{"id":34905,"date":"2026-10-25T00:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T07:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=34905"},"modified":"2026-10-24T13:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T20:13:33","slug":"a-tale-of-four-mosins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/10\/25\/a-tale-of-four-mosins\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Four Mosins"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

Yep, this is another “A Tale of (fill in the number) (fill in the firearm)” blog.\u00a0 The topic du jour?\u00a0 Four Mosin Nagant rifles.\u00a0 My two Mosins have appeared many times in this blog before; my buddy Kevin’s two Finnish Mosins are new to these pages.\u00a0 In the photo above, Kevin’s rifles are the two on top; mine are the two lower rifles.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kevin and one of his Finnish Mosins.\u00a0 Among other things, Kevin collects hats.\u00a0 He is an interesting guy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was another early Wednesday morning at the West End Gun Club (we were there before sunup, and we had to wait for enough light to shoot).\u00a0 The objective for me was to evaluate “the load” in the Mosin (more on that in just a second) and to simply enjoy another day on the range.\u00a0 Any day on the firing line is a good day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Loading cast bullets in the 7.62x54R cartridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A 7.62x54R cartridge reloaded with a cast bullet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On that topic:\u00a0 The Load.\u00a0 If you play with .30-caliber rifles, shoot cast bullets, and spend any time around rifle cast bullet shooters, you’re going to hear about “the load.”\u00a0 The conventional wisdom is that 12.0 grains of Red Dot powder works well with any weight cast bullet in any .30-caliber rifle.\u00a0 7.62x54R, the cartridge the Russian Mosin-Nagant fires, is pretty close to .30 caliber.\u00a0 Its bullets are 0.312 inches in diameter, which is very close to the American .308-inch diameter rifle cartridges for which “the load” is appropriate.\u00a0 I couldn’t find anything on “the load” for the Mosin-Nagant, so I wanted to try it myself to evaluate its performance.\u00a0 (Update:\u00a0 Good buddy John later sent an excellent article on the use of cast bullets in the Mosin-Nagant, and it mentions a 13.0-grain Red Dot load in the 7.62x54R cartridge.\u00a0 That article can be found here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I loaded at three levels:\u00a0 12.0 grains, 13.0 grains, and later (after trying both loads with no pressure signs), 13.5 grains of Red Dot.\u00a0 I used the same 200-grain cast lead bullet I’ve loaded for the Mosin and my Modelo 1909 Argentine Mauser in the past, and I loaded 15 rounds at each level.\u00a0 \u00a0The bullets were seated with no crimp just below the first driving band, with a cartridge overall length of 2.900 inches.<\/p>\n

“The load” (i.e., 12.0 grains of Red Dot) for me was just so so.\u00a0 At 50 yards, the first group of five shots went low, just making it onto the bottom of the target.\u00a0 I came up three notches on the Mosin’s rear sight, and the next group was still a bit low.\u00a0 I bumped it to 8 notches, and that group was high.\u00a0 The groups weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible, either.\u00a0 \u00a0As a point of reference, my usual cast bullet load for the Mosin is 18.0 grains of SR 4759.\u00a0 That one is spot on at 50 yards (it does well at 100 yards, too), it shoots a much tighter group, and it shoots right where I want it to with the Mosin’s rear sight a few notches up.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The 12.0-grain Red Dot cast bullet load. Meh…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I then moved on to the next target with the 13.0 Red Dot grain load, after dropping the Mosin’s rear sight down to 5 notches above zero.<\/p>\n

\"\"
15 shots with the 13.0-grain Red Dot load at 50 yards. Meh again. It’s a powder that will do in a pinch, but it’s not my preferred powder for this rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All this intrigued me, and as mentioned above (and after seeing no excess pressure signs), I went up to 13.5 grains of Red Dot (with the same bullet).\u00a0 \u00a0I didn’t save the target, but I can tell you that the group was a little tighter.\u00a0 The 13.5-grain Red Dot load was better than the other two, but not as good as I remembered my preferred 7.62x54R cast bullet load (and as mentioned above, that’s 18.o grains of SR 4759 propellant).<\/p>\n

\"\"
My cast bullet rifle. It’s a 1935 hex receiver Mosin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
My jacketed bullet Mosin. It’s a 1940 Tula Arsenal rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later than morning, I switched to the Mosin I use for jacketed bullets.\u00a0\u00a0I shot my standard jacketed bullet load (a 150-grain jacketed PPU softpoint bullet with 43.7 grains of IMR 4320).\u00a0 I was disappointed with the groups.\u00a0 At 50 yards and on a good day, I used to be able to shoot one ragged hole.\u00a0 I guess I wasn’t having a good day.\u00a0 Nah, scratch that.\u00a0 See above.\u00a0 Any day on the range is a good day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
6 jacketed bullet shots at 50 yards. I used to be a lot better.\u00a0 This load showed a huge extreme velocity spread and a large velocity standard deviation.\u00a0 The brass was showing neck cracks in some cases.\u00a0 It was way past time to dump that brass (it had been reloaded too many times) and switch to new brass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But still, those jacketed groups bothered me, as did the chrono data for the jacketed load.\u00a0 The spread and the standard deviation were huge.\u00a0 Something had to be going on (the jacketed loads had never performed this poorly before), so I looked at the brass more closely to see if what I thought was happening had actually happened.\u00a0 Sure enough, I had case neck splits and impending case separations.\u00a0 This brass had been reloaded too many times, neck tension on the bullets was probably inconsistent due to the brass work hardening, and the cracked cases were allowing pressure to escape.\u00a0 Small wonder the chrono data and the groups were terrible.<\/p>\n

I then moseyed over to Kevin’s bench.\u00a0 He was doing a lot better than me.\u00a0 His Mosins are better than mine, being Finnish rifles with Sako barrels, and I think he is a better shot (but don’t tell him I told you that).\u00a0 He’s probably a more diligent reloader, too.<\/p>\n

Both of Kevin’s Mosins were taken from the Russians during Finland’s winter war with Russia in 1941. They were both rebuilt and rebarreled by the Finns with Sako barrels.\u00a0 Among Mosin collectors, they are considered the most desirable rifles.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This colorful Mosin is a Finnish, Sako barreled model 28-30 made in 1941.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A photo of Kevin’s Finnish Mosin from the right side. Note the bent bolt, which allows use of a telescopic sight. My Mosins (see above) are straight bolt rifles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Colorful lumber on Kevin’s Finnish Mosin. This is a beautiful rifle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A closeup shot of the Finnish cartouche on the Mosin’s stock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Made in 1940. Note the more precise rear sight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The Finnish Mosins have windage-adjustable front sights. They are very classy rifles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kevin, like me, reloads his own ammo.\u00a0 He also shoots both jacketed and cast bullets in his reloaded 7.62x54R ammo.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kevin’s load card for his reloaded cast bullet 7.62x54R ammo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I grabbed a quick video of Kevin shooting his scoped 1941 Sako-barreled Model 28-30 Mosin-Nagant.\u00a0 \u00a0You can see in the video that shooting cast bullets in these rifles is very pleasant.\u00a0 The cast bullet load’s lower velocity makes for much lower recoil.<\/p>\n