7.62x54 Bullet Size - The great debate

**tonyfac** · February 23rd, 2012, 04:16 PM

I have a question and it seams every time i read up on this i get different answers.
What size bullet would you use to reload this? Half the sites say .308 and the other .311

I have 2 nagants, a 91/30 and a m44 and just got the dies.
Any help would be appreciated.

Tony

**abner13** · February 23rd, 2012, 05:10 PM

When in doubt , slug the bore. 99.9% of the Russian rifles probably use a .311-.312 bullet , but it's the Finnish VKT rifles or captured Russians re-barreled by the Finns where ya gotta be careful. Most of them use a .308. If the barrel is stamped VKT or SA , it probably uses .308.

Haven't measured any myself , but I read where the Winchester white box 7.62x54R uses .308 bullets.

**notenoughguns** · February 23rd, 2012, 05:16 PM

Surplus 7.62x54r mic out at .311 so that's what I use . Now if your loading lead projectiles you should slug the barrel then load 1 or 2 thousands larger.
Hope this helps .

PS .308 will work but but would think the velocity would suffer .

**Tim Ault** · February 23rd, 2012, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by tonyfac

I have a question and it seams every time i read up on this i get different answers.
What size bullet would you use to reload this? Half the sites say .308 and the other .311

I have 2 nagants, a 91/30 and a m44 and just got the dies.
Any help would be appreciated.

Tony

Just go with .312 , The throats on those rifles are huge its common to find groove dia. run as large as .315 and bore .304 or larger in both. I had one older 91/30 that I shot with cast bullets and sized .317 to fill the throat the groove dia. was .315. The sizes are all over the place just like british enfields . As it was stated already The Finn made barrels are somewhat more uniform at .310 and some models(28/30) having actual .308 groove dia.