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

Update: There is no grouping at all I could not find half of the bullet holes at 25m (the target is about 20inch x 20inch)...
Good thing it had very light recoil
Also some of the rounds were hard to close bolt, but they re-chambers ok after I force the bolt close and eject out. What could be causing this?
I'm thinking I'm not seating the projectile deep enough? Maybe?

chamber one and take it back out..look carefully at projectile,should see if rifling is hitting it.... as got shotgun grouping....hmmmm interesting,how potent of load of powder have you put behind it??? might be far far better with a minimum load.

are the holes you could find round???

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.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

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.

Done, it's roughly 6mm (I assume that's not good)

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

are the holes you could find round???

I used 42.2gr of 2208, I didn't save the target paper but I remember the holes being very similar to my "normal" loads, nothing too strange looking.

I have looked at the bullets you are using and they are a plain bevel base design. I suspect that you will have better luck keeping the speed down to no more than 1400ft/sec. I've had best accuracy around 1250 -1300ft/sec with plain base bullets.

I think we know the problem, the bullets your using are HBRC cast projectiles designed for the 32/20 and pistol velocities. That load of 2208 if it burned completely would push them at around 3000 fps way way too fast for lead alloy, it will strip in the rifling and they'll go everywhere. I suggest you run a bronze brush through the bore and reload some with trailboss as someone previously suggested or 10 grains of a shotgun or pistol powder like blue dot or unique if you can't get that and your problem will be solved.
If you want those kind of velocities (3000) with a lighter bullet use proper jacketed projectiles such as those for the 7.62x39

Greetings again,
Welcome to the somewhat frustrating world of loading for military rifles. Most will have long throats like yours especially if they have been fired a lot. My 70's .308 M700 is like that and will not tolerate 150 grain boat tails so my suggestion would be the 155 grain plated projectile available from Gunworks and likely others. They are cheap and usually shoot well. Your standard 42 grain load should give in the area of 2,300 to 2,400 fps depending on barrel length. In my .308 I am using a lighter load of AR2206H for around 1,900 fps. They probably start around 5mm from the rifling.
Regards Grandpamac.

Jump shouldn't be an issue unless the freebore is so baggy that it allows the projectile to significantly rotate. Even on a Mosin with a drainpipe for a barrel, I find that unlikely.

But over 40 grains of powder behind such a light pistol bullet... And those Mosins have a 1:9.5" twist too... Decent chance the little things are disintegrating after exiting the muzzle.

This is probably a good candidate for "the load" which is a small amount of Red Dot powder (13gr if memory serves). Fairly well known thing for making gallery loads for milsurp rifles in anything 308 or larger using a cast bullet.

I think M-H is on the money - those lead bullets are probably expecting to see 1600 fps. With a generous burn of 2208 youre probably spraying near-molten lead out the end of the mosin at 3000 fps. Trying to find a load to run a lightweight cast bullet from a large case like the x54R that groups well AND is safe and reliable will be quite experimental. Also might pay to check your barrel for lead fouling too.
Trying to reduce youre rifle powder loads low enough is risky and not recomemmended - risk of weird effects and/or bullets stuck in bore. ADI say only AR2206H is suitable for reduced loads, check their website, but that may still be too much. So if if you want to persist with those projectiles, youre going to need to run light loads of fast burning pistol powder or trailboss (also fast burning but bulky, so you dont end up with a case 60-70% empty space).

This is worth a read, while not directly applicable to your situation it does give some reference point to extrapolate from.
https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharri...The%20Load.htm

Other thoughts re difficult chambering
- check the overall length of your brass. If is grown a little and the cases are overlength it may become hard to chamber.
- one of my mosins had a chamber that wouldnt rechamber its own fired cases immediately afterwards, i think it was out of round or asymmetrical somehow.
- bullet touching lands - although you seem to have already checked freebore.

Originally Posted by Pommy

Jump shouldn't be an issue unless the freebore is so baggy that it allows the projectile to significantly rotate. Even on a Mosin with a drainpipe for a barrel, I find that unlikely.

But over 40 grains of powder behind such a light pistol bullet... And those Mosins have a 1:9.5" twist too... Decent chance the little things are disintegrating after exiting the muzzle.

This is probably a good candidate for "the load" which is a small amount of Red Dot powder (13gr if memory serves). Fairly well known thing for making gallery loads for milsurp rifles in anything 308 or larger using a cast bullet.

Haha - i was tapping out my post over coffee while thinking exactly the same thoughts

Thanks for the input gents, will have to visit a shop soon and get some pistol powders then!

Also, it appears that someone from the ancient time used the same 115gr 32/20 bullet to reload his 30/06, pushing 1700fps, I guess I'll try to replicate that.
(Complete Guide To Handloading, Sharpe, 1937, page 262)

Cheers.

trail boss...red dot green dot as30 as50 ap30 ap50 are all pretty much in ballpark area you looking at..universal is the other one... trailboss is possibly your best bet and SHOULDNT be hard to beg a little off someone nearby to try it...

Download the Lyman manual and check it out for more options and wisdom.
https://archive.org/details/LymanCas...Edition1980Ocr