7.62X54R ammo price

[Mausermolt]

hello my fellow gun nuts.
Its been a while since Ive posted so I thought Id throw a post out to let you know Im not dead yet.

Has anyone noticed the mach 900 skyrocketing price in Mosin Nagants and x54R ammo prices recently!? I got on the interwebs thinking I needed to buy a couple of cases of ammo before the November elections and found out my 80$ mosin and $80 tins of ammo were now worth 4x what I paid 2 years ago...that was a good investment!

Anyone know why the sudden increase in price? Its not like the Ruskies arent still making the stuff.

Also does this mean the Moist Nuggets are going the way of the 8mm Mauser and the good ol' K98?

Sounds like the days of cheep plinking with mil surps have finally come to an end. Makes me wanna cry and buy some reloading dies

Cheers

[emcon5]

Nothing sudden about it, prices have been creeping up over the past few years. Russia is still making it, they sell it commercially now as Wolf and Tula.

The Milsurp stuff that has been available was all Soviet era, and a lot of that was from the former Warsaw Pact states (Bulgaria, Albania, etc).

It can still be had under 45¢/round, but the days of ~18¢/round are gone forever.

[kilimanjaro]

You can still get brass-cased boxer-primed Prvi ammo for about 80 cents a round, time to get some and reload the fired cases. You'll see upward pressure on the new ammo prices when the surplus is truly gone, so think about getting some components now.

[deerslayer303]

I've quit buying ammo and refuse to pay 300 bucks for a 91/30. I have plenty of them and will hold tight. The funny thing is people are snapping the rifles up for that kind of money. Not this guy. I like them for what they are but in NO WAY are they worth that kind of coin.

[98 220 swift]

I just sold my mosins and ammo last week. . I got $500 for 2 rifles I paid $100 each for and $200 for ammo I paid $40 for. They both shot absolutely terrible. Like foot sized groups at 100 yards. And the bores where excellent. I don't see why people want to pay that kind of money for them. They where ok when they was cheap and the ammo was cheap but no way am I paying $.50 a round to see dirt fly. I figured I would sell before the rifle price went back down due to the ammo price being so high. Spent the money on a ar upper and a optic for another ar.

[deerslayer303]

Nice job 98 220 swift! I may do the same thing and only keep my M39's and the one hex Laminated stocked 91/30 which in my eyes is absolutely beautiful.

[Model12Win]

Mosins are good, Mosins are great. Let us thank them for out boom. Amen!

The importers I've spoken with have informed me that the recent... troubles... in the Ukraine area has caused imports of x54 ammo to stop being exported, and they have no plans to start exporting anytime soon. This is understandable as they have many x54 weapons (machine guns, SVDs) that need an ammo supply.

Most of the x54 was coming from the Ukraine, not Russia. The cheap 440 round cans that is.

[tobnpr]

They both shot absolutely terrible. Like foot sized groups at 100 yards. And the bores where excellent.

If the bore is good, the issue is likely stock fitment for that kind of lack of accuracy. The military stock sucks for any kind of accurate shooting without bedding the action and usually free-floating the barrel.

Cut the skinny barrel to make it relatively stiffer, put a target crown on it and epoxy bed it into a stock (preferable an aftermarket one) and they'll shoot into at least 2" with factory ammunition. I have several that all shoot into an inch with handloads with the original barrels.

Guaranteed.

That all said...
There are rifles for sale now at $300 and they don't seem to be moving...even those for sale at $200 are not.

Not all of us (including me) buy and shoot them because of the cheap surplus. Never shot a single round of surplus, never been a "plinker"...

They make an interesting project rifle as did the Mausers back in the day- but less accurate in their original furniture and need work to shoot well.

Wanna shoot cheap? Reload...

Prvi bullets are $.23 each...pennies more for powder, primers, and pro-rated brass.

[noelf2]

Sounds like the bore's are good, but the ammo wasn't right for it. Bore can look great but slug too big for the bullets in the milsurp and commercial ammo. Mosins can be very accurate with hand loads. I'm lucky in that my 91/30 and my M44 are both pretty accurate. My M44 prefers the heavy ball, and the 91/30 likes the light ball.

Now I'm curious about the cost of the milsurp stuff. I have an unopened 300 rnd can of Bulgarian brass cased heavy ball lead core (yellow tip, what my M44 likes). I got 2 of the spam cans of that stuff way back in the day. What does that stuff go for now?
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmo016.htm

[44 AMP]

$80 tins of ammo were now worth 4x what I paid 2 years ago...that was a good investment!

I'm not so sure one can look on that as an "investment". Ok, you can sell it for current market price, and make a profit, but then, its gone, and you can't replace it for the same price you paid back then.

If you shoot it, it's gone, and you can't replace it for its cost.

I have a similar dilemma about a full, sealed case of 7.62NATO that I bought (ages ago) back when the market price was $165. For a long time (still, even though it seems less important now...) it was my "end of the world" stash.

I could, easily, sell it today for a LOT more money than I paid for it, BUT then, it would be gone. I might hold on to it, until its worth trading for a new car...

After November....

[noelf2]

44 what you said makes no sense to me. If I bought stock 2 years ago and it's value went up x4 and I sold it, I wouldn't have the stock anymore either. Depends on the reason for your purchase, and any purchase can become an "investment" even if it wasn't intended to be one.

[Vic6]

Same issue, in CA steel ammo is like 16.09 for 20 rounds in store purchase though. But, we can't even use it at like 99% of the ranges and some 7.62x54r is over 24 bucks for 20 rounds.

That's why I started ordering in bulk off of this website http://www.luckygunner.com/

$11.50 to $15.50 for pretty good ammo, not the best. But good enough for me. 8mm is hard to find these days in my state. Can't wait to get out of here.

[highpower3006]

I have never found surplus x54r ammo to be all that accurate. It is great to shoot up at steel plates and rocks in the desert, but pretty much worthless for anything besides keeping as an end of the world stash. Corrosive ammo is a pain in the butt to have to clean out of anything but a bolt action rifle.

I have never really warmed up to Mosin's and only have one early 91/30 with Finnish capture stamps. What I do shoot in x54r is my SVT40 and PSL54c. Since I have owned them, they have only been shot with either commercial ammo or my reloads.

I don't understand the attitude of those that think that if there is no more surplus ammo, they can never shoot their surplus rifles. I have been reloading for many years and I shoot all my hard to get ammo for rifles as much as I want because I can reload for them easily.

[44 AMP]

I don't understand the attitude of those that think that if there is no more surplus ammo, they can never shoot their surplus rifles.

Well, they can't! Not for the same cheap price, anyway!

A lot of people got surplus rifles because they were cheap, and the ammo was cheap. When the ammo turns into something "expensive" (meaning on a rough par with commercial rounds) and/or something they have to "work at" (like reloading) the guns lose a lot of their appeal.

I will agree that East Bloc surplus ammo is not (usually) very accurate. The guns CAN be, fed good stuff, but neither the "light" or "heavy" ball found as surplus is good stuff for accuracy.

[Tex44]

I don't understand the attitude of those that think that if there is no more surplus ammo, they can never shoot their surplus rifles.

Well, they can't! Not for the same cheap price, anyway!

Well, that depends on whether you want to get a little fancy with how you reload them. I shoot cast in just about everything I own. I may not be able to max out the velocity doing this, (I can make up for that with bullet weight), but it's defiantly good enough for plinking. Out of my 8mm Hakim, I'm shooting 258gr bullets for $0.20-$0.25 per round. It shoots an inch or so high at 100 yards and hits like a freight train. I'll have to chrony those loads some day to see just how fast that massive bullet is traveling.

I have some 7.62x54mmR left over from when it was $80 a tin. After it's gone, I doubt I'll buy more. For the price they want for them now, I'll just reload and get cheaper, more accurate rounds.

[tobnpr]

Never shot surplus ammo outside of GP-11.

Not just "Only accurate rifles are interesting"...but also "Only accurate ammunition is interesting" in my book.

When I don't hit what I'm aiming at, I need to know it's me- and not the rifle, or the ammunition. Shooting ammo that, at best, will shoot into a 3"-4" group doesn't cut it for me...

I keep telling my customers to forget about the surplus, and start reloading. You can roll your own, much more accurate ammo for the same or less than the cheapest commercial ammo you can buy nowadays.

[kilimanjaro]

I recall a guy at the range lamenting the lack of cheap surplus ammo, making it difficult for him to shoot his M1 Garand.

I suppose the same reason is keeping him from shooting his Lee-Enfield, Mauser K98, Springfield 03, etc., etc.

[jasmith85]

I was surprised by the changes in price as well. I kept putting off buying a Mosin Nagant and now they are higher than I'm willing to pay. Current market or not I refuse to pay $300 for a rifle that I saw for $79 at my local Dunhams just three or four years ago.

[Gunplummer]

For the first time in years I went to a small gun show today. I picked up a sealed box of Federal .308 bulk ammo for 320 bucks, cash and carry. 500 rounds in the box. I thought that was a good price.

[mr bolo]

Ive cut back on shooting 7.62x54R , my last two tins bought many years ago is all Im going to need for my lifetime

I only fire 20 - 40 rds a trip

some gun stores want $20 for 20 rds of surplus 7.62x54R

[Model12Win]

I've got about 3K of x54 saved up. When I shoot my Mosins it's generally with modern non corrosive Tulammo as I don't want to clean them right after shooting.

[Onward Allusion]

I don't understand the current prices of MN's. When they were less than $100, they were worth it. However, at $300 - $400+? Insane. A person could get a new entry level 30-06 package that shoots tighter and looks 10x better than a MN for less than that price.

I guess if one were into the collectibility of the rifle, sure...

[deerslayer303]

I have 4 Mosins now (type 53, laminated hex 91/30, and two M39's) I think that's where I'll stay. I have a few thousand surplus, but when I shoot them nowdays I usually fire 185gr. Non Corrosive Monarch from Academy, it's like 9 bucks a box of 20. The days of the 79 dollar tins are over.

[Model12Win]

I have 5 Mosins:



They are neat rifles.

[Rich_357]

I really want a M44 Boom Stick so bad that I can taste it. It's a pretty gun but the WOW factor of the round going off in that short barrel must be insane!

The 54 compared to the 39.