Hunting with Mosin

[Tango down]

Hi

This could go to the reloading section but, as it is for a MN 43' Tula sniper, fits here too.
Did anyone used the "Barnes Triple-Shock X Bullets 303 Caliber (311 Diameter) 150 Grain Hollow Point Flat Base Lead-Free" in their Mosin, in hunting, or not, situation? If yes, if you don't mind sharing, what was your load and how did they do on game?
Their are expensive but, as it is for hunting, once done with load development, wouldn't be shooting too many of them. For target shooting, the 174 SMK 311 works just fine. Yes, it would take down deer too.
For now, I loaded some Sierra Game King Spitzer 180 gr (311 diameter) 303 caliber with a few loads of AA4350 and IMR 4064, will check them out soon; heard good things about the 180 Spitzer but curious about the Barnes. I heard these copper bullets give great accuracy.

Thanks.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

My Mosin is a '43 Izshevsk 91/30. It likes my load of PPU brass, CCI 400 primer (but any LR primer is good), HDY "303 caliber" FBSP 150gr Interlocks, and 49.0 gr of IMR-4064. It shoots about 1" to 1 1/2" at my 70yd sight-in distance.

For informal shooting, I substitute the surplus ball projectile, collet pulled from the ComBloc spamcan ammo, all other components as above. I am currently trying to work up a reduced recoils load using 123gr bullets from x39 cheap Russian ammo. The original cases from pulled ammo are serving as one-time 'mule' cases for informal load development.

This HDY 150gr bullet is highly adequate out of the 91/30 and roughly as accurate as other typical commercial .30-'06 deer rifles with decent commercial deer ammo. More bullet is unnecessary and probably wasted here. Do not expect miracles to be coming out of this rifle.

I would confine my shots to standard .30-'06 deer hunting distances. My son-in-law bagged a decent buck at about 300yd last year with a .30-'06 and is committed to using one of my Mosin-Nagants to do his deer hunting this season. He is using PPU 150gr FBSP commercial loads.

Greg

 

[Tango down]

Greg

Thanks for info; just about same here, PPU brass, Fed LR primer but never ran tests with hunting bullets. Had a box of 100 counts of 180 spitzer; yes 150 would do fine but 180's were already there. Should have enough of them for some load development; will be happy if I can get them around 2.5" at 100 yards, as I would like to keep the shooting distance under 200, if possible, and for sure not over 300.
I am still curious about these Barnes, so if anyone shot them on game, or metal/paper target, let us know.

Thanks.

 

[-Jake-]

I whacked a little buck last year with a 174 gr SMK. Killed him dead.

 

[Tango down]

Jake

Sure it did; I am just curious about these all copper bullets, as I heard some good and bad reports on them. I loaded a few 180 game king Spitzer as well and they'll do the job too.
I ordered a box of Barnes 150 tsx; I guess Barnes recommends to seat them at .050 off lands, I'll double check on that. I'll also contact Barnes for their input on loads with AA4350 and IMR4064, as I heard a good amount of fps is recommended for best results with their lighter bullets.
The SMK 174 is very accurate in my Mosin but it is always good to learn about other products, good or bad, then we can really talk about it.

Good shooting to you and I hope I'll get a deer too.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

My issue is recoil, hence the concentration on 150gr (or lighter) bullets. I will also be testing with SRA 150gr Pro-Hunters, and NOS 125gr Ballistic Tips, which are long for their weight. My additional interest is in flattening out the trajectory, since hunting is largely done at unknown distances, and a flatter trajectory could have benefits where range estimation is necessary. Obviously, this works best at 200yd and under. I have actually also used 125gr Pro Hunters as match loads in my 30BR out to 250yd.

Sorry I can't help out with the Barnes bullets.

Greg

 

[Thresher96]

174g is my favourite works well in all my mosin. None of them like the 150 for some reason. 174 smk work well. 180 do pretty well. 203 g work really well. The 203 g drop hogs

 

[Tango down]

174g is my favourite works well in all my mosin. None of them like the 150 for some reason. 174 smk work well. 180 do pretty well. 203 g work really well. The 203 g drop hogs

Same results here with SMK 174; nevertheless, I hope the Barnes will deliver; hoping for the best, ready for the worst. I do hear many good reports on the 203 Silver Bear, never tried these but I believe the barrel twist of the Mosin is favorable to heavies.

 

[Thresher96]

The silver bear is pretty good I have made really tight groups its not like mil surp ammo like everyone thinks. But also check the dia Of the bore. I think the silver bear 174 and 203 is .310 and privy 182g is .311.

 

[Thresher96]

And the 203g drop hogs pretty well. Don't do much deer hunting so I don't know. But I would imagine that the 174
g would work better

 

[Tango down]

The silver bear is pretty good I have made really tight groups its not like mil surp ammo like everyone thinks. But also check the dia Of the bore. I think the silver bear 174 and 203 is .310 and privy 182g is .311.

If the 180 Sierra Spitzer (311), or the Barnes TSX 150 (311 as well) do not work in my rifle, accuracy wise, I will give a shot to the silver bear; never know for sure until you try it. My rifle slugged at .313, I thought the Hornady 312 would work out best but the 174 SMK 311 showed more consistency and accuracy.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I think that chasing perfect bore/bullet diameter matches might be excessive. As a bullet obturates, the pressure foreshortens the bullet, forcing it to expand to fill the grooves. Some minor undersize conditions can be accommodated by this phenomenon. I suspect this can be borne out by the fact that the Sierra loading manual lists only .308" diameter bullets for the x54R despite making "303" caliber bullets for the Enfield, etc.. Others have used .355", .357" and .358" bullets for 9mm, .38, and .35 caliber bores. Better to use a marginally smaller bullet in a larger bore than vice-versa.

I will be putting considerable effort into developing loads for the Nosler 125gr .308 Ballistic Tip in the x54R/91-30, in an effort to make the recoil more tolerable for my diminutive Granddaughter, and to see whether it can also be made to shoot considerably flatter. The SRA 125gr and 150gr .308 Pro-Hunter is also on my list. I also have some 125 SMK's and 155 Palmas to try.

Greg

 

[Tango down]

"

I think that chasing perfect bore/bullet diameter matches might be excessive."

This seems to be the case in my rifle; slugged at .313 but she liked the .311 better than .312.
For the record, I did try several .308 caliber bullets in my rifle but accuracy was not there; going to stick with .311 for now.

"I will be putting considerable effort into developing loads for the Nosler 125gr .308 Ballistic Tip in the x54R/91-30, in an effort to make the recoil more tolerable for my diminutive Granddaughter."

You are an awesome Grandfather ; I with you the best in your research, keep us posted.

 

[Thresher96]

True it will size its self. .308 is way to small I think that is the grooves on avg. But I would try with three sizes of the same grain. If they can be found.

 

[Mike Radford]

True it will size its self. .308 is way to small I think that is the grooves on avg. But I would try with three sizes of the same grain. If they can be found.

Various bullets are more able to expand to allow for variations and under-sized bores. The Muni/Miniball is the classic example.

I have used .308 SMKs in many Soviet bores. They are not very effective.

One needs to use .311 or .312 diameter bullets, of high quality, for good accuracy.

Anyone that thinks that measuring the bore diameter of a Soviet rifle will help, well good luck. They are 0.310-0.314. Almost all will be about 0.310-0.313 if in decent condition. They are designed for 0.395-0.312 bullets. Use what you like and beat your head on the wall. Do some research if you want to learn.

Your results are more about the quality of the bullets. A match bullet, careful reloading, good cases, good primers etc. will determine the results if the rifle is OK. Then there is the bearing surface of the bullet, consistency of weight, OAL, powder charge and other variables. This may be Rocket science?:

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I tried .308 bullets early on, and had mediocre accuracy. But I also failed to follow up with serious load development.

Now it's time to revisit the load development issue. I can't say in advance whether good accuracy can be had from .308 bullets, but I am determined to find out.

One issue that I seldom see mentioned is the one of counterbored muzzles. I think they are seldom properly cleaned and that sludge and corrosion are having effects that rival bad crowns.

I have a new 3/8" Titanium drill bit, and I'm going to see if the (internal) crown can be chased and/or dressed. This may have benefits

Greg

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Preliminary tested my first arbitrary load at 100yd Tuesday. HDY .311 150gr SP Interlock, 49.0gr IMR-4064, PPU brass, CCI 200 primer. Shot one group of 5 before moving on to 200, 1" or less horizontal, really minimal vertical, was gusty. One group is luck, not significant, but it encouraged me to move directly to 200yd. Shot 3rd at 200yd, patterned about 5". Rifle is newly installed in the Archangel AA9130 stock. I call this testing incomplete and marginal for hunting, need to shoot a lot more before I buy into this particular load. After reading more in another thread, I will also be testing 48.0gr. Still haven't dressed the counterbore.

Greg