New Mosin Nagant

[INGunGuy]

I am going to buy a Mosin Nagant and have been doing research on what to look for when I purchase one. I may even purchase a couple of them since they are so cheap. Anyway, my question is not about the firearm itself, but on reloading for it. I am going to purchase a few of those 440 round cases of ammo when I get the thing. Anyway, from what I understand the old ammo uses corrosive primers. What I was going to do is pull the rounds, collect the powder, decap the old corrosive primers. Then reload the rounds with Large rifle primers which is what my manual says to use. Reuse the bullets and the powder, and my only cost is the cost of the primer. Well I can assume that 7.62x54r is a military round and will probably have the primers crimped. Is this the case, and if so, I know I will have to remove the crimp.

Can anyone provide me some information on reloading this old ammo.

Thanks,

INGunGUy

[Sevens]

Absolutely will NOT work.
All the old surplus ammo for rifles like this are Berdan primed. It's a different kind of primer, it's not reloadable.

Well, it IS reloadable, but nobody has the tools that are capable of it, you are left with brass that won't take a normal primer, and nobody in North America has a supply of berdan primers to make use of it.

As for that ammo, you could realistically pull the bullets and keep them for re-use, but the powder is to be tossed because you have no idea of the nature or burning rate or properties or ID of the powder, so you can't safely build a load with it and there's nobody to ask where to start.

And berdan primed brass is scrap metal.

The good news is that you CAN find boxer primed cases in 7.62x54R. (I think?!) The bad news is that reloading ammo for these rifles often doesn't beat the price on that cheap, nasty, corrosive, lousy chi-com crap ammo.

But your handloads would likely be more accurate and they wouldn't be corrosive.

Sorry for the bad news.

[Sevens]

Hey, I have two suggestions for you. You could spend a few bucks more, but still go with the surplus battle rifle route: Find a Mauser, in 7x57, 8x57 or 6.5 Swede. Gooooood calibers... accurate, powerful, and lots of components available, including plenty of good North American boxer primed brass. (and also plenty of cheap, nasty, corrosive, lousy steel cased and laquered chi-com crap ammo, too, if that's what you like)

Other suggestion: www.surplusrifle.com
Great site for the Mosin-Nagant (I think?) and surplus Mausers and others.

[INGunGuy]

Yea I have been noticing that if I buy brass and powder, primers, dies, etc, that it would end up costing me more than the old surplus, corrosive, crap ammo. I can get some brass to reload with for accuracy rounds, but just shoot the corrosive crap for plinking at the range. As for the Mauser, I may end up buying one also.

Thanks,

INGunGuy

[Sam06]

There is good and bad news with the 7.62X54R. Brass for reloading is expensive. Its made by norma and is about $1.02 a piece for brass. The Good news is the Loaded ammo is cheap. You could reload the Berdan primed brass with a berdan loading tool but its a hassle and not worth the trouble. The other route you could take is make "Mexican" Match ammo. The quick way is to get a collet bullet puller and pull the bullet out of the loaded cartridge. Then you replace it with a Match bullet of equal or a little lesser weight. This will make the rounds a little more accurate but will not get rid if the corrosive primer.

I would just shoot the gun. There are some good web sites that tell how to clean them up and make them kind of pretty, I have heard of using all kinds of stuff to clean up the stocks and barrels.

I was thinking of getting one but I wanted a Finnish one. I am kind of old school and I don't like the Russians very much. You may luck out and find an American made one. We made all kinds of weapons for the Russians during WW2.

My advice is to get a big sardine can of ammo and go have some fun. Pick up the brass and put it in the recycle bin or whatever the range has for your use. Its not worth the time to mess with. If you want to load for it get some of this ammo and have at it But the Com Bloc ammo is trash after firing:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=442368

[gandog56]

Jeeze, all the corrosive primers mean is I have to swab out the barrel soonest with some Windex. I also brush Windex on the bolt head and wipe it off. It's not like the stuff is going to immediately corrode your barrel into a crusty mass.

But I do have a large supply of Boxer primed cases for making precision rounds, too. Also got 2000 147 grain .311 FMJ bullets from Wideners for $152 shipping included. That and a jug of H4895 and I'm good to go.

[firewrench044]

When you purchase your Mosin Nagant 91/30 I recomend you pick out the best barrel you can find, the bolt in the hex receivers seen to work smoother
and easyer,I have had the best results with Czech silver tip or Romainian
surplus ammo, the Albainian is the worst, stay away from the heavyer ammo
(179 to 182 grain, its machine gun ammo, very poor accuracy and loaded heavyer ( to heavy for a rifle ))
I have had best results with IMR 4064 and IMR 4350 powder, the 4895s seem to be to fast for the longer barrels on my 91/30s

[MuscleGarunt]

In my experience the sardine can of ammo shoots very well. I've got the Bulgarian stuff and can't complain. J&G sales sells some boxer primed non corrosive ammo made in the Czech Republic. Sellior&Bellot I think it's called. Also Winchester makes a boxer primed re-loadable cartridge for the 7.62x54. All in all an older 91/30 is a fine rifle capable of taking game up to Elk with a good bullet choice. It's comparable to a 30-06.

About the corrosive primers. They have salt in them for some reason or another. You can use hot water or Hoppes#9 to clean it up. It's not like battery acid, it's only corrosive because the salts attract moisture and moisture causes rust. Some of these rifles are 100 years old and guess what they have been shooting for 100 years, corrosive primed military ammunition.:barf:

[FrankenMauser]

The good news is that you CAN find boxer primed cases in 7.62x54R. (I think?!)

Indeed. Boxer-primed brass is distributed by Winchester (Manufactured by Prvi Partizan), Prvi Partizan, and Norma. (There is another, but I cannot remember the name.)

There is good and bad news with the 7.62X54R. Brass for reloading is expensive. Its made by norma and is about $1.02 a piece for brass.

True, but not really...
Norma is the only company I know of; making true 7.62x54R brass.
However, PPU and the company I cannot remember are both producing 7.62x53R brass. The neck of the cartridge is 1mm shorter, but is perfectly suitable for 7.62x54R rifles.

The "Winchester"-stamped PPU brass can be picked up for $45-60 per hundred. (.45 to .60 cents each) I saw it listed online, once, for $275 per 1000.

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There is actually a fair selection of bullets on the market; ranging from .310"-.313" diameter. Slugging the bore will tell you which size to choose.

[darkgael]

You can shoot that stuff with the corrosive primers. Just be sure to clean your gun when you get home. It's no big deal; not any different, really, than cleaning a muzzleloader.
As noted, the least expensive way to buy boxer primed brass is to buy loaded ammo. I bought some boxes of Winchester for that purpose - way cheaper than the Norma brass.
Pete

[FALPhil]

You can shoot that stuff with the corrosive primers. Just be sure to clean your gun when you get home. It's no big deal; not any different, really, than cleaning a muzzleloader.

Or you can eat a big ole slice of watermelon before your shooting session, and when you are through, you can remove the bolt and take a whiz down the barrel. That's the way the commies used to do it (except they used vodka).

[azredhawk44]

Jeeze, all the corrosive primers mean is I have to swab out the barrel soonest with some Windex. I also brush Windex on the bolt head and wipe it off. It's not like the stuff is going to immediately corrode your barrel into a crusty mass.

Windex has ammonia, ammonia is for cleaning copper. Cleaning the salt from corrosive ammo requires sudsy water. Then drying with clean dry patches, then using a normal bore cleaner.

Windex alone doesn't clean the corrosive stuff from the bore to my knowledge.