7.62x54R, Crushed Cases, Wasted Powder, and Four Letter Words

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TenDriver

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After accumulating 12 54R cases and some .311 bullets, I decided to make 5 test rounds. Started off by replacing the .308 expander with one from .303 British dies, just like Lee says to do, smashed two cases. Crap. No biggie, adjust the expander, size the other 10. Cleaned up the cases, primed 5, charged them, seated bullets. No neck tension. Seated a little past the cannelure, no dice. Go to pull the bullet, grabbed my .358 collet instead of the .308, scored another case. Now I'm at 9.

Decided to try the .308 expander, bullet goes in with to much tension. Neck bulges. Put the .303 expander back in, smash another case. That leaves 8, and a very agitated person.

What's going on with this neck tension issue? I don't believe it's the brass. Could be the short 123 gr bullet. Could be I need a .310 expander. Don't know. I do know that I can't find more 54R brass at an affordable price! Think its time to try and shave .001 off the expander? Not really sure that's my cup of tea.
 
Measure the expander.

Don't quote me on this but my "larger" expander in my x54r dies measured .308 while
my "small" expander measured .306.

That's the first thing I would check.
 
Yep. Just successfully loaded two rounds with .311 bullets.

Soon to have a couple hundred .310 bullets on the market I guess.
 
I use the dies exactly as they come from Lee, with .311 bullets
. They work fine.
 
The damaged cases were my fault. Had the expander too far up.

Thanks for the link. I'll have to hold off on the brass for now. Single income with a high maintenance wife and kid. Shooting is a luxury item outside of hunting season, and I have plenty of surplus ammo to keep shooting the Mosin. I found I enjoyed reloading more than shooting, so it was another caliber to enjoy.

Posted the .310 bullets on the trading post. I can't use them, but maybe one of y'all can, or trade for something interesting.


Thanks for the help!!
 
@ Tendriver
I have both the Lee and the RCBS 7.62x54 die sets.
The expander balls are .306 and .308.
But if you champher the inside of the neck, you have less chance of the bullet catching and crushing the case when seating the bullet.
Also, I do not crimp the bullet very hard.
I load everything from salvaged military cases with the berdan primers, both steel and brass, as well as Norma, Hanson, Winchester, S&B and prvi Boxer primed cases, and have Never had a case cruching issue, even when loading .312 jacketed bullets, or up to .314 cast bullets with Gas Checks.
Heck, I still have my old Lee Classic Reloader ( wack a Mole ) that I do still use from time to time.
No problens there either.

Why cant you use the .310 bullets ?
I am getting under 1" groups from my rifle with the .310 -123 JSP and FMJ as well as the V-Max hornaday with 52 grains of IMR-4320
 
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The .311 expander doesn't leave adequate neck tension and the the .308 makes the neck look like a Coke bottle with the .310 bullet.
 
docsleepy said:
http://www.brownells.com/reloading/...boxes-prod54806.aspx?avs|Manufacturer_1=NORMA

Look down the page, it is in stock at Brownell's. $30 gets you 25 cases. Use 150 gr sierra spire points from powder valley. .311. Varget 42 grains. Check for head sep. expect > 8 reloads.
Click to expand...
Silly question, but instead of buying new unfired brass at $30, why not just buy a couple of boxes of loaded PPU 150 grain ammo and shoot it and save the brass for reloads? That would give you 40 pieces of fire formed brass from your gun at about the same price as the brass listed above. I buy a box of ammo at my LGS for $14.99 a box when they have them. You can buy them online for a a little less or a little more but then you have to add the shipping cost to the mix on both the brass and the loaded rounds.
 
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You could always pull the bullets from your surplus rounds, dump the powder, and recharge/seat with your own components.
 
TenDriver, I did the same a while back with the expander setting. I think the M-N casings are more sensitive to that because of the sharper angle of the shoulder.

Kuyong, yes, the PPU ammo is good. I have purchased 6 20 rd. boxes from Powder Valley. The casings are good quality and boxer primer.
 
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Kyong, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Just not in a rush to do it. I might send 100 rds a year through this rifle and have plenty of steel cased ammo for the time being.

Bainter, I've done that to a couple of rounds for the heck of it, but it's just too wasteful to me.

KC, you could be right about that.
 
If you can get loaded rounds that cheaply by all means, buy them instead of brass! Just beware, sellier & Beloit cases have a shallow primer pocket that must be deepened to accept commercial primers
 
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