7.62x54R reloading tips

[Sim G]

Rule of thumb is if a 7.62x54R barrel is produced for the US in particular or the West on the whole, it will have a .308 barrel. Russian military produced will be .311.

One theory why the Russians used .311 is because during WW1, Russia's main munitions supplier was the British. It's been opined that at one time, 60% of Britains munitions output was destined for Tsarist Russia. Going to a .311 bullet for the Russians would have made it simpler for the manufacturer.

And why .303 designation for the Brits when it uses .311? Unlike the rest of the arms producing world, the Brits used to measure bore size land to land, not groove to groove.

[snayperskaya]

The 7.62x54r bullet was .311" since it's design in 1891 so 23 years before the outbreak of WW1.

Anglo-Russian relations in the 1880s up to the early 1900s weren't brilliant as both were still very much involved in "The Great Game" for Central and Eastern Asia and in the early 1900s they were actually tottering on the brink of war so I don't think the .303 bullet would have been made available to Russia at the time the Three Line Rifle Cartridge, Model of the Year 1891, as it was originally known, was developed.

[Sim G]

Just one theory put forward, that's all. A friend has a Winchester 1895 produced for the Russian military during WW1. It's chambered in 7.62x54 and uses .308 bullets....

[snayperskaya]

Just one theory put forward, that's all. A friend has a Winchester 1895 produced for the Russian military during WW1. It's chambered in 7.62x54 and uses .308 bullets....

Weren't they adapted to Russian standards?.I know a lot of reloaders in the States reload 54r with .308" bullets with no problems if the barrel and rifling are good (some Mosins can be around .309" on a clean inter-war rifle) as there is a wider choice of .308" bullets, but accuracy is a problem with worn Mosins as some can be around the .315" area and need a good cast bullet.
Remember that these rifles were turned out of the factories as fast as they could make them and there is a lot of variation in tolerances, especially on the wartime rifles were quantity overuled quality to some extent.

[Sim G]

No, to the best of my knowledge, the 1895s weren't "adapted", they were made specifically for the Russian military from 1914 to 1917. Nearly half a million of them in 7.62x54R. They even had a cut out to use Nagant stripper clips!

Imagine a Tsarist Russian soldier armed with a Winchester rifle and a Smith & Wesson single action action revolver..... What's Russian for "Yeeeehhaaaawwww!!"?

[snayperskaya]

Pulled from the 'net........

Rifles made for the Russian contract had a longer than standard barrel fitted with an extended forestock and bayonet lug.Initial delivery of the rifles was delayed because adaptation to Russian standards, particularly the charger guide, proved more difficult than expected.Additional delays resulted from incompetent and obstructive Russian inspectors, who refused to use Winchester-made test gauges despite no Russian gauges existing, insisted that test ammunition be shipped from Russia (instead of using readily available Winchester ammunition made on Russian contract), and often rejected rifles for irrelevant flaws such as wood grain in the stock being insufficiently straight.Winchester later sold these rejected rifles on the US commercial market.

[Sim G]

Wonder why the inspectors were so recalcitrant?

[snayperskaya]

Wonder why the inspectors were so recalcitrant?

Perhaps it was national pride and they preferred the Mosin over the Winchester?.

[Sim G]

Grain of the wood not sufficiently straight? And a Mosin next to a Winchester '95, the MN really is going to seem agricultural!

[Rab]

Wonder why the inspectors were so recalcitrant?

Perhaps it was national pride and they preferred the Mosin over the Winchester?.

Or maybe the Russians just being Bolshe ....geddit? Bolshe. Okay I'll get me coat