Looking at reloading 7.62x54 hollow points

[timn1965]

for hunting purposes. Specifically for wild bore and deer hunting. Full metal jackets are not allowed for hunting in Missouri. I know the bore of the old M-44 slugs to .311. Has anybody figured out a load and bullet combination. Most of military surplus FMJ ammo is 148 grain. I plan on just pulling the FMJs and emptying the powder and recharging it with a known powder load and resetting the bullet thus utilizing the military surplus cartridge and primer. Any suggestions?

[m&p45acp10+1]

If you can find them the .311 Speer Hot Core worked ok for me as far as accuracy went. I have not used them hunting as of yet. IMR 4320 gave good results for accuracy.

[Rangefinder]

If you keep in the area of 150gr bullet, you can run with 46gr. H380 or IMR4895. The H380 load is one that has my 91/30 shooting sub-MOA with the 147gr. pulled bullets (separated and loaded in same weight lots, mind you). It should run very well with a higher quality bullet.

[timn1965]

I figured somebody had loaded for them before. Saved your posts for future reference.

[res45]

No need to throw away perfectly good powder when you can just replace the bullet with one of equal or lesser weight or one slightly heavier and adjust the powder charge accordingly.

Back in the day when good quality brass case 54r SP ammo wasn't available for hunting I Mexican Matched probably 500 rds. of Brass case berdan primer Bulgarian surplus FMJ ammo in both LB and HB version using .311 150 gr. Speer and Prvi Partizan component bullets with excellent results.

I bought the Prvi BTSP 150 gr. bullet on the cheap form Graf for $11 per 100 and a friend that used to shoot a 303 British gave me 300 of the Speer Hot-Cor bullets as a trade for some computer work I did for him.

I basically pullet the original FMJ steel jacket bullets in batches of 100 from the same lot number and weighed about ever tenth case to get and average charge weight. From that average number I reduced the powder charge down 2.0 full grains resized the case neck and measured the case length to make sure it was within the required parameters and trimmed as needed. I then seated the bullet to the recommended OAL in the reloading manual using that bullet and fired a few rds over the chrono to check velocity. The Bulgarian ammo is loaded on the warm side as the primers show. I ended up using about 1.0 less grains than the average factory loads measured.

The primer looked perfected compared to the original factory loads and accuracy was excellent at 100 yds. using the original factory sights. I now have a scope on the old M44 and I'm sure it will shoot that ammo much more accurate than it did with the irons.

A bag of my Mexican Matched Bulgarian ammo.


Factory LB ammo


Factory ammo -1.0 grs. factory powder and replacement Speer .311" 150 gr. SP

[Heavy Metal 1]

If you are just going hunting perhaps you should just buy a box of commercial fodder. I find it takes me 60-80 rounds to work up a good load. I get excellent accuracy from 174gr Hornady RN. I have not had the chance to shoot game w/ it, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it. Why are you feeling you need to use hollow points? I have never hunted hogs, but I hear they are tough and I wonder if a HP would give you sufficient penetration.

[FrankenMauser]

I'm sure there are some, but I can't think of a commonly-available hollow point sized .311-.313 from 150 gr to 180 gr.

If you're going to load "Mexican Match", you may as well open up your options a bit. Mosins have really deep grooves. As such, most of them actually do pretty well with .308" bullets.

If you want a hog/deer bullet, and like hollow point performance, I would seriously consider some 150 gr Ballistic Tips (hunting version) or Ballistic Silvertips ("Combined Technology", a.k.a. Nosler+Winchester).
I can't make any promises that a .308" bullet would seat tightly in a neck that has previously held a .311/.312 bullet, though.

[dahermit]

for hunting purposes...I plan on just pulling the FMJs and emptying the powder and recharging it with a known powder load and resetting the bullet thus utilizing the military surplus cartridge and primer. Any suggestions?

I do not know why you want to go through all that trouble. For hunting, you will not need more than 20 rounds of commercial soft-point ammunition, which you should be able to find. The military FMJ stuff can still be used (not illegal), for informal target practice and for familiarization with the gun. What you are suggesting, is way more complicated than it needs to be.

[tahunua001]

hornady has A max 123grs and SST 150grs in 311.

never have seen hollow points in 311 outside of preloaded, cheap, imported 7.62x39.

[MEATSAW]

for hunting purposes. Specifically for wild bore and deer hunting. Full metal jackets are not allowed for hunting in Missouri. I know the bore of the old M-44 slugs to .311. Has anybody figured out a load and bullet combination. Most of military surplus FMJ ammo is 148 grain. I plan on just pulling the FMJs and emptying the powder and recharging it with a known powder load and resetting the bullet thus utilizing the military surplus cartridge and primer. Any suggestions?

In my M39 I have found MOA accuracy using 180 gr Sierra ProHunter SP (.311") and an under max load of Ramshot TAC.

It would be interesting to know what the original powder is most closest to, in my Bulgarian surplus from the 70s the powder is a very long stick powder and average charge weight was around 48 gr.

[Rangefinder]

It would be interesting to know what the original powder is most closest to, in my Bulgarian surplus from the 70s the powder is a very long stick powder and average charge weight was around 48 gr.

Most likely the russian version of IMR4895. 48gr. sounds about right for it.