modern rifle in 7.62x54r

[liberty]

^^^^x2,,I don't think anyone would be in a hurry to create a new design, especially since the 308 is so close in performance to the 54R,,,

If I recall correctly, it took Dragunov a year just to design a mag that would feed that cartridge in his rifle,

 

[MuthaFunk]

Issues are it is more difficult to make a rimmed semi auto then a rimless semi auto. Not saying its impossible, but virtually no one has done so in at least 50 years. You would basically need a new design from scratch as it would be very difficult to modify a existing 'modern' design.

Its not simply a matter of changing a barrel out, you would require a brand new bolt face (likely a new bolt due to how much larger the bolt face would have to be). A brand new magazine design and the issues that come with that (would have to be heavily tapered, look at a Bren magazine to get a idea). You would also require a adjustable gas system as there is so much variance in 7.62x54r. And on top of that it would have to be reliable to be any interest at all (which is much more difficult than you think).

In regards to the 7.62x54r modern MGs, look at how they are fed, by belts. The rim isn't a issue as it is always held in a separate position from each over round. Magazine fed is much more difficult, with solutions being like the Bren, or like the DP-28.

Too much of a niche market to be worth while for most people. Its one thing to convert a bolt face and rebarrel a rifle to take 7.62x39, its another all together to take a rifle platform and try to adapt it to a rimmed round.

I hear you on the machine gun belt fact. But you know what does seem to run ok on rimmed ammo. .22LR. There's plenty of designs that shoot .22 with minimal issues. I just don't see the rimmed cartridge being that much of an engineering hurdle.

 

[Bendeco]

Switch to a different caliber

 

[KotKotofeich]

The Russian made Medved (bear) is a SVD derived gun that is non-restricted. I guess it looks less scary. Interammo used to have them in .308, not sure if they ever brought them in 7.62x54R, but they exist too. Not sure if that's something you would enjoy. Personally, I'm on the lookout for one with the idea of re-dressing it in a similar manner we re-dress Valmet Hunters back to AK-ish looks.

 

[C18cz858]

The Russian made Medved (bear) is a SVD derived gun that is non-restricted. I guess it looks less scary. Interammo used to have them in .308, not sure if they ever brought them in 7.62x54R, but they exist too. Not sure if that's something you would enjoy. Personally, I'm on the lookout for one with the idea of re-dressing it in a similar manner we re-dress Valmet Hunters back to AK-ish looks.

I really liked the bear rifle. But yeah it was only 308.
If they brought one in, in 54r I would buy one.

 

[Eaglelord17]

I hear you on the machine gun belt fact. But you know what does seem to run ok on rimmed ammo. .22LR. There's plenty of designs that shoot .22 with minimal issues. I just don't see the rimmed cartridge being that much of an engineering hurdle.

There are also plenty of designs that are crappy .22s. Its only recently that good quality semi .22s have come available, the early ones were very hit and miss. Just look at how difficult it is to find a good .22lr magazine for some guns.

Personally I prefer rimmed ammo, that being said I understand it is very difficult to design a reliable (reliable being the important part, no one wants a unreliable gun) semi-automatic rifle for 7.62x54r and it likely wouldn't be worth anyones time, as there isn't really many rimmed rounds in use anymore so it would be difficult to make it viable in other calibers once the research is done (i.e. even if they made one in say .303 or .30-30 there wouldn't be much of a market, vs something made in .308 which can be adapted to a whole host of calibers with no issue).