The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I just got a few packages of 71 Russian light ball. After shooting 20 rounds of it I decided I'd be more accurate if I were throwing rocks 100yrds blindfolded. I've had a few fliers every now and then from different surplus ammo, but this stuff was just scary. When I got home I decided to really look over the rounds.

I grabbed my mic and 5 random rounds of the 71 and 5 random rounds of Brown Bear 203 sp. Every one of the Brown Bears comes up .310, right on. The 71's ranged from .3085 to .3105. I thought these things should be somewhere around .311.

Has anyone else checked and noticed these kind of inconsistencies, and what country/manufacturer of surplus ammo has tighter tolerances?

I ran into this same problem with Russian surplus, don't have a lot of experience with the other nationality stuff, figured I just ran into a bad lot, maybe made on a Monday after a holiday weekend filled with lots of vodka.

Yes, that's the commies for you, too many factory's turning out ammo in different country's with poor quality control between them, Everybody doing their own thing.

I just started meassuring all of them, and dividing them up into different sizes. The larger ones are way more accurate. About 75% of the <.310 were my fliers. At least now I know what pile to grab from depending if I'm shooting round hay bales, or pop cans.

Is that "71" whats marked on the cartridge? I am shooting some "77" at this time and am rather pleased with it. First three pics show 5 shot groups fired from the bench at 100 yards. The last pic shows 5 more shots into the third group from the sitting position. Now that I just received my Elby sight tool, I'll get them groups centered!

Maybe if enough members post up results we could get up a sticky on good versus bad lots of 7.62x54R ammo. I was involved a few years ago with a similar thread on an M1 forum concerning bad lots of foriegn, primarly South Korean, 30-06 M2 ball ammo lots.









Semper Fi, Rob

Very nice groups Sgt. Rob

The two I have had the best luck is yellow tip heavy ball Bulgarian and Czech silver tip light ball. Both have been very accurate with little if any extraction issues, my Finn M39 does very well with the heavy ball.
I bought a few cases of Russian last fall, opened a tin and tried some last time I went to the range, seemed to be good, but I didn't try enough to get a real good feel for it. I also have a case of Hungarian and Romanian light ball, but I haven't opened any of it. Hoping the Romanian 54r is better smelling than the 8mm made there, good stuff but it stinks

The two I had the most issues with is the Brown/Silver Bear(the 174grain) ammo and brass case Albanian, the Bear ammo keyholes from certain rifles, not others, in the others accuracy is inconsistent. Albanian is fun in the M44, has the best muzzle flash of any I've tried, but the quality overall is not all that good. Alot of cases are dented, I've found a few loose bullet crimps and have had horrible extraction issues due to the lacquer. I've got a few tins left of the stuff, but I would gladly pass it by unless it was 25bucks or so a case.

I have found the Brown/Silver Bear(I have 174grain stuff, not 203grain) ammo is much like the OP, most of mine measure .309/.3095, which I believe is the cause of the keyholing from certain rifles. The only exception is the Finn M39, with a very good bore, the accuracy does get some what better than a worn, pitted bore M91/30 or M44(the worst keyholer of the bunch). I've never bought or tried the 203grain Bear ammo.

That's my quick dirty evaluation based on what I've got and tried.

Czech silvertip and Bulgarian heavy ball both perform well out of my Soviet M/Ns as well.

Most if the stuff I've been buying has been 1977 dated Russian surplus. Seems like for the last 3-4 months that's all my local shops have. Factory 60 first, now factory 188.

Last summer I was getting Romanian 1984 dated surplus.

I think I still have some of all three. Time to break out the calipers


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Two reasons for the Mosins well knows performance issues when swapping ammo types, inconsistencies between ammo from different plants, and slight variations in the Mosin barrels themselves. Add normal wear into that mix and you have your work cut out for you finding a ammo type that works best in your rifle.