which 7.62x54R for M91/30?

[stealth]

Hi all!
zomgz first post!~ lol
I've actually trolled about THR for quite some time but never had the chance to post.

I'm the proud owner of an excellent condition Soviet 1938 Tula 91/30.
I've been feeding her Brown Bear 185gr FMJBT, It's very nice however is too expensive for my taste at 9$ per 20 locally.

I'm in need of some surplus in the volume of somewhere around 100-500 rounds (depending on price) . It can be corrosive so long as its cheap, and can be over the internet.. maybe even preferred.

If any of you can shed me some light and point me in the direction of decent quality, but more importantly cheap 7.62x54r I'd be more than happy!

Regards & Thanks,
Stealth

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

All of the surplus 7.62x54R I have fired as been basically the same. Most of it is loaded to military spec. anyway--even Wolf and Brown Bear are made by the Russian military arsenals.

Be sure you clean thoroughly with boiling hot water or ammonia after firing any military surplus com-bloc ammo. It may be advertised as "non-corrosive" but it very well may be anyway. Additionally, lots of it was repacked, so you might find a crate from the 1980's that has 1940's-1960's ammo in it.

I haven't priced any recently, but take a look here: http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php?caliber=7.62x54R

 

[Dr. Peter Venkman]

I've had some bad joo-joo with Bulgarian and Albanian 7.62x54R, but just be sure to check out each individual cartridge so nothing bad happens (like your cartridge ripping in half of your SVT-40).

Czech silverstip is very nice BUT be sure to have an extremely clean chamber as the lacquer on the casing will make your bolt have flashbacks of refusing to open while the germans are running at you.

 

[dmftoy1]

So that Brown Bear shot well for you? I put 60 rounds downrange yesterday and it was horrible in my gun. I finally came back and pulled a bullet and it mic'd out at .308. (Maybe you've got a tight barrel on yours! )

Have a good one,
Dave

FWIW - I just ordered 100 rounds of brass and dies for $69 and I'm going to try to shoot some cast bullets (gas check) in it to see how that does.

 

[Ash]

I would recommend getting some sample packages of several different manufactures and see which ones do best. Some guys swear by Albanian, others cuss it. Ditto for Bulgarian, Hungarian, Sellier and Bellot, etc. The key is to figure out what your rifle likes.

Ash

 

[GD]

I think I have tried just about every different type of 7.62x54 made. My favorites are Czech silver tip and Hungarian yellow tip. I agree with the advice to try smaller packages of ammo to see which one your rifle likes. I also like Albanian for its accuracy but some of my rifles do not like the varying rim thickness and rough crimping and so I have difficulty chambering the ammo. AIM often has pretty good deals on surplus 7.62x54. I buy most of my ammo at gunshows for less than I would pay online with shipping.

 

[jpwilly]

I've shot through nearly 880rnds of the Steel Case Polish 21 over 86 stamped ammo and have shot some of my 1200rnds of the Bulgarian Brass Case 1955 Light Ball as well as 300rnds of Heavy ball. I've shot Wolf 148gr New production, Brown Bear 185gr, S&B, plus some of my own handloads.

THE BEST IS THE WOLF AND HANDLOADS! THE REST WILL SHOOT BUT MOST OF IT WON"T GROUP!

I just got through pulling 30rnds of the Bulgarian light ball with my Hornandy Cam Lock puller and weighed the powder and bullets. The powder loads varied from 48.3grn charges to 49.6grn charges most weighed in at 49.2grns. Bullets ranged 147.1grn being the lightest bullet and 149.4grn being the heaviest bullet but may were in the 148 grn range. Seating depth varried from 3.010" to 3.017". I reassembled the loads measuring exaclty 48.8grns of powder and reseated the bullets to be just .010" off of the lands of my Tula at 3.037" These should shoot more consistantly but I may need to get more consistant bullets to send downrange to achieve best performance from my hybrid reloads.

 

[Vicious-Peanut]

The Albanian I fired through mine was absolutely horrible. Half didn't fire, and the ones that did got little cracks in the cases and one even had a split at the head after firing. IMO it's crap.

 

[George S.]

I have had good luck with the Czech Silver-tip or the Hungarian Light Ball in terms of accuracy. My 1931 Izzy will shoot 6-8" groups at 200 yards with it.

All milsurp ammo is corrosive so make sure you clean the rifle immediately after shooting. Carry a squirt bottle of water or Windex with ammonia with you and drench the bolt face and chamber/bore to remove the corrosive salts from the primers. Then clean as usual once you get home.

There is some milsurp ammo with 180gr bullets that is de-linked machine gun ammo. I have found that heavy bullets in my rifle are not really accurate at all.

There is some interesting reading here

Of course reloading would be a good way to build very accruate loads. There is new 7.62x54R brass available that use common rifle primers and you can use a variety of bullets to suit your shooting needs.

 

[_N4Z_]

9 bucks a pop for 20 rounds of BB is highway robbery. shop around elsewhere, should be had for between 6 and 7.

try http://ammunitiontogo.com/

also look at www.7.62x54r.net for ammunition statistics by brand.

BB is my non-corrosive plinking ammo. my m39's actually shoot the wolf "bi-metal" 148's a little tighter. of those two though neither shoots exceptionally well. to get groups in the 1-2 inch ranges from factory ammo i use prvi partisan, also marketed as wolf gold.

for surplus ammo my usual suspects will include hungarian heavyball (steel and leadcore) and lightball, russian lightball, yugo heavy, and czech silvertips. all work well, but all produce different points of impact. best accuracy of these for my rifles has been the heavyball hungarian yellow tips (leadcore). yugo shot very well too, but i've not been able to find any in over a year.

 

[_N4Z_]

dmftoy1 said

I finally came back and pulled a bullet and it mic'd out at .308.

That's interseting to know. I've been running under the assumption that BB rounds were .310 dia. I got that info from 7.62x54r.net.

Maybe the Bear is using smaller diameter bullets now.

Wolf bi-metal lists at .311 dia. and does shoot better for me. Would explain the difference in grouping results.

 

[lionking]

ammoman has Greek Olympic ammo,how is that ammo?

 

[Pipe Burn]

Russian 7N1 $6.50 a box or bulk pricing.

http://www.outdoormarksman.com/product_info.php?cPath=65_63_48&products_id=68219

Bought some of this last year and am very happy with it out os my PSL, but haven't fired it out of my Mosins yet.

Wolf or Czech silver tip has worked well with my Mosins.

 

[grimjaw]

Mine groups great with Winchester or Brown Bear, and I think both of those will group just as good or better than surplus in most Mosin Nagants with a close-to-standard bore diameter.

jm

 

[clone]

dont forget about
http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/copy_of_7_62x54R.html

 

[wrench]

I've shot lots of Polish, Czech silver tip, Hungarian heavy ball, Albanian, Bulgarian LB...all of them work great in some rifles, not so good in others.
I have one rifle, patterns like a shotgun with albanian, keeps them in the 10 ring with Czech. Another one-exact opposite.
The other posters who advised buying as many different flavors as you can are correct. Try them all before you buy a ton of it.

 

[Ash]

The 7N1 doesn't seem to offer any real advantage equal to its price for Mosins. It works fine, but general consensus is that it is great for SVD type rifles but not any better than other ammo for Mosins.

Ash

 

[stealth]

I'd like to thank everyone in helping me find some cheap ammo, real world progress was made by your effort. And all are praised for giving it a shot, Thank you.