7.62x54r upgrade

[BHJ]

Being the tinker I am I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I had some surplus 7.62x54R FMJ laying around and decided I wanted a premium hunting bullet. I haven't seen much factory premium ammo for this caliber available. I do know Ga. arms offers a ballistic tip.I decided to get out my kinetic bullet puller and break a couple of rounds down. I put the powder back into the case and replaced the FMJ with a 168gr A max. I then used my .308 seater die adjusted all the way down to start the bullets by hand and finished the seating by using the rifle to seat the bullet ensuring they would be just touching the lands. I know the 7.62X54R uses a .310 bullet and the A Max is a .308 but they do fit tightly into the bore.
Has anyone else tried this?
Does anyone foresee a problem with it?

 

[dunkel]

I think you're going to get terrible accuracy with the smaller bullet, even if you are able to fire it reliably.

 

[jsquared]

I think youre going to have fun no matter what Let us know how it goes! What are you shooting them in, BTW?

 

[Outsydlooknin]

Um I say you may be over charged ... what was the original bullet weight? Its your face.

 

[jsquared]

Hmmmm, 148gr to 168gr, same powder charge, he could be on to something ^ Unless the smaller projectile would mean less barrel time, since it wouldnt swage as much in the rifling. Dunno man. Again I would want to know what youre firing it in. If it is a Mosin I would say go for it, but yeah its your face, tread wisely. If its a PKM or a PSL or something else semi auto I wouldnt try it.

 

[Outsydlooknin]

Id also be worried about pressure spikes since you are jamming the lands BIG time.

 

[jsquared]

And case pressure, since youre using a larger projectile with the same OAL. Kinda starting to sound like a bad idea lol. I would work up a load with less powder first and see how it goes.

 

[Tex06]

Throw a few down range in a Mosin, wear glasses (face shield if you're scared) and pull the trigger. After it works once or twice, try for accuracy at 100yds. That's how we used to do it as kids...blowing up a rifle isn't fun, but we were never injured either.

 

[fattboyzz]

The same weight on both projectiles ??

If not .....your wiggin !!!

 

[BHJ]

Yeah I was gonna launch em from a Mosin. The surplus ammo was in a plain unmarked green box. I figured the bullet woulda been heavier than it was. I was thinkin about 175 or 180 which I woulda been OK with trying. It looked to be a little larger than the A max. It must have had either a hollow or steel core. My powder scale didn't go up high enough to weigh bullets so I had to dig out my old laboratory scale. It weighed in at 151.2gr. SURPRISE. With surplus military stuff generally being loaded hot I decided against taking a chance that the .002 smaller bullet with less bearing surface would reduce pressure enough to keep me safe. So I broke em down again and replaced the 168 A Max with some Nosler Flat Base Moly Coated 150gr Partition Gold I've had on the shelf for quite a while. I kinda figured I'd find a use for em one day. Now if I can just find time to test em for accuracy and performance.I hope that the 7.62x54R will drive em fast enough. I'll probably eventually get some proper components and dies but for now I hope I'm on to something that'll work until I get around to it.

If anybody wants to swap some premium 150s of a different style and try the 150gr moly partition gold,168 a max or 168gr custom competitions let me know.