7.62x54R

[Ranch Dog]

I guess you'll just have to slug the barrel and see exactly what you've got. I've got an Enfield, 303 that is "supposed to be" .311" - .312' but slugs at .318"!..

SAAMI spec on the 303 British is .3125". CIP Spec is .314". I wonder if JES could make it a 35-303?

[Macd]

Confusing information everywhere eh? My Lee book says .310, Hodgdon and ADI say .308 and Lyman #49 says 311-312. C.I.P. says .3118 (7.92mm). I have also seen .3105. Norma and Lapua use .308 buulets. So slug that barrel and have fun.

[Ranch Dog]

Confusing information everywhere eh? My Lee book says .310, Hodgdon and ADI say .308 and Lyman #49 says 311-312. C.I.P. says .3118 (7.92mm). I have also seen .3105. Norma and Lapua use .308 buulets. So slug that barrel and have fun.

You have that right. That's why I use either SAAMI or CIP as the reference and slug everything.

[Macd]

Confusing information everywhere eh? My Lee book says .310, Hodgdon and ADI say .308 and Lyman #49 says 311-312. C.I.P. says .3118 (7.92mm). I have also seen .3105. Norma and Lapua use .308 buulets. So slug that barrel and have fun.

You have that right. That's why I use either SAAMI or CIP as the reference and slug everything.

I couldn't find a SAMMI drawing for the 7.62x54R. I will have to look a bit closer.

Also I remembered I had some MFS 203 SP which are made in Russia. I measured the 18 left in the box and they all were .3095. I think that will qualify as .310.

[cj8281]

I finally bought a box of bullets for loading the 7.62x54R, a box of Speer's 180gr SPRN in .311 since I keep putting off casting some lead for it. I have found out 2 things this evening while browsing around looking for info. There is no info for the 7.62x54R from Speer and the Alliant powder company.
I have 5 bottles of IMR 4350 that I was planning on using with the Russian. Went to Hodgdon's website and put in my info and it lists h4350 but not IMR 4350. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my Hornady book (#9) and my old Lyman #47. Hornady lists a 180 grain round nose that looks very much like the Speer bullet that I bought. Hornady shows a start of 42.4 grains and a max of 52.7. Next I opened up the Lyman. Lyman has a 180 grain spitzer which turns out to be made by Remington and a 200 grain round nose made by Speer. One of the rules of thumb that I learned many years ago is that you can use data for a heavier bullet if you can't find info for a lighter one. The Spitzer looks like it probably has a shorter bearing surface than my round nose. The 200 grain round nose has a start of 48.0 grains and lists a max of 53.0. I think I will go with the data for the 200.
Next step will be to build a test cartridge and see if we bump into any rifling.

[Ranch Dog]

I couldn't find a SAMMI drawing for the 7.62x54R. I will have to look a bit closer.

The 7.62x54R is not a SAAMI cartridge. I have the CIP references, attached is a single page PDF. You need a rain day to figure out the CIP specs, no visualization like the SAAMI drawings. It can make you what to shoot yourself with whatever cartridge you are working on

CIP_762x54R.pdf

Here is the cartridge drawing from QuickLoad, it could be used as a reference as you work through the various features of the cartridge.

QL_762x54R.jpg

I finally bought a box of bullets for loading the 7.62x54R, a box of Speer's 180gr SPRN in .311 since I keep putting off casting some lead for it. I have found out 2 things this evening while browsing around looking for info. There is no info for the 7.62x54R from Speer and the Alliant powder company.
I have 5 bottles of IMR 4350 that I was planning on using with the Russian. Went to Hodgdon's website and put in my info and it lists h4350 but not IMR 4350. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my Hornady book (#9) and my old Lyman #47. Hornady lists a 180 grain round nose that looks very much like the Speer bullet that I bought. Hornady shows a start of 42.4 grains and a max of 52.7. Next I opened up the Lyman. Lyman has a 180 grain spitzer which turns out to be made by Remington and a 200 grain round nose made by Speer. One of the rules of thumb that I learned many years ago is that you can use data for a heavier bullet if you can't find info for a lighter one. The Spitzer looks like it probably has a shorter bearing surface than my round nose. The 200 grain round nose has a start of 48.0 grains and lists a max of 53.0. I think I will go with the data for the 200.
Next step will be to build a test cartridge and see if we bump into any rifling.

If you provide me with a COAL that you will use with the Speer 180 HCRN #2223, I can run it through QuickLoad so that you can use that software's suggestion for IMR 4350 against that you mentioned above.

If the CIP max COAL of 3.038" is used with the Speer #2223, QL suggests a max load of 54.0-grains of IMR 4350 which will produce 2615 FPS (22" barrel) and 50.9K PSI (15% off the max) at 70ºF. You would do the normal precautions and start 10% below that charge and work your way up. If you reach that velocity prior to the suggested max, you would stop.

[cj8281]

Yeah, 3.038" isn't going to happen. I resized a case, checked it for trim (2.11") and then seated a bullet so the bottom of the bullet was even with the neck, 2.796". Pulled the bullet with a kinetic puller and then started the bullet in the case about an 1/8th of an inch. Chambered the round, sans powder and primer and I get 2.986". That Speer bullet is short and fat, 1.061" in length. Case neck measures .373" in length (roughly). So with the cartridge at 2.986", the bullet is only seated in the neck .185" so roughly 3/16 which about half way into the neck. I think with this bullet, maybe seating it to 2.830" or maybe 2.850". If the bullet was seated to 2.850" it would have about a .135" jump before engaging the lands. That is quite a jump.
I think the bullet in your drawing maybe based on the steel cored bullet and that is why it is so much longer. I believe my military surplus ammo to be in the 147 to 155gr range.
It looks like IMR 4350 is generally about a grain or two less than the H4350 in most cartridges. Hodgdon's website shows H4350 at 55 grains but they lists the COL at 2.975. The bullet they list is SFT SCIR. Not sure what that one is. So 54 grains is not out of line, I probably wouldn't go much over 50 grains of IMR 4350. Its a plinking gun or a SHTF backup gun. The mold I have for it is the Lyman 314299.

[cj8281]

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/sites/d ... ations.pdf
It looks like the SFT SCIR is the Swift Scirocco. I knew Hodgdon had something like that somewhere. Just printed that out and put it in my reloading binder. Handy thing to have.

[klr]

I spent some time wrestling with this round. A few notes:

Shove a bore scope in your barrel. Or make a chamber cast. Mine was really worn and the throat eroded.

I finally found success when I fit the bullet to the throat and not the bore. I ended up around .319" with a cast bullet. It is the max size that would fit in the neck and still allow enough expansion room for the bullet to release when fired.

I ended up with a Lyman 2 Cavity # 319247 mold shooting reduced loads. Even though the bore looks like a sewer pipe, my rifle is still very accurate with this load.

[cj8281]

I am sure mine is in similar shape as when I slugged the barrel, somewhere in the middle it went through a tight patch and then fell several inches and then pretty much slid out of the barrel the rest of the way. .314". Using military surplus ammo, it hits whatever you point it at. I do want to get some lead bullets made up for it but right now it is sequences.