The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I just opened a spam can of 7.62x54r ammo that is headstamped from the "10" factory dated 1980. I've looked at the ammunition evaluation on 7.62x54r.net and noted that this ammo is the same bullet weight as the Russian light ball I have been shooting. It looks like it uses a ball powder and boat tail bullet. Does anyone have any shooting experience with this surplus ammo in the M91/30 or M44?

Nope, none
Yugo brass case-best
Hungarian light ball-very good but dirty
Hungarian heavy ball-good
Czech silver tip-very good, no problems
Albanian-OK, nasty looking cases
Russian-OK, nothing to write home about
commercial brown bear-same as the Russian
Chinese- only with a gun to my head unless it's their military issue stuff

Check out the last pic I posted in this thread. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1925

millman wrote:Check out the last pic I posted in this thread. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1925

Looks very consistent in your Fin Rifle. I've been shooting Russian surplus light ball (188 factory, 77 vintage) and just don't have any experience with the Bulgarian stuff. I'm going to shoot some Bulgarian for the first time tomorrow in a Soviet M91/30 (1940 Tula). May try a few rounds in the M44 as well. Thanks, Millman.

My only experience with Bulgarian 54r has been with the brass case 50's LB and HB stuff. The LB shoots pretty well but the HB didn't although it was the better looking of the two almost like it was made yesterday. No sure why my M44 didn't like the HB ammo possibly bullet dia. but I ended up pulling the HB bullet and replacing them with a bunch of Speer 150 gr. .311 SP's a friend gave me and it worked out really nice. I made about 100 rds. of very accurate hunting ammo with those free bullets.

Strangely enough a couple years back I pick up about 250 rds. of the Yugo NNY brass case surplus in 182 gr. and it shoot great so I just stashed that for a rainy day. My local shop has some of the Bulgarian LB steel case but I haven't ever tried it out it' about $8 per 20 rd. which I think is kind of expensive.

I want to try some of the LB Russian ammo but nobody local carries small quantities and at this point not working much it hard for me to invest in 440 rds. of ammo that may not shoot well especially since I can reload all my own that does.

Just becoming re-interested in my Mosins after a bit of an excursion into small bore projects. I am in the market for a large quantity of 7.62x54R milsurp ammo. I am anxious to hear where you bought this, for how much, and what your shooting results are. Thanks

shadoweng wrote:Just becoming re-interested in my Mosins after a bit of an excursion into small bore projects. I am in the market for a large quantity of 7.62x54R milsurp ammo. I am anxious to hear where you bought this, for how much, and what your shooting results are. Thanks

I bought the Bulgarian 10 months ago through Cheaper Than Dirt. I didn't even know what I was buying back then, so as I learned more about the surplus ammo, I bought some Russian light ball from AIM Surplus because the price was good and the shipping reasonable. I think by the time I paid for shipping and everything it was around 94 bucks for 440 rounds. I actually opened and started shooting the Russian ammo first. I went through a whole spam can in the matter of about 5 months and had absolutely no malfunctions and only one or two slightly split cases. I've just now started shooting the Bulgarian and it is equally good and slightly more accurate in my 91/30s. The Bulgarian shoots more accurately in the carbines (M44 and M38). All of this ammo is supposed to be corrosive, but it burns clean and cleans up easy on the range without having to take drastic measures. Check this link to Aim Surplus out to find some decent surplus ammo at a reasonable price:

http://www.aimsurplus.com/catalog.aspx? ... e=7.62x54R

Check this link to learn more about most of the surplus that is on the market today:

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmo.htm

I found a interesting article on bimetal bullets:

http://www.uspsa.org/front-sight-magazi ... tal-Ammo-8

I just bought a Finn M39 Sako 1944 and some Bulgarian light ball and it shot very well in this rifle. I cleaned the rifle and took it to the range Saturday. First 5 shots from this rifle at 50 yards, Orginal sights and my 49ye old eyes. Being it may not have been shot in a long time, I was very happy with this rifle. One half turn of front sight and second group was centered up good, then moved to hundred and I shot a 3" group there before my shoulder started to say uncle. I managed to shot 25 rounds of this stuff, and was very happy and it cleaned easy too.


https://picasaweb.google.com/1108425802 ... 9850637394

ldm19662 wrote:I just bought a Finn M39 Sako 1944 and some Bulgarian light ball and it shot very well in this rifle. I cleaned the rifle and took it to the range Saturday. First 5 shots from this rifle at 50 yards, Orginal sights and my 49ye old eyes. Being it may not have been shot in a long time, I was very happy with this rifle. One half turn of front sight and second group was centered up good, then moved to hundred and I shot a 3" group there before my shoulder started to say uncle. I managed to shot 25 rounds of this stuff, and was very happy and it cleaned easy too.


https://picasaweb.google.com/1108425802 ... 9850637394

You're a mere youngster! I'm sure my 60 year-old eyes could do just about as well, if I had that nice rifle of yours. Good shootin' with the Bulgarian surplus!