7.62X54R prices through the roof; why?

I mean, everyone's been saying it was going to happen for YEARS now... I'm not sure if it was importation ending from Russia, or simply the the surplus ran out... Being surplus there's only so much...

With the price of corrosive surplus within 10 cents of new production ammo, surplus should be a hard sell.

Aside form a few rifles, some oddball Winchester lever actions, etc., how many rifles here ever used that cartridge?

Now they bring in who knows how many millions of cheap Mosins and people are surprised ammo is expensive or hard to find?

I'm sure stockpiling also has nothing to do with it.

Because some people will pay the prices asked...

Being surplus there's only so much...

Click to expand...

Except that since its still in front line use all over the world, that doesn't really apply.

American shooters have shown over the last few years that they're willing to pay ridiculously high prices for ammunition.

Why would a "for profit" company charge less than what buyers are willing to pay?

It's the war in the Ukraine that's causing it.

Funny that .308 is now a dime a round cheaper than 7.62x54mmR.

Jackal said:

With the price of corrosive surplus within 10 cents of new production ammo, surplus should be a hard sell.

Click to expand...

thats a greater difference than what ive been finding, ive been seeing brass cased ZQI within a few cents per round of 7.62x54R surplus.. i do believe this will kill mosin nagant "value", not everyone but a considerable amount of people who were interested in this rifle was interested due to the low cost of the ammunition that could match .308 ballistics.. i certainly wont be buying anymore ammo for mine

Reversal of events are affecting the supply and demand.

I didn't know that things had gone that way, since I rarely shoot my Mosins. Had a look at J&G, who used to carry "spam cans" of surplus, and all they have now is new manufacture. Yet another time I didn't get while the gettin' was good...

7.62X54r is just suffering the same fate as all surplus ammo has in the past. It has been cheap for so long that I think that there has developed a mindset that it would always be cheap.

.303 British, 8mm, .30-06 and .308 are just a few that I have watched in my lifetime go from inexpensive to pricey and that is not to mention the 7.5 Swiss and 6.5X55 Swedish ammo too. I have just one crate of 7.61X54r left that I am now saving for posterity.

The answer is, of course to reload. Quite frankly, the Russian and Ukrainian ammo was basically crap for accuracy with the exception of a few lots of sniper ammo. I now reload for my PSL and contrary to the reports that they are not all that accurate, I have been able to cut my groups in half or less using my handloads.

Saw this coming which is why I'm set up to reload for it. Sucked having to buy molds that drop a .316 bullet instead of using the plethora of 30 cal molds I already had. But free lead, primers bought years ago and a few grains of Bullseye make for very very cheap rounds

Swampman said:

Because some people will pay the prices asked...

Except that since its still in front line use all over the world, that doesn't really apply.

American shooters have shown over the last few years that they're willing to pay ridiculously high prices for ammunition.

Why would a "for profit" company charge less than what buyers are willing to pay?

Click to expand...

Swampman, The ammo were talking about IS in finite supply. The czech, bulgarian, russian, and other x54r ammo that has tradtionally sold for about 90 bucks a can is indeed dwindling. Sure, theres new stuff being made. But thats not the MILSURP stuff were talking about. The new stuff would be far more expensive.

how many of those countries still use x54r? thought most of them went .308 for the bigger stuff

If people understood economics these types of questions wouldn't be posted.......

Well on the global picture there are a lot of "wars" and conflicts that are using guns in this and 7.62x39 so it leaves less surplus for us fun shooters.

at any rate, this is why its important NOT to rely on rifles that use ammunition that rely on surplus ammunition sources that could be shut off (by some stupid regulations) or simply dry up unless you have the funds to buy 10k+ rounds of it while its cheap

x54R is not a big loss, unreloadable, steel cased, rimmed, and generally inaccurate forcing you to use either a mosin (not particularly accurate and crap ergos) or some overpriced PSL you cant find mags for in order to fire it.. sure it was cheap, and sure it had the muzzle energy of a .308, but it really wasnt worth much more than that anyway

As the surplus dries up, Wolf, Tula, and the Bears, will increase production and prices will come down some for new production ammo.

There are still a lot of spam cans out there in people's basements and garages though.

If people understood economics these types of questions wouldn't be posted.......

Click to expand...

"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it, The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."
==Thomas Paine

wolf and tula at full production wont be any cheaper than .308 and theres absolutely zero reason to go woth x54R over 308, its inferior in every aspect

wolf and tula at full production wont be any cheaper than .308 and theres absolutely zero reason to go woth x54R over 308, its inferior in every aspect

Click to expand...

.308 is inferior in at least 1 aspect... it doesnt function in my Finnish Mosin's.

theres absolutely zero reason to go woth x54R over 308, its inferior in every aspect

Click to expand...

Except I already have a half dozen rifles chambered in x54, I enjoy them, and they don't get inferiority complexes from the other guns in the safe.

Every time somebody pulls the trigger, it isn't a contest to see who is doing it in the absolute, most perfect, efficient, modern, hip, way to send a bullet down range.

There are millions of guns in the world chambered in x54R, there will always be reasonably priced ammo for them, maybe just not at rock bottom prices like in the past.

If cheap ammo was the ONLY reason somebody bought a Mosin, then they bought it for the wrong reason. If they want to part ways with it because ammo prices went up a little, then there will be lines of people ready to take it off their hands for them.

Low pricing and historical interest drew me to the Mosin-Nagant, but mediocre performance (even with the few Finn rifles I owned) drove me away. I cashed out all my Mosin-Nagant rifles and ammo a while ago. The uptick in ammo pricing makes me glad that I did so.

Anyone have any recommendations how long to wait before buying a Mosin or two in order to get them for cheap?

Click to expand...

I would argue that they can no longer be gotten for cheap. They will likely not be going down in price ever again so now is as cheap as you will find them.

I currently own 4 Mosins and payed less than $100 for each less than 10 years ago. Not sure what they are selling for currently but probably at least double that.

I have a lifetime supply of spam can ammo at my current rate of consumption. My boys like shooting them a lot though so I may need to reload at some point. I don't remember what the spam cans cost.

minutemen1776 said:

Low pricing and historical interest drew me to the Mosin-Nagant, but mediocre performance (even with the few Finn rifles I owned) drove me away. I cashed out all my Mosin-Nagant rifles and ammo a while ago. The uptick in ammo pricing makes me glad that I did so.

Click to expand...

That's baloney.

The Finn M39 is perhaps the greatest combat rifle ever made. It is TREMENDOUSLY superior in every way to the standard Russian M91/30.

The Finn M39s are perhaps the most accurate general-issue non sniper battle rifle ever made. They are flawlessly reliable, even in the most extreme conditions, and they fixed all of the Russian issues to produce a stellar rifle. It is one of the main reasons why Finland kept their independence.