Overall length for 7.62x54r cast bullets

[bubblesdee]

Hey guys
Looking for some help with the overall length of cast bullets in a 7.62x54r

I bought a box of bullets cast from a Saeco #305 mould 180 g flat nose

Diameter is great for my Mosin but I don’t know what the minimum overall length should be. I read somewhere that it should be 2.854 for a solid bullet

I loaded a dry one in the case at this length as you can see from the picture. Just wondering if it’s far enough in the neck? Is it safe?

Kinda new to reloading and could use some advice. How important is the min overall length?

I will be using 16g of 2400 to start

Thanks in advance
308618

[Wolfdog91]

Might come out better seeing what your max coal/cbto would be for that gun
Make yourself a CBTO gauge and find out what your guns max is and use that as your "wall"

Take a pice of brass that's been fried in your rifle. Pop the primer and take a Dremel and cut two sluts in the neck so you can adjust the neck tension. Squeeze them together a little so it wouldn't let the bullet just fall in but not too much resistance. Take a measurement then generally put this in your gun and run the bolt home. Ideally you want to load it in the bolt so the case is seated. Work your bolt and gently pull it out. Then take a measurement. Would be shorter then your original unless you have some kinda crazy long jump.
Do that a few times and average out your measurement ant that's gonna be where your bullet meets your lands . Back off two thousands from that start playing.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221229/6cf894475cd0c201a13d6a83c03dcccd.jpg

Skip to about 9:20 and I explain it
https://youtu.be/OuOltEJejNw

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[bubblesdee]

Wow! That’s great info, thanks.
So because it’s a bolt action, this should give me a pretty good idea where the bullet meets the rifling

Was just concerned that the bullet was not seated far enough in the neck or even too far if I really pressed it down past the lube slots

Didn’t want to cause over pressure or something by having the case volume too small, but I guess using the 16g 2400 “military surplus load” described on this forum, I should be ok

[Larry Gibson]

Additional considerations to seating the cast bullet out that far to reach the leade are the round must fit the magazine if feeding from the magazine. The round, if not fired, must be short enough to clear the front receiver ring to eject. There must be enough neck tension to hold onto the bullet if the round is extracted before firing. With long throated milsurps or rifles with freebore I like to have at least 1 caliber length seated in the neck.

[bubblesdee]

Thanks Larry.

I will check that as well once I find the proper seating depth

[lar45]

When I start a new rifle, I take notes and write the details down so I can refer to them later instead of relying on my memory.
I partially neck size a case, start a bullet into it and then try closing the bolt over it. seat it a little deeper, try it again... until the bolt closes with a little resistance.
Sometimes I take a black sharpie marker and color the nose of the bullet, so I can see when it engages the rifleing. Generally you want to have the nose of the bullet touching the rifling with cast bullets. Most of the time I get my best accuracy when the nose is just started into the rifling. For my high velocity rifle loads in my 14 twist 30-06 my best accuracy came in with the bullet seated .05" before the lands.

Next I figure out what the max length of the magazine is and write that down also.

Like Larry said, some Milsurps have long freebore so you may never be able to reach the rifling and have the round feed from the magazine.
My 9.3x57 Mauser has over .5" of freebore, but cast bullets still shoot well even though I don't have the bullets seated touching the rifling.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[bubblesdee]

Well…Wow!!! Just wanted to say say thanks to everyone for their responses. I did like Wolfdog91
Suggested and my OAL is 2.700, way shorter that I thought I was.

Will back that off a touch and give it a try

Seems to feed fine from the mag as well

Thanks again guys and Thank God for this forum!!!

Tom

[WRideout]

After you have found your desired COAL and worked up an initial load, remember that seating any deeper will necessarily drive up pressures. Sticky extraction is a good indicator of overpressure.

Wayne

[405grain]

16.0 grains of 2400 is a mild load and you should be fine. Since you're new to loading cast bullets there's something I noticed in the photo that you posted. Usually, before seating a cast bullet into the case we put a slight flair on the case mouth. This doesn't have to be much - usually, if half the height of the gas check will enter the case mouth, that's plenty. Without putting a slight flair on the case mouth you'll risk shaving a small amount of lead from the bullets driving bands when you seat them. This will make the bullets less accurate. You can set your reloading dies so that they crimp the case just barely enough to take out the case mouth flair. The neck tension is usually enough to hold the cast bullets.

[samari46]

I use Lyman's 314299 which weighs about 210 grains with lube and gas check. Don't have one handy to measure overall length of the bullet. Should be in the Lyman cast bullet manual. Frank

[bubblesdee]

Thanks for the awesome advice guys!