Thread: Beginner question: Using pistol projectile for 7.62x54r?

Suspect it's got a generous free bore and the short bullet is wobbling around like crazy before it gets to the lands, as Micky says the holes will tell you heaps. Check the freebore by dropping a bullet in the breech and tapping it in with a rod till you feel it touch the rifling. Gently run the rod in from the muzzle till you feel it contact the bullet, mark the rod flush with the muzzle with a sharpie. Tap out the bullet and put a dummy round seated to your usual depth in the breech, close the action. Run the rod in again and out a second mark on the rod when you feel it toch the bullet. The distance between the 2 marks is the freebore when you have a figure report back.