BP in 7.62x54r ?

[mojavemike1]

I was wondering if anyone had tried BP in this cartridge..I use it in .45 Colt rifle and pistol...would the 7.62x54r case be big enough ?
Thanks,
Mike

[Freightman]

I shot some in a .303 did ok and it has a smaller CC than the 7.62x54r.

[Boz330]

Fouling would be the big issue, the smaller bores foul really quick. You might try a duplex load though.

Bob

[acsteve]

was the nagant cartridge ever factory loaded with BP?

[northmn]

Depending on your uses BP will shoot out of modern cartridges. The Russian looks like a typical transitional cartridge similar to the 30-40 Krag or 303 Brit. I shot some BP out of an old Turkish mauser and got about 1400-1600 fps with a 200 grain bullet. Accuracy was about as good as I could get with that bullet. Heres the glitch with modern cartridges. Twist rate is 1-10 for 30 cals and 8mm military guns, more or less. The old 32-40 was 1-16. The 303 Brit was originally loaded with BP and a jacketed bullet. It also used the Mettford rifling which worked for black and burned out quick with cordite. While the 32-40 held Schuetzen accuracy records for years, it was with barrels made to handle the combinations. BP also likes a little deeper grooves and slower twists to handle fouling. I had better luck in the 8mm with 777 than BP. Still have to use BP lubes as you do in other rifles.

Northmn

[willyboy]

My brother uses 777 in his M44.

[NickSS]

I have shot BP loads in 303 British and 30-06. These were some of the first hand loads I ever tried. I had BP and a Lee loader in each caliber. So I used the powder that I was used to but did use jacketed bullets. My experience was that velocities were lower ( had to raise my sights up to 4 or 5 hundred yards to get on at 100 but they went bang, made lots of noise and smoke and were fun to shoot. I eventually went to smokeless for these calibers but with J bullets fouling did not seam to be an issue and the jackets pushed the fouling out and did not lead the bore.

[jonk]

I've done it. Function and accuracy wise it is fine, but keeping the fouling down to acceptable levels is another matter.