What bullet size and data do i use for my mosin reloads??

[Superblackrifle]

I have a new arsenal refinished Tula M44 1944 Looks mint still getting all the cosmoline out of it. picked up some winchester softpoints and they mic'd at .311 and the data online says to use .308 bullets. Please help me keep this caliber alive. Thanks

 

[snuffy]

Is it 7.62 X 54? If so, the standard measurement is .311. Because of war-time haste, some were over and under that. Only way to know is to slug the bore.

As far as jacketed bullets, you'll have a hard time finding anything in .311. There's the stuff made for 7.62 X 39 that's sometimes as big as .313, but most is .312.

Most just use cup & core standard .308 bullets. They're soft enough to be able to obturate and fill the bore. Accuracy will be minimal, but at least you get to shoot it. Your main problem is going to be finding reloadable brass or factory loads that are boxer primed.

Hows the bore look? Most are pitted, some were cared for after shooting the corrosive ammo. Maybe the arsenal rebarreled it?

 

[azar]

Russian Mosin-Nagants typically have a bore ranging from .310 to .314. You really need to slug the bore first to know what size of bullets you need to use. Many sizer dies for 7.62x54R come with two expander rod assemblies, one in .308 one in .311. Some only come with one though the other size is usually available at additional cost.

As snuffy said, the only way to know is to slug the bore. Here's some basic instructions for slugging a Mosin-Nagant.

If it comes out to .311 or above (more likely than .308) you can use bullets for the .303 Brit as well as those for the 7.62x39

Hornady .303 Brit (0.312)
Hornady .303 Brit (0.3105)
Hornady 7.62x39 (.310)

I know Sierra also makes a 180g flat-based Pro-Hunter in .311...

 

[Hey_Allen]

I know that the two of mine are very clean in the bore, but I haven't started to reload for either yet, so I don't know the bore diameter yet.

From what I was lead to understand due to my reading on the subject, it was the later Finnish variants that had the .308 bore, not any of the Russian manufacture rifle.

 

[offthepaper]

I thought the standard for MN's was .311. i have several Russian, Finn, and Chinese MN's and shoot a alot of surplus as well as hand loads. For the handloads I used .311, same as British .303.
No problems. Good accuracy.

 

[chrisf8657]

Standard is .311 to .312

You should use bullets "labeled for use in" the .303 British for reloading. You can also use any .308 diameter bullet, but it can cause poor accuracy as the bore is .311 or .312...

The typical weight for the bullets is 174g, and reloading data is available in the latest Speer manual. Can post some if you like...

It is rather difficult to find brass for it, however...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62x54mmR for general info.

 

[Cosmoline]

I've also seen old load manuals advising the use of .308" bullets. The only ones in true .308 are some earlier Finnish models, but you have to remember that a lot of those old manuals were written during the Cold War when actual Soviet Mosins were pretty rare. Unless you have a prewar Finn you're going to be loading with at least .311"-.312" bullets. Same as the 7.7 Arisaka or .303 British. Later Finns such as the M39, M30 and late model M91's all seem to run with .310" or so bores and are perfectly fine with the .311" bullets.

For a Soviet you're more likely to see extra wide bores. There are some .313" bullets around for the 7.65 Argentine IIRC but they're rare.

Anyway as far as checking your particular rifle I'd advise shooting an array of commercial and surplus 54R and see what the rifle prefers, then shaping your handloads around that.