.312 bullets for a 7.62x54

[Rock Knocker]

I plan on doing some long range shooting for fun with my mosin but after slugging the bore i have a rather large diameter of .312".

Ive been told that i should be able to find bullets in that diameter but i was not told where i could find them. I have done some looking around but havent found any. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[johnu]

Pretty sure Hornady offers several .312 bullets for the .303 - might be others. Check some of the shooting/reloading suppliers.

Me, I'm emptying ammo so I can have brass to reload with .308s for my Finn 28/30!

John

 

[rhbrink]

Hornady is the only maker for the .312 bullets I believe. Midway has some 150 grain, and maybe match bulets. Hornady also makes a 174 to 180 grain round nose in the .312 about as scarce as hens teeth. I would like to find some myself.

 

[Laurie]

You usually find 0.311" Sierra bullets perform very well in this cartridge. Another good bullet for light, short-range loads is Lapua's 123gn 0.310" FMJ designed primarily for the 7.62X39mm which has a deep cone-shaped hollow-base and may obturate a little under pressure. All of these Soviet era designed rifles are designed for nominally 0.310" dia bullets but nearly always have larger bores. That doesn't seem to stop them performing well with 'undersize' 0.310-.311" models. 0.308" is usually a reduction too far though for the Russian rifles, but works well in the Finnish models with SAKO barrels.

Laurie,
York, England

 

[2506]

Hornady makes a 150 gr spitzer and a 174 RNSP bullet in .312 diameter. Be aware that some places like Midway list Hornady as making a.312 diameter 174 gr FMJ BT bullet. It is not .312 diameter. That bullet is .3105 diameter. Graf and Sons did have some special run Hornady 174 gr BTHP .312 diameter bullets a while back. I have some. You might give them a look see. Yes the Russian rifles do have a wide variance in bore diameters. I have a number of them and most will shoot great with .311 diameter bullets but I have a couple that will only shoot well with .312 diameter. They seem to like the heaver 174 to 180 gr bullets also. The most accurate load no matter which bullet diameter that I have found is this. 50 grs Accurate 4350, Graf/Prvi or Lapua case, CCI 200 primer, .311 Sierra 174 gr Match King or 180 gr SP, COAL 3.000. Using the 174 Hornady RNSP use the same as above but the COAL is 2.790 and this is very important to best accuracy. USE A LEE FACTORY CRIMP DIE ON ALL LOADS. For long range work I would give the Sierra .311 Match King a try with the above load but if it will not shoot then you can try the .312 Hornady RNSP and learn how to shoot indirect fire. Those things really drop like a rock out past 200 yards. I did some long range shooting 600 to 900 yards with my Finnish M-39 Mosin Nagant with the above load and the .311 Sierra 174 MK and it was astounding in the accuracy department. This load shoots to the sights on that rifle also. For a good place to learn how to make these rifles shoot more accurate without chopping them up. Go to www.surplusrifle.com and go to the forums. You will find a thread on Russian/Finnish rifles. In this thread at the top of the page there is a sticky that will teach you how and where to shim your action and pad the barrel in the forearm and it really works. The Russians did this with their sniper rifles to make them shoot accurately.

 

[johnu]

Powder Valley has some .311 Sierras in stock. If your lands are decent, they may work out pretty well.

John