Reloading 7.62x54R

Friend and myself spent quite a bit of time over a period of about 5 years, wringing these critters out. We found that most MNs will shoot their best with a .312" slug, same as with the .303.

Try the Hornady 150, seated so that the cannelure shows: crowds the leade just a bit, which can be a very good thing.
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That's the answer I was looking for. Did you crimp, even though the cannelure was exposed?
 
We didn't crimp, ever.

But to tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nuthin' But The Truth, we fireofmred our brass and then neck-sized only with a .308W die: gave us nice, tight necks and only a couple of thou extra squish. Brass required annealing with this treatment, though, after about half dozen firings. Sizing with the proper dies, likely you will want to anneal after 8 or 10 firings. Keep your pressures sane and there is no reason you shouldn't get 15 firings out of your brass: MNs lock up nice and tight and the actions are not the least bit springy. The Brass Life King is still the Ross, though!

BTW, we got excellent accuracy with 4064 and, in the MN, also with 4350. Can't remember the exact charges, so won't say anything about them.

Hope this helps.
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I use Hornady .312 174 gr. HPBT. from Mystic in all of my Enfields and Nagants including the SVT. They shoot excellent in all. I even use the same charge of H.4350 in the .303 and 7.62x54. The SVT. gets a charge of IMR. 4895. I will caution you on trying to seat the bullets long for the SVT due to the possibility of creatinng a slamfire issue.

The Honady 174 grain HPBT is actually .3105" not .312. In the Hornady book it lists the FMJBT with the RN which is .312", but if you look at a box of the FMJBT it says .3105".

I shot 5 round groups at 100m (109 yards). 3 groups of each load.
150 grain Speer SPs (.311") averaged 4"
174 grain Hornady HPBT (.3105") averaged 4.5"
174 grain Hornady RN (.312") averaged 3"

It's shooting pretty good for a 70 year old battle rifle and open sights. I'm going to be using the 174 grain RN for my hunting load and the 174 grain FMJBT as my service rifle load (when I don't feel like shooting the AR-15). The bolt is smooth and I can shoot with this thing so I'm pretty excited. Did a practice "mad minute" at 100m in the sitting position. I got 13 shots off and 11 hits on a 18"x18" target with no practice. These groups and my shooting may seem ####ty on the internet, but I was pretty impressed with the real world results of this thing.
 
At least your using .311 and not .308. That really erks me when people do that.

Irksome as it may sound, it depends on which rifle and which bore you are talking about. I have a M27 MN with a nice Tikka barrel which shoots a variety of .308 dia bullets extremely well. Best propellants in it are IMR4064 or IMR4320 with Lapua brass. Best load is a 168gr Sierra/46gr IMR4320/OAL 2.975/no crimp .308 offers the added bonus of a wider selection of bullets to play with.

Bore dimensions do vary between the various models, so it pays to check before shooting-or talking.;)
 
The Honady 174 grain HPBT is actually .3105" not .312. In the Hornady book it lists the FMJBT with the RN which is .312", but if you look at a box of the FMJBT it says .3105".

The bulk Hornady 174 gr. HPBT match are .312 and yes they also have the .3105"

I had things mixed up. HPBT are .312" and FMJBT are .3105"


Went to the range again today and shot 52 rounds of the 174 grain FMJBTs from 100m-400m. All shot prone with no rest of any sprt. Good groups out the 300m with a 12" group at the 300m berm, but things fell apart at 400m. Shoulder started to get a bit sore I guess.
 
I had things mixed up. HPBT are .312" and FMJBT are .3105"


Went to the range again today and shot 52 rounds of the 174 grain FMJBTs from 100m-400m. All shot prone with no rest of any sprt. Good groups out the 300m with a 12" group at the 300m berm, but things fell apart at 400m. Shoulder started to get a bit sore I guess.
Sounds like you have a load pretty dialed. Odd about the 4 though, the 400m berm is so much better then everything inside.

How were the soft tips?
 
Sounds like you have a load pretty dialed. Odd about the 4 though, the 400m berm is so much better then everything inside.

How were the soft tips?

They were shooting better than the fmj. I only took them out to 200, should be good for hunting this year. It feels weird having multiple modern scoped, tack driving hunting rifles and wanting to use the Mosin.
 
The bulk Hornady 174 gr. HPBT match are .312 and yes they also have the .3105"

The only thing I see on the Hornady website are the 150 and 174 grn Interlocks... and the .3105 FMJBT bullets. Nothing I see anywhere indicates that .312 match bullets exist.

Where can I find these .312 match bullets?
 
There is a couple of site sponcers that carry them. I recieved mine from mystic precision. A great dealer to do buisness with. I just checked Hornady website and you are correct in that they are not listed. I hope they have not dropped them from production. The Sierra 174's more pricey and harder to obtain. A pm. to mystic will tell if they are still available.
 
There is a couple of site sponcers that carry them. I recieved mine from mystic precision. A great dealer to do buisness with. I just checked Hornady website and you are correct in that they are not listed. I hope they have not dropped them from production. The Sierra 174's more pricey and harder to obtain. A pm. to mystic will tell if they are still available.

the sierra prohunters shoot better in all of my mosins than the 174's and those things are everywhere.
 
They were shooting better than the fmj. I only took them out to 200, should be good for hunting this year. It feels weird having multiple modern scoped, tack driving hunting rifles and wanting to use the Mosin.

I had to take a m28 out a couple years back for the same reason. Something about a hauling a 15 foot long ironsighted beast through the hills.
 
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