The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

Hi I reload for all my guns my question is the surplus ammo all lead bulltes or are they copper with lead ? we were going to buy some take them appart we have a jig to fire primer then put them in water to desalt but if we cant recycle bullet and brass its not cost effective.
sounds like alot of work but none salt primers is what i want plus more accurate.
Thanks bick

A lot of the milsurp is steel core. You can use a magnet to test it.

Most of them have a steel core, some can have a mild steel jacket , others a copper jacket.

Commie surplus ammo uses Berdan primers not the Boxer primers US ammo uses. Berdan brass will not accommodate boxer primers. Buy some Privi new brass for reloading, it's brass case and boxer primed. Nothing wrong with shooting corrosive primed ammo, just run a quart of boiling water down the bore to wash out the salts before you do your regular cleaning with bore solvent.

Most surplus if not all is berdan primed and you would need berdan primers to reload these. Not sure where you are located at but there have been no berdan primers around the northwest at all. Also the cases are copperwashed steel or just steel and not usualy reloaded. There is some boxer primed commercial ammo that has non corrosive primers on the market. Winchester white box and sellier&beelot and prvi partisan.

Surplus 7.62x54R cases are berdan primed, so you will need to purchase a special decaping tool from RCBS or use the age old dowel and water hydrolic method. The primer pockets are also not the same as U.S. primer sizes and require a special primer. I have not looked for these primers in some time, but about two years ago they were hard to come by as Fiocci and privi partisan only ever did very limited runs. A couple other makers may also so you will have to look around on the net and see whats out there. Truthfully, enough 7.62x54R is available both in surplus and commercial, with several commercial brands available with boxer primed and brass casings, that what you want to do is not going to be cost effective. Buy surplus, clean appropriatly and slowly build a stash of commercial reloadable ammo for the day it becomes necessary.

Semper Fi, Rob

Thanks folks so primers are an odd size thats a bummer I love to reload Im going to have to research this.

No problem, you can reload using new components, or pulled bullets without much trouble.

It sounds to me unless you really like reloading this is an excerise in futility. It's not going to be cost effective if you can even do it. As stated these are berdan primed and the reloading procedure is different than reloading boxer primed ammo. Also berdan primed cases use an anvil setup in the primer pocket and have 2 small holes that vent the charge that are a real pain to reload. That's why no one does it for the most part. Plus surplus is so cheap to start with why bother? At 18.5 cents a round delivered I doubt you'll be able to reload them cheaper that that.

ok you guys got me , I am a accuracy NUT CASE I would reload for a BB gun if I could...... I no its a army surplus gun and it will cost more to relaod but driving a salt filled primmer down my barrels sends chills down my spine .

bick65 wrote:ok you guys got me , I am a accuracy NUT CASE I would reload for a BB gun if I could...... I no its a army surplus gun and it will cost more to relaod but driving a salt filled primmer down my barrels sends chills down my spine .

It's ok to be cautious about corrosive primers but as long as you're an accuracey nut about ammo, be a cleaning nut about maintanance. It's only one more step in the cleaning process using boiling water. That way you can shoot surplus, save money and buy more Mosins.

Buy more guns thats a good idea , That would mean another gun safe . I have not decide what my next gun will be due to finger injury bolt action guns hurt .Thats why got the mossin bolt stays higher and wont hit whats left of my pointer finger I hope. Most of my guns are lever 1894s 32 specials 30 30 and marlin 444 I own bolt actions, but have to were finger guard when shoot .

bick