gr, or my favorite 150 gr.

I do reduced loads with .310 AK bullets on top, and some hunting loads with 168 gr. BTHP's, .308 dia. They are accurate enough for my needs.

I started with the Sierra #2300, 150gr SP in the 303 CAL, .311 dia. This matches up well with what I slugged my barrels at. You might want to slug your barrel and find out exactly what your bore and lands measure at. There is a tutorial here if you want to give it a try... http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

I use a .3105 diameter Hornady #3131 174 GRFMJ bullet in my M91/30 rifles and the same bullet in both my Enfields. Also works in 7.7 Jap.

So does anybody have a source for inexpensive cast lead that either has a gas-check or takes one, in these sizes (312, 313, 314)?

Inexpensive no, in most cases there going to cost about as much a jacketed bullets if you buy them commercially made. It much cheaper in the long run to just cast and gas check them yourself.

Here is a couple of links not sure they will be of much help.
http://montanabulletworks.com/303_British_Rifle.html
http://moyerscastbullets.com/pricelist.html
http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm

I usually use .310 PPU 150gr BT for target and 180gr SP for hunting in my M44.

res45 wrote:Inexpensive no, in most cases there going to cost about as much a jacketed bullets if you buy them commercially made. It much cheaper in the long run to just cast and gas check them yourself.

Here is a couple of links not sure they will be of much help.
http://montanabulletworks.com/303_British_Rifle.html
http://moyerscastbullets.com/pricelist.html
http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm

These links are very much appreciated. Just being able to buy a hundred of the 200 gr bullets from the Lyman 314299 mold is well worth the cost. Then if you like them, you can shop for the mold later. It is a good looking bullet. The beartooth bullets seem reasonable. When you cast you own, you quickly realize how labor intensive it can be to cast, size, lube, and gas check. Gas checks alone are going for over 30 bucks a thousand.

I cast a number of different .30-.31 caliber bullets but like the Lyman 314299 GC sized to .311 the best. I load around 16.0-18.0 grains of 2400 for most all of my military cast bullet loads.....308, .30-40 Krag, .30-06, .303 Brit.,.7.62x53R, 7.5 Swiss including the 8MM Mauser. I only buy "reject" jacketed stuff at gunshows and they are good, just sometimes don't look quite as nice as "regulars".
I don't cast for the 6.5 Swede because I don't run across bargains for the cast checks.
I recently aquired an Izhevsk 1940 Mosin with a much sharper/tighter bore that only allows about half of the bore riding section of the 314299 to enter the muzzle so I expect it to shoot well.
Good Luck,
DocBob