54r

jarret

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Just a question a out reloading for my 1943 Mosin Nahant 91/30.

I can't seem to find any .310 bullets, other than some 120something grain bullets for ×39.

Can I use .311 sized bullets. Should I have the barrel slugged out? It's a refurb with what seems to be a new barrel.

Thanks,
Jarret
 
Start at the starting load and work up and you'll have no problems using .310, .3105, .311, or .312" bullets in any Mosin. If the bullet's too big, it'll swage down in the throat of the barrel. It will of course increase pressure compared to a smaller bullet but starting loads are low enough that it doesn't matter. Just don't swap the bullet size without working the load up again.

Slugging the barrel could help if you're trying to squeeze the most accuracy out of the rifle but assuming you aren't trying to build a Mosin sniper or anything, you don't normally need to bother with slugging the bore unless you're looking to load cast bullets (or the bullets are tumbling and keyholeing on the target).

I actually load .308" flat base bullets in my Mosin sometimes (depending on what I have on hand) and it works great. No noticeable difference in accuracy. I've done the same with some tighter barrelled .303 British rifles as well. You could try the same in your Mosin. Worst case scenario the bore is too large and the bullets tumble and hit the target sideways but then you know for future reference.

For load data just use any data for the same bullet weight and construction type (copper jacketed/lead core, solid copper, frangible, cast, etc.). At starting loads a difference in bullet shape wont increase pressure enough to be dangerous. Again though, don't change the bullet without working up again.
 
Henry at Budget Shooting supply has Prvi .311 150gn bullets in stock at a reasonable price point. And being local to you it would be at your door pretty quickly. Sadly he doesn't provide for local pickup but shipping for such a short distance is cheap.

I found with shooting the milsurp ammo that the copper washing over the soft steel casings led to a massive amount of copper fouling. Now I don't know if this is bad for the accuracy but I figure it can't help any.

I also found that when I shot some Prvi Partizan 54R ammo from my own Mosins that my accuracy immediately went up from roughly 7 inch groups at 100 yards with fliers that didn't even hit the target down to around 3 inch groups. And that is with "old guy eyes" doing the aiming. So I'm not so much a fan of milsurp ammo or bullets. We can't expect good results if we don't start with good "food".
 
Just a question a out reloading for my 1943 Mosin Nahant 91/30.

I can't seem to find any .310 bullets, other than some 120something grain bullets for ×39.

Can I use .311 sized bullets. Should I have the barrel slugged out? It's a refurb with what seems to be a new barrel.

Thanks,
Jarret

IMHO you have to slug the barrel in a mosin to know for sure.
Not mush point buying bullets before you know the actual diameter of your bore.
 
Hornady publishes data with .312 bullets at 150 and 174 gr. I use .311 Sierra 180 prohunters (advertised for the .303) in my nagant with IMR 4350. Works well, great idea for an inexpensive hunting gun.
 
Henry at Budget Shooting supply has Prvi .311 150gn bullets in stock at a reasonable price point. And being local to you it would be at your door pretty quickly. Sadly he doesn't provide for local pickup but shipping for such a short distance is cheap.

I found with shooting the milsurp ammo that the copper washing over the soft steel casings led to a massive amount of copper fouling. Now I don't know if this is bad for the accuracy but I figure it can't help any.

I also found that when I shot some Prvi Partizan 54R ammo from my own Mosins that my accuracy immediately went up from roughly 7 inch groups at 100 yards with fliers that didn't even hit the target down to around 3 inch groups. And that is with "old guy eyes" doing the aiming. So I'm not so much a fan of milsurp ammo or bullets. We can't expect good results if we don't start with good "food".

Your poor results come from shooting machine gun ammo with its boat tail bullets out of a looser barrel rifle. You would have much better results if your ammo had the original 147gr flat open base bullet from the original 7.62x54r loading.

I had very good results in 54r with the .311 150gr hornady sp over 43gr of varget.
 
Hornady publishes data with .312 bullets at 150 and 174 gr. I use .311 Sierra 180 prohunters (advertised for the .303) in my nagant with IMR 4350. Works well, great idea for an inexpensive hunting gun.


X2

A .312 bullet works best in every 54r rifle that I own. Hornady works well, but so do other bullets in .312.

As a cautionary note, I slug every rifle before I load for it. Some rifles can have an exceptionally tight bore, however many Mosin or 54r rifles tend to be on the larger side.
 
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