Why no love for the 7.62x54r???

In that caliber, you are almost always talking about a Mosin. Between today's prices for those things, and the fact that they aren't very ergonomic, the quality of the trigger, challenges in mounting a scope, typical accuracy, etc., not to mention the 2 choices are either a short very loud carbine or a rifle that won't even fit in a ground blind, its much easier to spend the same amount (or less) on a current production rifle in a more traditional American design and caliber, with better design, trigger, and everything else. There is also the challenges of acquiring good rounds in x 54 for hunting, and if certain people have their way, even getting the surplus stuff from overseas won't be easier in the future either.

I gave my Mosin Nagant to my nephew. We enjoy ringing steel with it at 250 yards.
I would have used it during an extended doe only season like they have in Wisconsin and other states.
Opening day of rifle season I'll stick with my left hand Weatherby 7rm with a 3.5×10 scope. Great for all ranges that I would shoot animals at...
Nothing wrong with the Mosin, but the Weatherby is a better tool for me.

FL-NC said:

In that caliber, you are almost always talking about a Mosin. Between today's prices for those things, and the fact that they aren't very ergonomic, the quality of the trigger, challenges in mounting a scope, typical accuracy, etc., not to mention the 2 choices are either a short very loud carbine or a rifle that won't even fit in a ground blind, its much easier to spend the same amount (or less) on a current production rifle in a more traditional American design and caliber, with better design, trigger, and everything else. There is also the challenges of acquiring good rounds in x 54 for hunting, and if certain people have their way, even getting the surplus stuff from overseas won't be easier in the future either.

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Quality of the trigger. A friend has a '42 Ishevsk M91/30 with a trigger so bad, it makes one appreciate "bad" triggers on almost any other gun, except possibly the DA version of the Nagant revolver. It made both of us better shooters.

WisBorn said:

I would have used it during an extended doe only season like they have in Wisconsin and other states.

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I carried two different Mosins as still hunting guns in WI; A sporterized (by Sears or Monkey Wards, back in the 50's or 60's) SCW 1938 Tula M91/30, and a Type 53 (Chinese M44). Neve got a shot with either, but they were handy woods guns. About that safety; practice with an empty gun a lot before trying to use it hunting. Some just carry them "cruiser ready" hunting because they don't bother to learn to use it well.

entropy said:

Never seen this one, eh?

https://russian-mosin-nagant-forum.com/

Slamfire, those troops in the pic are carrying M1903's.

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Here is the full up picture, barrels much longer than an 03



This is an 1903



While I don't have an infantry Krag, which is a long barreled rifle, I do have this. Notice the box magazine on the right of the rifle is a characteristic of the Krag



I thought it was very interesting to have actual evidence of US Krags in the European theather. I saw one very blurry picture of American troops leaving their ship, they had the same hats, and very long barreled rifles. Since the picture was so blurry I thought maybe they had French Berthier rifles,

https://www.royaltigerimports.com/product-p/bert0001.htm

because all that could be told from the picture was that what the Americans were carrying had long barrels. Then I ran across the above picture, and when you zoom in, it is clearly Krag rifles.

American troops made it in Britain, crossed the channel, with their stateside Krags. I cannot prove Krags were used in combat, but they were in France. It was a logistical nightmare for the AEF, the US had almost nothing, we used French planes, French artillery pieces, etc, etc. American industry did an amazing job of gearing up in a short time, but early in the War, you went with what you had.

If you go back into old Remington catalogs, the ammo was offered (FMJ & SP) back to 1920 or so.
So, it's not an unknown.
Just that there were a lot of other rifles in other calibers, too.

entropy said:

Quality of the trigger. A friend has a '42 Ishevsk M91/30 with a trigger so bad, it makes one appreciate "bad" triggers on almost any other gun, except possibly the DA version of the Nagant revolver. It made both of us better shooters.



I carried two different Mosins as still hunting guns in WI; A sporterized (by Sears or Monkey Wards, back in the 50's or 60's) SCW 1938 Tula M91/30, and a Type 53 (Chinese M44). Neve got a shot with either, but they were handy woods guns. About that safety; practice with an empty gun a lot before trying to use it hunting. Some just carry them "cruiser ready" hunting because they don't bother to learn to use it well.

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As a lefty I prefer using a left handed scoped rifle that fits me like a glove.
I like the Mosin it is fun to shoot on the range. I would have liked to try it during a t-zone or doe season. Nothing wrong with the rifle or the cartridge. I have used other right handed rifles, but am in no way as comfortable with them as a truly ambidextrous and lefty rifles.

I'm sure that the 7.62x54R would have become more accepted here if more sporting rifles had been chambered for it. To most guys it's just another obscure foreign cartridge. The ballistics are in the ballpark with many of our commercial hunting rounds. Most any of the old military rounds from the late 1800's to the mid 20th century have enough power for most big game. 7.62x54R handloads with 150 gr. .311" PPU soft point bullets chronograph an average 2881 fps from my long barreled Mosin Nagant Mod. 91/30 and that powder charge is just over 1.5 gr.'s BELOW the maximum in the data I'm using. I rotate through a few rifles when hunting in a rifle zone. I've had the Mosin out a few times in the last couple years but haven't got to try that load on a whitetail yet. I have a bunch of the PPU 150 gr. S.P. factory loads that MI Sportsman mentioned and they do pretty well from my 91/30. Had to try a few different handloads before finding one that shot better than those. They chronographed at 2875 fps on an October day at 68 degrees and 2915 fps the following year on an August afternoon at 76 degrees. Originally bought the PPU factory ammo because the brass is high quality for reloading and both times they were chronographed I was getting higher average velocity than the 2837 fps figure that PPU listed, although they didn't say what barrel length was used in their testing. Haven't gotten around to the heavier bullets yet but as it stands now I'm all set ballistics-wise for anything I need to do with a big game cartridge. Put a scout scope on the Mosin with a no gunsmithing mount and that really helps my 100 yard accuracy. Now it's just waiting until I see a suitable deer in the crosshairs.

It’s about all I post about on here lol.

I think the biggest reason is the lack of modern rifles chambered in the caliber. Realistically you’re limited to Mosins and PSLs because VEPR rifles are nearly impossible to get your hands on.

I always felt that if someone made a modern bolt gun in the caliber available here in the US thats NOT just a rebadged mosin, that’s it would be a lot more popular.

MISportsman said:

For 7.62x54r, I have had very good luck with the s&b 180 grain sp. They have been accurate and seem to have very good terminal performance. I would like to get the opportunity to try them on something bigger than deer. I have heard good things about the ppu 150gr sp too, but haven't tried them yet. There is a good video on YouTube where Iraqveteran8888 took a large pig with one out of a Romanian psl

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Both are excellent. I’ve taken deer with both rounds.

MISportsman said:

That could very possibly have a lot to do with it. I love all of the old battle cartridges of the early 20th century! The 7.62x54r has taken moose and Kodiak bear in Russia that would make Alaskan ones look small for over 100 years and the 6.5x55, 7x57, and 7.92x57 have taken moose and stag in Europe for just as long, but we need a fancy named cartridge and enough velocity from a $100 box of ammo to outrun a missle to hunt an antelope lol

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I always said to myself that people were hunting these critters successfully long before the gun was a synapse in the imagination. Just about Any rifle would be better than what they used

A .30 caliber Russian Long soft tip from a Nagant rifle will rock big boars.

I know that from 1st hand experience. It’s not as underpowered a cartridge as some think.

There has to be at least 100 commercial 30-06 loads out there with at least a half dozen available at my local sporting goods store. The only 7.62 x 54r ammo I have is military ammo. There are probably over 100 sporting rifle models in 30-06 that have been produced over the years. I have a Mosin Nagant and SVT-40 which covers the different models of rifles pretty well. (Dragonov cost too much for my budget).

I contend that popularity is more a product of availability than ballistics and the effectiveness.

FL-NC said:

In that caliber, you are almost always talking about a Mosin.

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Correct – almost.

I’ve got a Vepr semi-auto in 7.62x54r, it’s marketed as a ‘hunting’ rifle – of course, no serious hunter would consider it one.

But I am a big fan of the cartridge and the rifle is loads of fun to shoot.

My first 2 deer I killed were with my M91 New England Westinghouse Finn return (SA 1915 marked barrel). I loaded Speer Hot-Cor 150gr .311 bullets over 54gr. IMR4350. Those bullets were the cheapest at my local shop going for about $8.99 a hundred back around 2005-06. I would buy a few boxes and just blast paper with them and play around. They proved to be very accurate with that combo, so I took that long rascal up into my homemade tree stand. First deer was right through the heart and it fell over like struck with lightning. The second a week later, after 3 minutes in the stand, was a quartering away shot (on a trot) that popped both lungs and clipped top of stomach. Ran about 20 yards and slammed into a tree dead. Never recovered either bullet. It works well.

MISportsman said:

I have a vepr too, it is a blast. It's a little heavy to carry around all day, but from a blind it's the hammer of Thor on hogs!

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The hunter version with the standard stock and no pistol grip?

I am the Odd Duck, I have a modern 7.62x54R Hunting Handgun. Mine is a Stainless Steel Encore Pro Hunter Handgun with 15.875" MGM barrel with a Four Gill Muzzle Brake. It has an EGW Scope Base, and a Weaver 30mm Classic Extreme 2.5-10X Rifle Scope with Four Rings. This scope has lots of eye relief when set on 2.5X. Steve Stratton did the trigger job on it. The barrel is .308 on this one. I have retained the factory Synthetic Grip, but the Forend is a 10" Sand Bag friendly one made my Tony's Stocks. I am loading PPU cases with Speer 150 grain Hot Core SP bullets. I am using a generous dose of RL17 ignited by a Federal Magnum Match Primer. Performance is pretty much identical to a 308 Winchester Handgun with a comparable barrel length. I know everyone likes to do a comparison to the 30-06. Handloading I cannot equal 30-06 Handloaded ammunition performance in a Handgun. At 308 velocity is is still one serious hunting handgun. I went with the 7.62x54R over a 308 to get a Rimmed Case.

Bob R

MISportsman said:

That's the one. So far its been a great gun, pretty accurate with the s&b stuff and functions flawlessly

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That is literally my dream gun. If you ever sell it look me up.

I routinely kick myself for not buying a Mosin Nagant back when they were on every shelf for less that $100. Would still like to have one but cannot justify the premium they bring now days.

MISportsman said:

I was in the same boat! I finally found it on gun broker about a year ago and probably paid way too much for it, but I don't care because I really wanted it. It definitely lived up to my expectations I would recommend one if you find it. Keep a look at gun broker. I searched "molot vepr 7.62x54r"

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How'd you find one without the thumbhole stock?