7.62 x 54R mold suggestions

[yobohadi]

I just bought a Mosin Nagant 91/30 and slugged the barrel which came out to be .316, any suggestions on molds that cast that large? I assume I need at least a mold that drops .317? I am looking for anything 150 to 200 grainwise, but would really like one around 180. Alloy would be clip on wheel weights or a 50/50 mix of WW and soft lead.

[lurch]

Well, there's the NOE 316299 small buy going on right now at around 200'ish grains plus a little bit. Might be a little while before they are done though and it's only advertised as 0.316". I believe that there is also a "311466 type" buy going on that has a 0.316" option. Other than that, you're probably looking at a custom mould from one of the makers that let you specify the diameter or a 8mm mould and a lot of sizing. For the custom moulds, Accurate molds, Mountain molds and LBT come to mind as reputable sources. There are probably others but those are just the ones that came to mind at the moment.

[JIMinPHX]

Here are a few options -

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=383491
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=435560
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=710529

The molds listed above would require you to size down 4 or 5 thousandths. You might need to do that in two steps. I haven't looked to see if sizing dies in that range are standards or customs.

Another option would be to get a .313 mold & either Beagle it up or wallow it out with abrasive paste. .004" is kind of a lot to get from Beagleing.

[turbo1889]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=31-180B-D.png

It's specked to fit my gun which has a 0.302" bore, 0.314" groove, and 0.14"-ish free-bore throat length. I crimp in the bottom TL groove on the nose. (The front half of the nose is specked oversize to slightly engrave to little TL bands in the rifling upon chambering)

Slug your bore and measure the depth of the throat on your gun and then let Tom know the differences between your dimensions and mine and he can modify the design to fit your gun. (Adjust diameters of the bands to fit your guns specs. and adjust the ratio of how many TL bands on the nose are full diameter and how many are undersize to engrave in the rifling to match your throat length.) He can also make it with a GC shank base instead of a plain base if you so desire.

I shoot mine with BAC lube in the two conventional lube grooves on the base and then dip the noses of the finished cartridges in 3/1 JPW/X-Lox mix. I'm using a full case compressed load of military surplus 50-BMG ball powder on top of a couple grains of Reloader-7 used as an ignition booster directly over the primer in the bottom of the case with the 50-BMG ball powder carefully pored in on top till it is half way up the length of the neck and then the boolit gets seated in the neck and compresses the powder slightly since the boolit's base goes to about even with the bottom of the neck.

Your mileage may vary but it is working excellent for me. Had some feeding problems from the magazine well with the nose tip hanging up on a couple square edges in the action but the re-designed nose presently shown should alleviate that problem.

[yobohadi]

I slugged my barrel, which came out to be .305 bore and .316 groove. Would I need chamber casting alloy to measure the bore throat length?

Good information there Turbo, have you ever measured the amount in grains you have used of the 50 BMG powder in the case?

[Nobade]

I have been using the SAECO bullet they say is for the 303 Brit. It looks lust like a #311041, just fatter with a .303" nose and .314 driving bands. The bore of my rifle is all pitted from shooting corrosive ammo and will not shoot well with conventionally loaded ammo. But this bullet, tumble lubed with no gas check, loaded over 2.8CC (IIRC - it's the next smaller dipper from what comes in the Lee dies) of IMR7383 or Win WXR and then topped with Cream 'o' wheat to halfway up the neck and the bullet compressing the COW quite a bit to just fit the throat shoot quite well and actually follows the sights to around 400M. Velocity runs 2200 fps, so it's no pipsqueek. Another tip is to use a 32 H&R mag die to neck size the cases. The full length dies size them way too much and it's not needed anyhow so I started using the pistol die and a decap die to load them with better results.

[turbo1889]

I slugged my barrel, which came out to be .305 bore and .316 groove. Would I need chamber casting alloy to measure the bore throat length?

Good information there Turbo, have you ever measured the amount in grains you have used of the 50 BMG powder in the case?

You do not need to do a chamber cast to get the depth of throat dimension. Take one of your cases (I recommend a non-reloadable steel case since this will wreck it to use as a case) and sized the neck. Then take a dremel or similar tool and cut a single lengthwise slit in the neck of the case from the top of the neck to the bottom of the neck where the shoulder begins. Then take the largest diameter flat base boolit you have available to you (a jacketed 0.312" boolit will work if you don't have any PB cast boolits that are bigger) and put the bullet in the modified case mouth backwards with the flat base pointed forwards and the pointed nose in the mouth of the case. Carefully chamber this modified round in your gun and then remove it. The flat base of the boolit will contact the beginning of the rifling and seat the nose of the boolit in the case mouth as you chamber it and when you remove the case from the chamber you can measure the distance from the neck of the case to the flat face of the boolit with a pair of calipers and you will then have the depth of the throat on your gun. The reason you cut a slit in the sized neck is to make it so there is enough neck tension to grab the boolit but not so much as to make seating difficult so that the base of the test boolit could get stuck in the rifling and not come back out with the case.

Get that one more measurement plus the internal neck diameter of a fired case (full power brass cased load preferred) and you will have pretty much all the main measurements you need to get a boolit to fit your gun. A chamber cast or throat and neck impression created by hammer forging an impression with soft pure lead would be best of all of course but just getting the four main measurements (inside neck diameter of fired case, throat depth, minor bore diameter of barrel, major groove diameter of barrel) will get you where you want to go in most cases.

As to weighing the charges of mil. surp. 50-BMG ball powder. In a cartridge like the 7.62x54R that isn't going to create anywhere near maximum peak pressure levels with this powder my basic philosophy is "why bother". I just set up my volumetric powder measure equipment to drop the right amount and go from there. Quite frankly with a powder that meters well such as this kind of ball powder and a quality measuring system I actually trust volumetric measuring means to be more accurate then weighed charges. I've got the exact stacking arrangement of disks in my loading notes so I can repeat the same load but that is about it.

I also heartily agree with Nobade’s recommendation of neck sizing only for optimum results. I am using a custom order collet/mandrel die I ordered from Lee’s custom shop but his idea of using a carbide sizer die for 32-H&R mag. makes a lot of sense and would save you the extra cost and wait time involved with getting a custom neck sizer die made like I did for this cartridge.

Anyway, see if you can’t get those other two main measurements and I’ll draw up some rough guidelines in CAD for you and post a quick .jpg print out if you desire. Basically just show the basic specs I would personally use with your gun measurements and you can go from there if you decide to go the custom mold route and have a mold cut to fit the four basic measurements of your gun rather then trying to find an off the shelf mold that can be made to work. I am by no means the “boolit god” or anything close the best I can do is tell you what I would do if I had a gun with the same measurements yours has.

[yobohadi]

I found a Lyman 32-40c #319247 mold, does anyone have one of these that can tell me what they are dropping at? It may be a good mold if it drops right around .319.

Also does anyone have a measurement on the Lee C312-185-1R, 303B boolit? Maybe It will drop around .317 and I would be golden, beagling a mold is also an option I guess.

[yobohadi]

Anyway, see if you can’t get those other two main measurements and I’ll draw up some rough guidelines in CAD for you and post a quick .jpg print out if you desire. Basically just show the basic specs I would personally use with your gun measurements and you can go from there if you decide to go the custom mold route and have a mold cut to fit the four basic measurements of your gun rather then trying to find an off the shelf mold that can be made to work. I am by no means the “boolit god” or anything close the best I can do is tell you what I would do if I had a gun with the same measurements yours has.

I will keep this in mind, I was hoping to not pay too much for the mold, especially more than the $80 I paid for the rifle. If I can't find a suitable alternative I will send you a PM.
Thanks!

[Piedmont]

Beerloaf, You are on the right track but be aware that your chamber neck may not allow the large bullet you want to use. I have found this in Russian Mosins. So get the ideal, but you may need to then size them .314 or .315 to chamber. It just depends on how large they made your chamber neck.

[Suo Gan]

I just bought a Mosin Nagant 91/30 and slugged the barrel which came out to be .316, any suggestions on molds that cast that large? I assume I need at least a mold that drops .317? I am looking for anything 150 to 200 grainwise, but would really like one around 180. Alloy would be clip on wheel weights or a 50/50 mix of WW and soft lead.

The chamber may be tighter than the barrel, you might want to do a chamber cast on your rifle and take some careful measurements before you spend more money on a mold than what the rifle is worth. Making a chamber cast is really nothing doing and an easy job that takes just a couple of minutes, you can see your leade, throat, and step and evaluate how much erosion has happened, and really get a good look at your chamber, and did I mention it is easy? I make a simple drawing on graph paper to jot down the measurements so I have them when the memory fades, and you can reuse the metal over and over. Just my opinion anyway.