Mosin 7.62x54R

I use Berrys .311 123 grain for play loads. They are plated so you have to keep the speed under 2000 fps. I load them with green dot 14 grains. When i want to crank it up. I use speer 150 grain .311 bullets. IMR 4895 and varget works good. I cant think of the load atm. Slug your bore too. Incase it's over .311.

IMR4350 is what I loaded with for my jacketed loads (150gr. Speer .311 bullet) and Unique, Green Dot and 2400 is what I used for cast bullet loads.

I sized all my cast bullets to .314. I ran them as fat as I could and they did well.

The 7.62x54 is VERY close to the .308win, so a wide variety of powders are suitable.
Best performance is with .312” Jacketed. However, PPU and Sierra .311” often shoot well.
Grafs.com is the best source for components.
I suggest any reloadable brass you have. But DO trim it.
Grafs has PPU brass, and bullets. But you’ll likely find the .312” Hornady’s are better.
My Mosin is a refurbished 1943 Izvesk. The more I shot it , the better it shot until about 300rds. It’s now approximately 2moa with the Hornady 174gr BTHP MATCH bullet over IMR4064.

Best hunting bullet is the PPU 180gr BTSpt.
My gun really likes the Lee .309”-200gr RN @.314” over 30.0gr of H4895. My favorite plinking load is the Lee 160gr .309” PtdGC from a 6-cavity mold using 20.0gr of #2400.

IMR 4064 is the best all around powder for Mosins.
IMR 3031 is good also, particularly for carbines.
Basically any powder good for '06 is good for Mosins.
Check the expander ball on the Lee sizer, and get bullets in that diameter. .308 diameter will give decent accuracy in barrels up to .312, out to 100 yards. I load my hunting rounds with 168 OTM in .308 Dia.

I push a sinker through. I have an old cleaning rod with a spent 22 casing on the end. That way the rod don't dig into the sinker.

H380

Yes .314 and of you use cast .316. With the lands at .303 you have plenty of rifling. Mine slugged at .301-.311. Here is a diagram of the size they can be.

50 grains of Target pushing a 150 grain bullet will get you 2850 FPS.

Watch out for Berdan primed brass.

I don't know why, but I have had a lot of poorly annealed brass. That makes cute little pleats in the brass at the shoulder. So give it some heat before you form it.

Here is a pic of mine when it was at the LGS.

You can a close bore measurement by miking the inside of the mouth of a fired case

That would be the leade diameter, which will be larger than either the land or groove diameter.
Close may count in horseshoes and hand grenades, but you want more exact measurements here. Better slightly too small than too large. I've shot .308 Dia. Bullets from a .314 bore with accuracy sufficient for deer hunting out to 75-100 yards.

usmc0811 said:

Once I had this completed I used several wooden dowel rods

Click to expand...

I'm glad that your slugging project went well.

If you ever have to do it again, I suggest that you use a brass or aluminum rod rather than wood.

I once had a wooden dowel rod split diagonally in the bore. The pieces wedged into the bore so tightly that I had to heat the barrel to wood charring temps to get 'em out.

Not fun for a 13 year old that'd just purchased his very first Mauser for the princely sum of $29.95...