Reloading the Russian 7.62x38R Nagant cartridge
This is an interesting cartridge as it "Gas Seals" the forcing cone of the pistol barrel. A very innovative idea to prevent the bullet from jumping across the air gap between the face of the cylinder and the forcing cone of the barrel allowing gas to escape. The fact that it was invented in the 1890s is even more remarkable.
The cylinder is pushed forward as the hammer is cocked and shoves the open mouth of the cartridge into the forcing cone itself. As the cartridge is fired, the bullet expands the swagged neck of the case mouth outward and onto the surface of the forcing cone just before the bullet jumps into the rifling.
This provides a momentary gas seal of the cylinder to the forcing cone, allowing the full pressure of the burning smokeless powder to propel the bullet down the barrel with no velocity loss due to a normal revolvers air gap between the face of the cylinder and the forcing cone of the barrel. In theory, since there is no leakage of propelling gases, this pistol can be fitted with a suppressor.
My load will be used for target shooting and "plinking," using dies made for two other calibers to load and crimp the bullet into the case.
I am using Starline and PPU 7.62x38R, new-made brass cases.
I will be using Speer 98-grain Wad Cutter Hollow Base swagged lead 314 target bullets.
Yes, the bore is listed as.308, but these soft lead bullets will not cause any pressure problems using my load.
These bullets work very well and do not swell the cases as they are loaded into the brass cases, as some FMJ bullets do.
I have found you can use two Full die sets to load this cartridge that are not made for 7.62x38R.
They are.30 Carbine (many long-term reloaders have these dies on hand) and.310 Cadet, which I have been reloading since 1964.
Both of these full-length dies will size the cases very closely to the original cartridge dimensions. By backing both dies off due to the longer Nagant cartridge length, you can easily size the cases for at least 2/3 of the total cartridge length. This has never caused any failure to feed the loaded cartridges into the cylinder of my pistol.
The original loading's of this cartridge were varied according to Target Loads and Military issued ammunition.
Velocities ranged from 750 to just over 1,000 FPS.
The load I’m using is close to 900 FPS at my elevation of 7,000 feet ASL.
I tried several well-known pistol powders* and a few rifle powders to see which were the most accurate and provided the expanding mouth of the brass cases to gas seal properly as well as be relatively clean burning.
I settled on the old, tried-and-true powder, Unique.
With the 98-grain bullet weight, 3.5 grains provided an accurate loading that was snappy and did not lead the bore of the barrel.
Primers are another topic to ponder. While Small Pistol primers can be used, so can Small Pistol Magnum primers or even Small Rifle Primers. The volume of this casing is such that pressures using my load data are safe using any of the above primers.
The pistol's hammer and that very long firing pin have no problem setting off the Small rifle Primer. The diameter of the firing pin dent is impressive for a handgun. It really insures that no matter whether the primer is a thick cup Berdan primer or a softer cup Small Pistol Boxer primer, that primer is going to go off when struck!
I use the.30 Carbine neck expand die backed off to just slightly bell the case mouth. Just enough, you can just feel and see the bell, since this area of the case is going to be worked a lot in the reloading / firing process. I suggest you anneal the brass case mouth to increase case life and prevent case mouth splits.
To seat the Wad Cutter bullets, I use the stem off of a full-length sizing die's decapping rod and the neck sizer plug / decapping pin holder for a.30 cartridge neck sizer.
This plug, minus the decapping pin, is just the right size to push the wad cutter bullet into the case without causing the bullet to lean out of center to the case mouth when seating.
The bullets are seated to just clear the bottom of the case mouth, where the swage/ bell will be done next.
I found that what works for me is swagging down the mouth of the cartridge from.31 caliber to.26 (6.5mm) caliber, which works very well indeed.
To do this, I slightly lube the mouth of the loaded case and size the mouth down using a 6.5 Grendel Full Length sizing die backed off enough to just size the case mouth down about 1/8th of an inch.
Another die to use to create a nice roll crimp is the 5.7 Johnson FL Sizing die. (.30 carbine to.223 Fireball)
I have tried several other dies to crimp the bullet that also work very well. .218 Bee, .22TCM, .22 PPC, and .221 Fireball.
I’m sure there are many more dies that can also be used.
This loading technique provides a good round of ammunition that is accurate and very pleasant to shoot, and the brass extracts from the cylinders with ease.
Using the.314 swagged lead bullets, at no times were there any pressure signs.
The larger-diameter .314 bullet did not lead the bore.
And for some fun, loading the Hollow Base Wad Cutter backwards into the case and firing it into a one-gallon water-filled plastic milk jug, the results are impressive and wet!
I have tried several other bullets as well. .30 Carbine FMJ's,.30 Carbine 1/2 Jackets,.32ACP 71 Grain FMJ and HP's, 100 grain bullets for the.32-20 cartridge, and even Buck Shot Ball loads for giggles.
With so much of the long cartridge case not holding powder or a bullet, a charge of bird shot can be used for snakes at close range. Several reloaders on the internet have done this with good results. (using hand punch-cut milk carton wads over the powder and shot)
Some of the powders* tried. All worked well, but they were not my favorites for a variety of reasons.
Bullseye
Red Dot
Green Dot
PB
REX-2
Li'l Gun
Power Pistol
VV- N-133
H110
296
AA-5
AA-9
IMR-4227
Cordite from WWII
and several more that are no longer made / available in stores.
All in all, this cartridge and pistol are accurate and a lot of fun to shoot.
With reloads, The 7.62x38R Nagant cartridge can be very economical to shoot many rounds during a visit to your local range.
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Originally Posted by Kestrel4k
