7.5x54Mas

[Motor]

I'm using a Lee 160gr 2R TL boolit with a Hornady gas check.
Any velocity and or load suggestions are welcome.
The intended game is whitetail deer.
Thanks,
Motor

[Motor]

Well no replies. Ok. I probably should have waited until I shot this load over the chronograph before posting but I did find a good accurate load using 18.5gr of 2400.

This load should be high teens in velocity. The boolit is about 12BHN and is gas checked.

Do you fellows think this will be OK for whitetail deer?

Motor

[leftiye]

Sounds to be in a velocity range for a caliber and weight that has been used sucessfully in the past. 1800 to 2000 fps should be sufficient. Up to 2400 fps is used by some. It gets messy as velocity goes up.

[richhodg66]

If it were me, I'd get a design that has a flat nose. Otherwise, sounds like you're on the right track. Use a relatively soft alloy at 1800+ FPS and place your shots well.

[1johnlb]

+1 on getting a different design I haven't hunted in years but that 2R has little to no knock down power and unless it hits a bone, will punch straight thru with minimum damage. I always hated tracking deer far. I would just prefer one of lee's 30/30 designs for hunting and the 2R for targets.

[Motor]

Thanks for your replies. I also load this boolit in 30-30 so to deal with the tubular magazine issue I made a "trim" die out of a old reloading die by boring out the top and pressing in a .312" drill bushing.

I put the loaded cartridge in the press raise the ram so the boolit sticks up through the drill bushing then file a flat on the tip. You can only file until you riding the bushing so it's pretty accurate. And of course you can adjust the die for more or less flat.

Motor

Update:
I made a couple flat points using my trim die. The boolits with check weigh 172gr. Filing the nose to create a .220" diameter flat only reduced the boolit weight 8gr. So now I have a 164gr flat point boolit.

BUT: I must be thinking straight today because I didn't go ahead and do bunch before checking how they feed.

Unlike the 30-30 this is a x- military rifle and was designed to feed spire points. As it turns out it does not like the flat point boolit. So I'm going to have to leave them pointed.

Motor

[richhodg66]

Another option would be to cast them with the BruceB soft point method. Not too hard to do with a single cavity mold, might be tougher with a multiple cavity one. Might also consider hollowpointing after loading with the Forster tool.

[slim1836]

Motor,

FYI, for my Mosin Nagant, I used 13.2 grains of Unique on a PC (red) gas checked (Hornady) 314299 Lyman mold using wheel weights and get groups under 6" at 100 yards. At 50 yards, it's under 2". Velocity is unknown.

I use the Lee 160gr 2R TL boolit on my .308 Tikka but not my Mosin Nagant as my barrel slugs too large for it.

Slim

[Motor]

slim. I use 16gr Unique in the 54R for 1850f/s. This load was worked up starting at 13gr. The best group was a 16gr and started to open back up at 17.

This 16gr Unique load shoots 1" groups at 50 yards from a 39 Finn Mosin Nagant. It still shoots pretty good from my hex Tula 91-30. I don't size the 160gr when I use it in the 54R's not for any of them even though the Finns are around .3105" to .3115" and I install the gas check for these with a .314" push through die.

When I had the scout mount on my M39 with a 2x-7x scope standard clay pigeons at 200 yards were not a problem with the 16gr Unique load.

Motor

[slim1836]

Motor,
I misread the title, I thought you were referring to 7.62x54, I am so sorry. That's what I get for being in a hurry.

Slim

[Motor]

slim. That's ok. I got to share my 54R with you as a result.

Our favorite 54R load however is the same 160gr without gas check and 6gr of Bullseye for a velocity of 1075f/s.

Motor

[Motor]

I made a couple dummy rounds using Sierra 150gr flat nose and Sierra 125gr flat nose hollow point. Both of these feed fine and the flat is around .200" So I set my trim die up and made some of my cast boolits have a .180" diameter flat point. These feed good so it looks like I'll have a flat point to hunt with.

Motor

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Put a nice meplat on your first round then follow up with spire points, the little difference in weight shouldn't make too much difference in the point of impact. Be sure to verify...

[Motor]

Put a nice meplat on your first round then follow up with spire points, the little difference in weight shouldn't make too much difference in the point of impact. Be sure to verify...

That's an excellent idea. I can keep the first few I did for "first shot" use. What size would you recommend? The first ones I did have a flat that measures around .220"

Thanks,

Motor

[DonMountain]

I'm using a Lee 160gr 2R TL boolit with a Hornady gas check.
Any velocity and or load suggestions are welcome.
The intended game is whitetail deer.
Thanks,
Motor

I don't have the same mold that you are asking about, but I have been using an RCBS 30-180-SP gas checked boolet cast with Wheel Weights over 32.0 grains of H4895 powder in converted Winchester 6.5x55 Mauser brass and Winchester WLR primers to hunt deer for years in the 7.5x54 MAS. I am using a MAS MLE1936-51 original military rifle as my main deer rifle since it has good sights and hits at 100 yards at point of aim with this load. Have taken 3 deer every year over a field of soy beans from a deer stand at 50 to about 150 yards. Good knock down and good blood trail for the short distance I had to follow any of them. Most of them went down on the spot with a good hit.

[Motor]

I just started powder coating. So now instead of 15 to 16 bhn I'm going to try 12bhn with gas check. Do you guys think this will allow the boolits to expand some without having a larger flat nose? Just to re-capp, the velocity should be in the 1800f/s area. I haven't had the chance to chronograph it yet.

Motor

[3leggedturtle]

WHAT IF, or have you seated the filed down boolts to the same overall length as the unfiled ones.

[Motor]

Not sure what your question is. But no, the boolits are flat filed after loaded so what ever is filed off the OAL is that much shorter.

I have found if I keep the flat under .200" that they feed just fine. If I find these powder coated bullets shoot good I can even flat point them. If they maintain accuracy flat pointed, don't know why they wouldn't, then they should hit and expand pretty good. I know I have a lot of range work to do.

Motor

[Motor]

Just an update. It's still not deer season but it's getting close.

I made a tool out of a surplus casing to use in my trim die. So now I flat point the boolit then powder coat it then size (and gas check) to .311"

I end up with a 168gr flat point. The flat measures .180" diameter. They shoot as accurate as the non modified boolits.

Over the last couple days I did some side by side comparison between the flat point ammo and the unmodified. The difference in impact between the two on water filled gallon jugs was surprising. Even at 50 yards the unmodified boolits act a lot like full metal jackets shooting through the jugs with minor damage.

The flat point boolits blow the jugs open. Even at 100 yards the flat points are still splitting the jugs open very well while the unmodified boolits simply shoot though popping off the lids.

Motor

[ammohead]

even a small meplat will displace quite a bit of tissue in a deer sized animal with little or no expanding at all. Read up on Veral Smith's "Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets". You may be able to find a copy on ebay. or check his web site.

The difference you saw with the gallon jugs will be repeated on live game. Flat points rule, no expansion needed.