How much 7.62 x 54R do you keep?

[Shrinkmd]

Will it ever run out? If we all shot 10k rounds a year would it last longer than before the sun will go supernova? Are we only one shipment away from the "last of the good stuff"? Will we be forced to overpay for Wolf at $125 for 500 rounds? Will we give up and go back to our AK/SKS/AR's because the corrosive "thrill is gone"

How much do you keep?

 

[g56]

My Mosin Nagant hasn't seen a factory loaded round since I got it, it runs strictly on my own handloads!

 

[mustanger98]

I don't keep any 7.62x54 on hand. I never bothered to pick up one of those ugly Nagant rifles. Now, if we were talking .30-06, 8mm Mauser, or .22LR, it'd be another story.

 

[armoredman]

Ugly? My M38 is a beautiful peice of work. Inexpensive does not mean cheap.
I have about 600 rounds around...maybe more, counting reloads...

 

[Cosmoline]

I like to keep a few cans of Albanian plus about 300 in mixed surplus. I have a rolling stock of Russian production and handloads and a few hundred brass in circulation.

 

[mustanger98]

Ugly? My M38 is a beautiful peice of work. Inexpensive does not mean cheap.

What is it they say about milsurps? If it's wierd it's French and if it's ugly it's Russian. Who said anything about "inexpensive" vs. "cheap". Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but I've always been a Mauser/Enfield/Springfield guy. Up until recently Mauser and Enfield have been pretty affordable. BTW, have you checked prices on gunbroker.com on Nagants lately? It seems they've shot up some too.

 

[Tyril]

always about two Polish tins, 880 rounds total.


-mike

 

[ConserVet]

I've got one box of 20 rounds just in case I take the 91/30 out. I keep aquiring new toys, so the Mosin keeps getting put at the back of the line for range day.

Its not, nor will it ever be, one of my SHTF weapons, so I don't have any burning need to keep ammo around.

 

[rangerruck]

i have jsut enough, that my bed doesn't "float"

 

[foghornl]

I voted "park cars outside"...but I really don't have that much.

I counted the residents of 'Foggy's Ammo Dump' the other day. I have about 1,500 rouns of 7.62x54...500 on stipper clips, 1K still in its paper-wrapped bundles in an ammo can (440 of those sealed in an Albanian Spam Can)

 

[Draven32]

MY best answer is 'not enough'

I really need some crates of that yugo surplus....

 

[Matthew748]

I think "not enough" is the correct answer for 7.62x54R and 8mm Mauser. I really should pick up another case of both at the next gun show. The problem is I cheap out at the last minute. It is reasonable, but I just don't like spending money.

 

[Ash]

I don't place aesthetic opinions on rifles, but it seems odd that anyone who thought a SMLE was pretty (there's nothing attactive about an Enfield) would bash a Mosin as being ugly. From 30 yards, the M39 and No4Mk1 look almost identical. The protruding mag is no different than the M91 Mauser, Enfields, M95 Mannlicher, M91 Carcano, or 88 Commission rifle. Ian Hogg bashes the Mosin for the mag, yet he calls the mag on the 88 rifle "graceful". He bashes the spike bayo on Mosins and remains silent on the #4 rifle's spike bayo.

Yet, how can a blunt-nosed, chunky SMLE with it's seperate charger guide, narrow wrist, lumpy handguards, and odd semi-pistol grip be considered pretty and the M91 be ugly? For that matter, how can the P14/M1917 be considered pretty, with those fish-tail rear sight ears?

But then, I never looked at a drill and thought, man that Black and Decker is ugly, not like a Makita at all!

Ash

 

[Chipperman]

I currently have about 1000 rounds of 7.62x54R, and prob about 500-600 of 8mm. I need to get more of both.
Cheap surplus stuff WILL eventually run out. Same with 30.06.

 

[Ash]

The thing about cheap surplus is that the .303, 8mm, and 30-06 will run out much sooner than 7.62x54. They still make it for light machine guns. And, since it is actually ideal for belt-fed guns (better in that regard than .308, .30-06, 8mm Mauser, or any other full-power round currently used by any other nation) due to the slightly tapered, rimmed case, it will be produced long into the future. So, there will be surplus for a while, not to mention the billions of rounds produced during the cold war. More 7.62x54R has been produced than all other surplus rounds available.

Of course, it WILL run out, but properly stored Berdan, especially in Spam Cans, will last a long time still. Most of us will not be alive, or at least not be shooting anymore, when it does run out.

Ash

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Will it ever run out? If we all shot 10k rounds a year would it last longer than before the sun will go supernova? Are we only one shipment away from the "last of the good stuff"? Will we be forced to overpay for Wolf at $125 for 500 rounds? Will we give up and go back to our AK/SKS/AR's because the corrosive "thrill is gone"

How much do you keep?

Well, I thought I had a lot until I saw your poll choices. I have just under a thousand rounds on hand of surplus 7.62x54 Russian.

 

[aguyindallas]

I have about 60 rounds on hand, thats it. Mine do not see much range time these days.

 

[dpesec]

I just picked up an SKS a few months ago. I haven't cleaned all the cosmoline out of it. When I do, I'll get about 10K

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I just picked up an SKS a few months ago. I haven't cleaned all the cosmoline out of it. When I do, I'll get about 10K

Well, you'd best get yourself a Mosin first. The 7.62x54 Russian will not operate in an SKS.

 

[Pork Fat]

Josef's Ammo

I like to picture a dimly lit old arsenal factory.Old men and women wearing ribbons commemorating production quotas exceeded during the recent Great
Patriotic War crank out countless rounds under the gimlet eyes of Lenin and
Stalin.These rifle and machine gun cartridges will be stored for the defense of
The Worker's Paradise against capitalist aggression.They must make more!
Always more! Do not let Papa Joe down!


Decades later, these rounds are pressed into desperate service. In an old
Mosin-Nagant, hex- receivered,arsenal rebuilt, stored against the day--

I use my 39.95 on sale at Rose's rifle to blast dirt clods on an irrigation pond
embankment.(they were comin' right at me)

Thank you, old folks, Lenin, Stalin, for all you did to make it possible for my decadent self to amuse myself shooting centerfire rounds at soil.

Thank you, thank you--

Beer Gut American, 2006

 

[Shrinkmd]

Forget us, how many did they have?

I wonder how many rounds the average Ivan carried on him in the field. What we blow in a couple afternoons was probably the supply for a whole platoon or more.

Of course, Pvt. Ivan probably didn't spend as much time inspecting his bore after cleaning it, looking for the shine.

 

[RaetherEnt]

You might be a gun nut if...

Your'e standard measurement of time is how many gun shows ago...

That being said, a few gun shows ago, I picked up my first Mosins, (pair of M38's) and four tins of surplus, all for less than $250. Two rifles and 1760 rounds for $250? Geez, how could you go wrong?

 

[Pork Fat]

At first, they're givin' it away--

Mosin-Nagant.....Gateway drug?

 

[ConserVet]

I like to picture a dimly lit old arsenal factory.Old men and women wearing ribbons commemorating production quotas exceeded during the recent Great
Patriotic War crank out countless rounds under the gimlet eyes of Lenin and
Stalin.These rifle and machine gun cartridges will be stored for the defense of
The Worker's Paradise against capitalist aggression.They must make more!
Always more! Do not let Papa Joe down!


Decades later, these rounds are pressed into desperate service. In an old
Mosin-Nagant, hex- receivered,arsenal rebuilt, stored against the day--

I use my 39.95 on sale at Rose's rifle to blast dirt clods on an irrigation pond
embankment.(they were comin' right at me)

Thank you, old folks, Lenin, Stalin, for all you did to make it possible for my decadent self to amuse myself shooting centerfire rounds at soil.

Thank you, thank you--

Beer Gut American, 2006

Beauty post! Wonder how many got sent to Siberia for not meeting production quota...

 

[George S.]

From what I have read, the 7.62x54R round is still in use today by various clans and factions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I would bet that Wolf is producing a lot of it in Russia for anyone who wants it.

Last year, I ran across some Wolf ball ammo that was reloadable and non-corrosive. It seemed to be pretty accurate (at least compared to some of the Albanian stuff I have used) but pricey at $7 per box.

Every time I go to a gun show, I usually buy 5 or 6 20-round boxes of the Czech Silvertip at $2.50 a box.