Anyone use 7.62x54R Bullets to reload 7.7 Jap?

I wasn't aware that some bullets could only be used for Russian cartridges, while other bullets of the same build, weight, and size can only be used in Japanese or British or Argentine cartridges. Amazing!

It's a piece of metal in a certain weight, profile, and diameter. Use if for whatever it fits properly!:rolleyes:
 
The only time I would consider restricting a proper size bullet to the Russian/Soviet calibers would be if I were loading some "steel jacketed" bullets, which, I don't do.
 
One thing I've found with 7.7 Arisaka brass is that in the books the cases are listed as having a head-size larger than 8mm Mauser but every 7.7 case I've gotten my hands on measures the same size as 8mm Mauser.

A long time ago I was able to measure a bring back round a friend of the family had and it was the same size as the cases on the Norma ammo I had and the cases I made from .30-06.

Any one else get a chance to handle any original Arisaka ammo.

BTW, I've had surprisingly good results loading .308" bullets in Arisaka rounds. It shouldn't work as well as it does at least in theory...

Tony
 
in the books the cases are listed as having a head-size larger than 8mm Mauser but every 7.7 case I've gotten my hands on measures the same size as 8mm Mauser.
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Generally speaking the dimensions given on case drawings in the books are maximum dimensions. Ammunition is almost never made to these dimensions, it is almost always slightly smaller. In many cases, ammunition is made to be slightly smaller than the minimum specs.

This is totally intentional, and, in no way harmful. Its just prudent. If you're Blammo AMMO and you make your stuff to the max spec, some guy out there with a min spec chamber (that he probably doesn't know about) isn't going to be happy with your stuff. All he knows is he has to beat the rifle shut to get your ammo to chamber, so to him, your ammo is crap, and he's going to tell the entire world via the Internet that your ammo is crap.

Various military firearms are intentionally made with "generous" chambers and min size (or slightly under) ammo, to promote chambering under combat conditions. And, remember for the military, it only has to go into and come out of the chamber ONCE.

As to .308 bullets in .311-.312" barrels? Some seem to do well enough accuracy wise, others, do not. Doesn't seem to be any apparent reliable predictor(s) only test shooting tells you if your rifle will be happy with .308" or not.
 
Well, you can buy rifle barrels for Type 99 Arisaka rifles on GunBroker form people who have taken them apart to sell the parts. You can buy barrels and barreled actions. My understanding is that it is impossible from a practical standpoint to re-barrel one of these rifles even if you have the spare barrel off of some other T99 rifle (e.g., by buying one on GunBroker, etc).

If you want accuracy, your .312 bullets will likely be more accurate than the .308 bullets, but as someone else said above, sometimes the .308s will work fine in individual T99 rifles and you just have to try it. Good work getting the bullets and brass. For powders, I use I-4064 and I-4895 and they work great. 3031 is problematic, partic in cold weather and with brass that is not once-fired in that chamber. I'd avoid 3031 unless you can not find any other powder. You can use H-335, though people say it is not as accurate. You can use the 4350's too. People say that 4064 acts like a slow powder in large cases/loads and acts like a faster powder in smaller cases/loads. It works great for the 7.7x58 Japanese.
 
My understanding is that it is impossible from a practical standpoint to re-barrel one of these rifles even if you have the spare barrel off of some other T99 rifle (e.g., by buying one on GunBroker, etc).
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No.
It is no different than rebarreling a Mauser with a take-off barrel.
Same procedures. Same checks. Same inspections.

Where the "impractical" aspect can come into play is rebarreling with a commercial barrel blank. Type 99s have a thread pattern close to, but not quite, 1.050" - 17 tpi (and always between 50 degree and 60 degree V-thread; but not consistent). Many gunsmiths have a hard time replicating it, or just don't want to try. And the problem has only gotten worse with real gunsmiths retiring and giving way to a world of AR and Glock parts swappers. The few that do try it often don't try to replicate the existing thread pattern. Instead, they just cut 1.050" - 17 tpi and crank that barrel into the receiver so the receiver threads swage the barrel threads to match.

Type 38s and Type 44s are a little better, with at least an understandable metric pattern of M26x1.75mm 60 degree V-thread. But, again, most 'smiffs won't or can't cut it.

But for take-off barrels, it generally is not a problem. Yank the barrel, clean up the receiver and replacement barrel, spin the replacement in, check alignment, clocking, and head space, and adjust if necessary.
 
17 TPI is 1.494 mm. I would guess they may actually be a 1.5 mm thread (16.93 TPI) and that would certainly explain some of the difficulty. I've got a little 1/4" 55° lathe threading bit for threading barrel blanks for my 98 Mausers. Brownells still sells it if someone needs to thread a blank for a 55° profile thread.
 
Thanks for correcting me, sorry if I misunderstood other info I'd gotten at another time. Thanks, too, for explaining why I was wrong.

I was (still am? not sure...) trying to put a 7.7x58 Japanese T99 barrel onto a Browning BAR or Remington 7400 action to convert it to a semi-auto 7.7x58 Japanese rifle. Even found a relatively decent barreled action-only for a BAR in 30-'06 but lost that auction to someone else.
 
I was (still am? not sure...) trying to put a 7.7x58 Japanese T99 barrel onto a Browning BAR or Remington 7400 action to convert it to a semi-auto 7.7x58 Japanese rifle.
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I think that's going about it the wrong way and will be more work than worth.

Waste of time trying to fit a WWII surplus Jap barrel onto the Browning or Rem action. May not even be possible.

Get a barrel made to fit the action you're going to use (with the correct shank size and threads), and have it bored and chambered for the 7.7 x58 Japanese cartridge.
 
I’m in process of selling out my stuff due to health. I just sold my 7.7 Jap dies and Norma brass on Cast Boolits. I never loaded 7.62 X54 for Mosin. I had Win 1895. It shot lousy with .308” and .311” jackets. The Jap 7.7, Brit 303, Bel 7.65 all did well with Sierra .311 bullets. The 7.7 Jap was one of first military cartridges I loaded. My dad brought one home WW2 and in early 60s bought a box of Norma ammo. He cried about the box of shells costing more than rifle was worth. At the time he was right. Any way I got a set of used dies and loaded 30cal 150gr bullets and they shot all over. The rifle was ugly but would shoot well with 311 bullets.
 
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