Whats a good bullet

Hey I'm looking to buy a bolt gun. Preferably a Remington model 700 or a mosen nagant m44. The main calibers I'm looking at are .308, 30-06, and 7.62x54. Ill be using it for plinking and hunting (deer coyote elk and antelope). I need something that is pretty cheap to reload. Any suggestions.

 

Any of those would work and as far as I know about equal in terms of reloading cost. The .30-06 would probably be the most versatile with the different loadings available.

 

7.62x54r will be a little more expensive to reload but there is a lot of Warsaw pact surplus out there right now but it will dry up eventually. The .308 is pretty close to the 30-06 but easier to find in surplus and a lot more surplus brass lately for .308. .308 will use a little less powder but probably not that you'd notice unless you are going to do a lot of reloading. Just my.02 but .308 is what I would pick.

 

The 7.62x54R would have cheapest bulk ammo prices.

Kid next to me at range last night was blasting one. He said it is a shoulder buster. He couldn't justify reloading it with bulk ammo prices. He also had 8mm Mauser, SKS, AR something, and the Mosin-Nagant.

308 would be cheaper to reload, simply a shorter .30-06, so less powder capacity. But .30-06 would have higher velocity and flatter trajectory.

 

7.62 x 54R would be tougher to reload due to the lack of bullet selection (.310-.312 diameter).

There are lots of different bullets for .308 Win and .30'06 available so I think they would be a better choice.

 

24" or 26" barrel, I'd go '06. For under 24", say 22", I'd go .308. The '06 is slightly overbore, so it loses too much at 22" to bother with. The .308 is its equal, for all practical purposes.

A 26" '06, loaded up to .308 pressures, has about a 300 ft/sec advantage.

I like the 110-grain for coyotes; 3031 is a good powder with that bullet. 150-grain with 4064 for deer and antelope. I'd go with a 180-grain for elk, with an '06; H414 works very well. If a .308 for elk, I'd buy a box of the Federal Premium High Energy 165-grain Sierra bullets, I think. FWIW.

 

I have all three. Any of them will do the job of the others (7.62X54, 7.62x51, 7.62X63) I think a lot of the "Kick" people mention with the Nagant is due to the bad ergonomics of the stock. If you prefer a short action, I would give the nod to the 308, long action the 06. With 150 grain bullets, the higher pressures of the 308 will give slightly higher velocities using speer data, equal using lyman. With 180 grain bullets, the 06 and its larger case capacity will give higher velocities. At all practical ranges, all are equal though. The mosin has surplus ammunition very cheap, yes. You will have a hard time walking in to your local wal-mart and finding ammo for it though. I have no idea what other firearms you own or are planning to purchase, but the M1A, HKG3, CETME, etc, all shoot 308.

Scope mounting on a mosin is a bit of a chore also, and accuracy of some is questionable at best, while others are superb.
IMO, a 308 is a good platform. With reduced loads, the smaller capacity of the case leads to a bit more consistency, although with time, you can develop a good reduced 06 load.

Stay safe.

 

Plinking or hunting?

If you really want to just have fun at the range, with occasional hunting, you might consider a Garand. These are available for around $600 or so from the CMP. Milsurp ammo is available for .30-06, and the Greek HXP is pretty good quality. (Non corrosive, good brass)

Reloading all three is about the same volume. .308 diameter bullets are definitely easier to find, and in more variety.

If the main thing is hunting, I'd skip the milsurp rifles and go for something like a Savage. These are available in either short or long action, so you have your choice of .308 or .30-06, I believe.

 

Just remember NOT to shoot off the shelf ammo in a Garand. It can cause very bad juju with the gas system and can even bend the op rod.

 

"....30-06 would have higher velocity..." A whole 100 fps using like bullet weights.
Remington model 700 or a Mosin-Nagant m44..." Huge difference in price. Not at all comparable either. The M700 being a modern commercial hunting rifle. The Moisin being a 60ish year old milsurp coming in widely varied conditions.
Reloading anything isn't exactly cheap any more. Mind you, reloading is about using the best possible ammo, not saving money. In any case, .308" bullets are readily available everywhere. The .311" bullet used in the 7.62 x 54 may not be, locally.

 

For a general-purpose hunting rifle, just get the 700. I have both, but would only use the M44 in very specific hunting scenarios, i.e., under 75 yards.