That's Better- my reloads from the Mosin

[BCRider]

Finally got around to doing up some reloads for the Mosin. Privi brass with Hornady Match 174gn bullets. Did a couple of first batches with IMR4895 and H4350. No clear winner either way but both shot well for me. Like less than 4 inch groups at 100 yards off the bench. I'm sure the ammo is better than this too as I was really having a time with the lighting of the day playing havoc with my "old guy eye'tis" issue. I was having a helluva time getting that nice sharp focus on the front pin. Next time I'll bring along the peep stickies to put on my shooting glasses to sharpen up my vision a bit.

But the bottom line is that crusty old 1939 Mosins CAN shoot well if we feed them good ammo. I'm stoked to go further with this now and load up a couple of more batches in greater volume and work out towards 200 yards. And after the brass has been shot once I'm looking at neck sizing only and trimming to length to get even more consistency. Although I'm pretty sure it's my eyes with the plain iron sights that is the limit already.

At one point I got tired of the rifle having all the fun by shooting off the block so I stood up and loaded up three rounds. The releases all felt good but I wasn't prepared for what I found when I looked through the spotting scope. All three had hit on the 6 inch Shoot N'C target at 100. Probably good luck more than good planning but it still made my day....

So to all of you that constantly tell folks that Mosins and other milsurp guns are no better than "minute of barn" I say to you a nice wet "PTHHHHHHPT!"

 

[JDForBrkFst]

Your results are impressive. I've been looking at getting into loading for the 7.62x54r myself. I have quite a few rifles in that caliber and have always been curious to see what I could do if I hand loaded for it.

 

[Magellann]

I have some brass for mine, but havn't made up any rounds yet. So far with factory surplus ammo I can usually get 4 out of 5 shots in a toonie size group at a 100 yards and always a flier tossed in.

 

[JDForBrkFst]

I'm curious to see what kind of brass life to expect. I've heard 303 British has a relatively short case life, I haven't shot any of mine enough yet to see if that's the case though. I figure their profile's are similar so maybe expect the same with 54r?

 

[emerson]

I'm curious to see what kind of brass life to expect. I've heard 303 British has a relatively short case life, I haven't shot any of mine enough yet to see if that's the case though. I figure their profile's are similar so maybe expect the same with 54r?

Loose/generous chambers with cartridges that headspace off the rim and f/l sizing each time will work the brass more and cause it to fail more quickly. Some shooters slide a small rubber oring around the case before shooting so it holds the rim/case head against the bolt, rather than pushed forward when the firing pin strikes. Otherwise, apparently the expanding brass shoulder and bodyholds itself
in place against the chamber wall and if the head isn't tight against the bolt the cartridge walls stretch until it is. I've only used Lapua brass and only for 2 firings in my Moisin so can't report when the brass might fail.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

I have some brass for mine, but havn't made up any rounds yet. So far with factory surplus ammo I can usually get 4 out of 5 shots in a toonie size group at a 100 yards and always a flier tossed in.

That is really good! The Mosin challenges me to do better and achieve what you are achieving but I am going to have to find ways to improve it or me!

 

[BCRider]

I have some brass for mine, but havn't made up any rounds yet. So far with factory surplus ammo I can usually get 4 out of 5 shots in a toonie size group at a 100 yards and always a flier tossed in.

You got yourself some primo surplus ammo there. If the surplus stuff was ALL like that I probably wouldn't be bothering to load my own. But the SPAM can of ammo I bought is pretty well on the other end of the spectrum from what you're shooting. Mine is barely "minute of hillside" with 8 to 10 inch size groups and LOTS of fliers outside of even that when shooting at 100.

Also if you're getting twoonie size groups with ANY ammo off iron sights you clearly don't have the "old guy eye'tis" problem either. I'd be willing to bet an E-beer that my home made ammo would match that performance. But the nut on the trigger can't see well enough to give it a chance of matching your results. So for any iron sight shooting if I can keep it to around 3 inch groups at 100 I'm going home with a smile on my mug.

I didn't do that O ring trick since the headspace checked out just fine. But now that the brass is shot once I'll be neck sizing only. I'll also likely run the once fired through an annealing process as well before I clean and neck size for the next reloading. The fired brass fits easily in the rifle and the bolt closes easily. So there's no binding. With the neck sizing only and re-annealing after two or three reloadings I'm hoping I can get at least 10 firings from the cases. And for the amount I shoot such a rifle the 100 cases I've got will likely only see one reload per year.

And yeah, getting good groups out of a pretty well stock Mosin is a grin. As I run off the fresh brass and get it fire formed I'll move into using the neck sized and annealed casings to load up graduated loads to try to find the sweet spot.

I might just look into fire forming without bullets for the rest of the fresh brass. Otherwise it's a box of bullets with little guarantee of any better results.

 

[leebuilder]

Some of that milsurp ammo has preinstalled fliers, i have achieved some nice groups handloading 7.62×54r so much so I built a hunting rifle from one. If you can find one with a tight bore and muzzle it should be a good shooter. Rather have a tight ugly bore that a shiny loose one. H4831 is a real preformer and I have loaded above the listed max to good effect and no signs of over pressure.
I dont have mosinitus, i manage it.
be well

 

[MuthaFunk]

I have a couple of good shooter Mosin's that I've put scopes on to see what they can do. I've had great luck with some of the milsurp ammo in them. I've just started working up an accuracy load for my main range Mosin to see what it can really do. Here's what I have so far with milsurp ammo:

After running four ladder tests I've narrowed my accuracy load in the first rifle to 44.1gr Varget pushing a Sierra .311 174 gr HPBT Match bullet. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but have a bunch loaded up and ready to try! I hope they shoot better than the milsurp stuff has. I'd be overjoyed if they do.

What's your home load that's working for you?

 

[marc_j]

You should get 5-8 reloadings from PRVI brass before you see any issues. After that, there is a loss rate of ~2% due to neck splits. These splits begin in the middle of the neck so frequent case length trimming does not lessen the rate of failure; trim only when necessary (~5 reloadings or when COL is exceeded). Very rarely (I have had 2) a crack forms transversely in the body of the case and if this goes undetected the next firing will leave the front half of the case in the chamber. This is where those broken case extractors that are sold all over the place are used for. Keeping the cases clean helps in detecting these issues before they become a problem.

Overall, case life does not figure significantly in the cost of shooting. A bag of 100 cases ($70) is just a little bit more than a box of Sierra 0.311 HPBT bullets ($61). Annealing case necks is possible but isn't justified IMO for 2% loss rate.

Hornady 3130G HPBT 174 gn bullets perform about the same as Sierra 2315s; they are about $6 per hundred cheaper. Cheaper projectiles like Hornady 3131 FMJBT (0.312) don't perform any better than surplus ammunition in my experience. It is pretty much a universal truth that accuracy starts with the projectiles. Powder, cases, primers are factors but no rifle can achieve accuracy with low quality bullets.

I recommend against buying RCBS neck sizing dies which are fairly expensive and hard to get in Canada. Wait until Lee comes out with a neck sizing collet die for 54R or modify a 0.303 dies.

** For those starting reloading for military 54R you should avoid soft primers like CC 200. These can produce some dangerous conditions (hang fires) due to the anvil being forced into the flash hole. WLR primers are fine.

174 gn Sierra HPBT with 45.5 gn of IMR 4895 @ 100 yds (dot is just less than 1 inch)

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