Gimme a load 7.62x54R w/180gr cast

Recently acquired a MN 91/30 with a good bore and not counterbored although the grooves are rather large at .314. Looking through my stock of junk er I mean supplies...I found a box of 180gr cast gas checked boolits that Bullshop had made up for me to try in a 303 Brit and they are sized at .315. Me thinks these ought to work in the MN.
I know a lot of youse guys shoot these so give me some powder reccomendations please lest I try and peruse some manuals and start from scratch. Just looking to punch paper at 100 and maybe 200 yds to see what this old girl will do.
Any suggestions would be helpful...Thanks

13.0 Red Dot, 16.0 2400. Basic starter loads for cases that size.

one of my fav loads with the lee 185 gr gc bullet.

185 gr gc .314
18.0 grs AA5744
norma brass
rem lr primer

pete

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Originally Posted by 218bee

Recently acquired a MN 91/30 with a good bore and not counterbored although the grooves are rather large at .314. Looking through my stock of junk er I mean supplies...I found a box of 180gr cast gas checked boolits that Bullshop had made up for me to try in a 303 Brit and they are sized at .315. Me thinks these ought to work in the MN.
I know a lot of youse guys shoot these so give me some powder reccomendations please lest I try and peruse some manuals and start from scratch. Just looking to punch paper at 100 and maybe 200 yds to see what this old girl will do.
Any suggestions would be helpful...Thanks

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Another good one with that bullet is 13.5 grains of IMR Trail Boss - works well in my scoped 91/30. More accurate than the Red Dot or 2400 loads in my rifle. My bore is tighter than that, but then I size my boolits to .312 so in yours that .315 boolit should work about the same. 10 to 18 grains of Trail Boss - some where in there you ought to find a good accurate load.

Fill the case to just where the base of a seated bullet would be (don't compress the charge as it causes erratic powder burning), weigh that (should come out somewhere between 18-20 grains of TB) and call it the max. Take 70 percent of that weight and call it the starting load. That should be around 10-13 grains depending on the brand of cases. You can go down around 9.0 grains safely as TB isn't position sensitive. Somewhere between 9 grains and whatever the max comes out at you'll find the best accuracy. Beauty of Trail boss is that 100%/70% formula. Works with any caliber, any cartridge and any bullet that's appropriate for the caliber you're loading for. Don't believe me, check out Trail Boss on the Hodgdon Powder Company's website .. Also, this formula works for either cast or J-word bullets equally well. May not be the same weight of powder for the accuracy points, but if you experiment enough, you'll find one. This WILL vary from rifle to rifle, so you'll probably come up with different numbers that I did, but if you work at it a bit, you'll find a TB load you're happy with.

Oh did I mention, muzzle blast will be mild and recoil will be quite a bit less than what you're used to. Don't let that cause you to think it can't be accurate at distance. A 205 grain GC boolit out of my 8mm Mauser has the trajectory of a mortar, but it does consistently sub-MOA with 10.5 grains of TB.

Jim

1st photo shows final 5 shots for zero using Lee C312-185-2R over 24 gr AA5744. 2nd photo shows the GB 314291 over 29 gr 4895 with a 3/4 gr dacron filler with various sight adjustment and last 10 shots (8 Xs and 2 tens) for zero. Both at 100 yards. Cases are NS'd Norma's with WLR primers. Rifle is a Sako Finn M39 with issue sights.

Larry Gibson

Try 20 to 25 grs SR 4759 works well in all my MN,s with 180 to 220 gr cast sized .314.

Thanks for the advice so far guys...I do have most of the above powders...haven't tried Trail Boss yet in anything but do have a jar...Larry I like the looks of your 4895 load, any idea on velocity? H4895 or IMR4895 does it matter?

13 grains of Unique is a nice plinking load. Low recoil, if that's what your after. Similar to the "16 grns of 2400" that is so popular. I've found Unique to be less position sensitive than 2400 in my rifles.

Hope this helps,

My 1939 Tula (original barrel) likes the Lee 185 sized to .315 over 30.5 gr. of H4895 with a dacron filler. Shooting prone - iron sights without a sling - I can generally keep 10-round strings in the black (6 1/4") of a SR-21 target.

Bill

218bee

Larry I like the looks of your 4895 load, any idea on velocity? H4895 or IMR4895 does it matter?

The 314299 over 29 gr of 4895 with a 3/4 gr dacron filler in Norma cases and WLR primer runs at 1750 fps, a very pleasant and accurate load. I use 3 flavors of 4895; H4895, IMR4895 and milsurp. That load was with milsurp but the other two give the same excellent results with 28 -30 gr depending on flavor and lot of the powder. I do push that same bullet up to 1950 fps for use out of my Russian M91/30 sniper. Suggest starting at 28 gr and work up to 32 gr in 1/2 gr increments to see what your rifle likes.

Larry Gibson

'Another good one with that bullet is 13.5 grains of IMR Trail Boss - works well in my scoped 91/30.

I agree with Jim.I use 14.0 of TB with bullets from 115g to 245g sized .313 with good luck.Here are three consecutive 10 shot groups at 100 yards from today with the NEI 72 "Harris" 155 bullet..Gun is a stock Russian 91-30 with 6x scope in original wood.

Not as good as some of the Finn Nagants,but good enough.Biggest is 2.4" smallest is 1-3/4"

George

I have gotten good accuracy with 30.0 grains of 3031 (180 gn CBs) in my MNs (1950 fps).

One of the things I like most about using Trail Boss is it's bulk and it's almost impossible to create a position sensitive problem with it. 13-14 grains of the stuff in the 7.62X54R case fills it to just over 50% and gives very consistent results.

Haven't tried Unique yet (hate the smell of that stuff when it burns - :lol: ) but 16 grains of 2400 works too. It doesn't give quite the accuracy results of Trail Boss, but I haven't found 2400 to be noticeably position sensitive at all. 3031 however does seem to be. I didn't have enough on hand to really work up a load though and it's in somewhat scarce supply around here right now. As soon as I get my hands on another bottle of it, I'm going to try that 30.0 grain load with some 185 gr gas checked .312's I have on hand and see what that turns up.

That's what I really love about this forum. Never a day goes by that I don't learn something new. Thanks everyone!
Jim

i haven't seen the difference in accuracy with 12.0 of Unique, 16.0 of 2400,18.0 of 5744 or 4759 or 14.0 of Trail Boss.All work very well.
I tried TB originally to see how it worked for a buddy that was just starting rifle casting and concerned about double charging.I stuck with it because it worked and i was too lazy to change the powder measure.The more i shot it the better i liked it. I have to go back and look at a lot of targets with other powders ,but the load seems to keep its point of impact more consistent than some powders.Bore stays pretty clean with the load.

i don't shoot the medium rate rifle powders like 3031 or 4895 in military rifle cases anymore as it takes about twice the amount to shoot well and i don't like the added step of wads or fillers some of the loads need.Since i only shoot my matches @ 100 and 200 yards i don't need 1800-1900 fps ,1400-1600 is just fine.The med. rate loads shoot very well though.

Here are two 10 shot targets shot at 200 with a 190g plain base bullet @ 11.0 grains with the 6x scoped Mosin.Both are a bit under 3-3/4"

Other target(three 5 shot groups @ 100 shot today) is 14.0 load with open sight 91-30 Russian 1934 mfg hex receiver gun and the #72 in process of adjusting sights for a 10 ring zero(unsuccessful,eyes got "buggy").In good lighting it shoots about 1/2 MOA larger than the scoped gun for a FEW groups.All three groups 2" or a tad under.


George

well maybe i'll try the can of trail boss i got hangin around...just to see what gives...My MN is a Tula with a 1935 dated barrel. If I can get 3-5 in at 100 with open sights and my old eyes I'll be pleased

When i meter Trail Boss i use and old Pacific that works like a Belding and Mull.If you use a drum type of measure give it time to fill and empty the chamber you have as it is pretty fluffy.A dipper actually work pretty well.

George

wondering with the Trail Boss about sight settings...I'm thinking 100 yd/m probably too low at a 100....200 meter setting too high?? I know I'll have to experiment but would like to hit paper with first shot

My Finn Mosin M39 really likes the C312-185 with 10.0 gr. Trail Boss or 13.0 gr. Salut. Sub 2" groups at 100yd. with issue sights.

Charlie

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Originally Posted by 218bee

wondering with the Trail Boss about sight settings...I'm thinking 100 yd/m probably too low at a 100....200 meter setting too high?? I know I'll have to experiment but would like to hit paper with first shot

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Set your sight to "6" on the 91-30's and it will get you point of aim or a bit above at 100 yards with the 13-14 Trail Boss load with 155-215g bullets


George

"Haven't tried Unique yet (hate the smell of that stuff when it burns - )"

Here are the two 5 shot groups from today at 200 with my Ruskie' Mosin 91-30 6x scope and 12.0 Unique.I had to shot it again to verify its accuracy after lipping off how well it shoots.I stole the "Universal 12.0g Unique load" from CBA member Joe Gifford truth be told.

The 100 yard group was 1.3" for 5 and 2" for 10 shots.The two shown are both 2-3/8" @ 200 yards in a bit if wind i had to dope.Bullet is the Harris 155g 7.62 x 39 pill sized .313 dubbed "the little fat f-er" by a friend of his.

the addition of my custom ft sight cover by my 10 year old son may have helped also----GRIN-----

George