New Mosin / New Bullet Mould

[reloader762]

Back at Christmas I got a new to me 1933 Tula HEX receiver 91/30.  The stock was in fairly bad shape finish wise but the bore is good and bluing just needed so minor touchups and bolt needed a good polishing.  While I was at it I cork bedded the action and refinished the stock to a blonde finish instead of the traditional red shellac finish.



I was able to get out this morning and shoot my 1933 Mosin 91/30 HEX receiver rifle I had reworked a couple months back and try out the new Lee .312" 185 gr. RN bullet I had cast up. The bullets were cast from Wheel Weights + about 2% Tin and quenched straight from the mould. The next day they were sized to .314" in my RCBS Lube A Matic using Lars 2500+ and Gator checks.

Cases were once fired PPU brass I got at the LGS they get from the local gun range. I full length resized the case this time around and trimmed them to proper length and resized the case neck using my NOE .312" expander plug. The throat is pretty deep on this rifle so I couldn't seat the bullet out as far as I wanted so I seated it half way on the middle driving band for this test load. I used 19.0 grs. of Alliant 2400 and Winchester LR primers.

For this test I loaded up 25 rds. as I have installed a MOJO rear aperture sight on the rifle an the original factory post so I knew it would take a few rds. to get it on target an leave the rest to chrono and do some accuracy test. I set my target up at 50 yds. which is a far as I can shoot in the back yard range,below is the final one of two five shot groups from today’s shooting and I had another target with the shots in the orange square area once I made the final sight adjustment but was unable to retrieve it before the weather moved in. After firing those 25 rds. the bore was nice and shiny with only a few burnt powder residue specks here and there. I'm pretty pleased with the initial results an will be trying a couple different loads in a few weeks as well as a couple more of the 2400 loads in larger increments as I have room to increase it.

[PegLeg45]

Nice rifle....and that's a heck of a group you shot there.

[reloader762]

Nice rifle....and that's a heck of a group you shot there.

Thanks,I was pretty happy with the initial results but I think I can make it better with some load testing,I have a Russian M44 that shoots better groups with cast bullets.    It's not to bad for a 83 year old rifle.

[tombogan03884]

Put a PS-4 on that MN

[alfsauve]

Very cool, Reloader.   

You can be the sniper on my team.   I chopped mine into a CQC carbine and of course it doesn't produce near the groups yours does.   

[Sponsor]

[Bidah]

Neat!  I have thought about casting up some for my carbines and trying it out, just never quite got there.

[reloader762]

Neat!  I have thought about casting up some for my carbines and trying it out, just never quite got there.

It's about a good a time as any to start,surplus is pretty scares and commercial ammo isn't getting any cheaper.  Depending on the groove dia. of the bore one of the cheap Lee moulds may work just fine.  I started out with the Lee .312" 160 gr. tumble lube gas check mould in my SKS rifles and found it cast close to .314" with WW alloy an 2% Tin  so I shoot it in my M44 and probably will the 91/30 as well.  The bullet can be sized down to .311" without any issues and shot in many 30 cal. rifles with excellent accuracy.  I use it in my Sav. 99 in 300 Sav. as well.   Lots of good powder choices including Alliant 2400,Red Dot,Reloader #7 or IMR 4198 as well as IMR or H-4895 just to name a few.

Another little fun load to shoot in the Mosin or many other 30 cal rifles is the little Lee 90 gr. 32 cal.  TL .314" SWC.  I use 3.5 grs. of Bullseye seat the little bullet in the last lube groove an get close to 1K fps. it's very accurate out to 50 yds. probably further just haven't tested it a longer ranges yet an make a cheap plinker and small game  or pest load.  I shoot lots of those out of my 30-30 pump gun with the bullet sized to .311"