7.62x54 safe load for cast boolit

[THOR5624]

Hey fellas. I was hoping to find some safe start loads for my cast bullets. I have .312 155gr gas checked boolits ready to fire and no load data. I have: H4895,Hvarget,H4350, and aliiant #2400. Any safe starting loads would be appreciated. Thanks!

[littlejack]

Thor, Welcome to the CastBoolits.
Try starting with 16 grains of 2400. That is plenty safe, and will get you started. You may have to go up or down to perfect the load. A lot will depend on your boolit alloy. You will need at least ww alloy. If you want to go faster, water drop them. If you want to go faster yet, better get some linotype.
It will help to slug your bore, and take a chamber cast. You should size the boolits to match your throat for best accuracy.
Jack

[THOR5624]

Alright, I have been loading with hardball alloy at .312. How do you size it to a larger size if my cast come out at .312? In case my groves are wider than that.

[HARRYMPOPE]

100% agree with littlejack on hte 2400 load..if the bullet you are talking about is a Lee "Harris" bullet you should get great accuracy assuming you bore and sometimes more importantly crown are decent.My Russian Mosins shoot .312 bullets fine,but bigger may possible be better to fill the throat.One of my Mosin's will take a .316 bullet,but .313 shoots as well as the fat bullet.I size them(.312-.314 bulitz) in .315 diameter dies so the GC stays large though the bullet is smaller.You have to try and see for yourself.

For moderate level cast loads in the 7.62R use 30-06 cast bullet data.


HMP

[PAT303]

A few years back I rescued a Mosin that had been in a flood.It looked like rubbish but that rifle shot 314299's over 30grns of 2206(4895) with a tuff of dacron into 5'' groups all day at 300mtrs prone with a sling. Pat

[littlejack]

The throat on my M44 is .317. It done me no good to shoot the 314299 boolit in it.
Things got crossed up pretty fast, and by the time the boolit hit the rifling, it went down the
bore sideways. Yes, I am exaggerating a little, but I cannot get optimum accuracy when I
shoot a .314 boolit down a .313 bore when it gets crossed up in the .317 throat to begin
with.
Thor, you need a boolit of bigger diameter. That is to say, a bigger diameter boolit mould.
My advice to you would be to BEG the other members for some of their bigger cast
boolits. Yes, it happens here.
I believe I have some .316 boolits. I think they were one of the fat .314 gang buys on the
CastBoolits. These would be around 200+ grain.
Jack

[littlejack]

Pat, now thats a keeper.
Jack

[HARRYMPOPE]

5'' groups all day at 300mtrs prone with a sling.

amazing for iron sights and a sling.! My 40x 308 will only do 2-3/4" for 10 with jacketed at that distance.
you could buy three Mosins for the price of the rear RPA sight alone!!

HMP

[HARRYMPOPE]

groups with .313 dia bullet in a .311 bore with .316 throat.While a bigger bullet might be better sometimes you have to try things to see for yourself.

three consecutive 10 shot groups at 100 yards 6x scope in Russian 91-30 in issue stock.

HMP

[littlejack]

My 44 would shoot 2.5" groups at 100 yards with the 314299 boolit.
I may get around to trying more larger boolits this summer. It will have to do better
than the 2.5" to satisfy me. I have seen rifles shoot 1" groups at 100 yards. Yea, I would be OK with
that.
Jack

[HARRYMPOPE]

My 44 would shoot 2.5" groups at 100 yards with the 314299 boolit.
I may get around to trying more larger boolits this summer. It will have to do better
than the 2.5" to satisfy me. I have seen rifles shoot 1" groups at 100 yards. Yea, I would be OK with
that.
Jack

My 44,38 and 59 never shot that well(about 3" was best).They may have benefited from bigger bullet,but i didn't have one at the time to test.

good luck.

HMP

[Dutch4122]

Do some searches for the "7.62x54r" and "Mosin" here at Cast Boolits. You'll find a lot of information.

[PAT303]

5'' groups all day at 300mtrs prone with a sling.

amazing for iron sights and a sling.! My 40x 308 will only do 2-3/4" for 10 with jacketed at that distance.
you could buy three Mosins for the price of the rear RPA sight alone!!

HMP

I fired maybe a dozen groups with that rifle over a 2 month period with a half dozen blokes watching that could not believe it.That rifle looked like complete **** but the trigger was smooth and barrel just shot.The only problem it wasn't mine. Pat

[PAT303]

Pat, now thats a keeper.
Jack

I was shooting at a figure B military target with a 4'' white center square,I could not see the square but aimed at 6 o'clock and 3 to 4 of the boolits would be in the white with the others just outside it.That rifle was just right in every way for me,right length,right balance,right everything. Pat