Downloading surp guns?

T

Tom2

New member
This might belong in the reloading forum, but it does not address any specific loadings. My question is thus: There are alot of neat milsurp vintage guns that are lightweight carbines, not full sized rifles. But alot of them fire a full sized cart designed for a full length rifle application. In the carbines, or short guns, they develop alot of muzzle blast and recoil, and can sometimes be a pain to shoot very much. What I wondered is if anyone that handloads had tried reduced loads for their downsized carbine types to make them pleasant to shoot with good results for accuracy, etc.? Like maybe load some shorty to perhaps like 30-30 power levels or so. I understand that case capacity might make this trickier than it first appears unless you find a light powder charge or lighter weight bullet that works without creating problems.
 
That is a good start or ideas. I was mulling over why I never reloaded for the Mosin, and eventually ditched all the short barrel MN's I ever had, after firing them not a great deal with full bore surp ammo. As an instance. I suppose I could have downloaded the round to a more enjoyable level for more shooting. And there are others that have a reputation from the short barrels and powerful government loadings. Heck, I even found a normal K98 not much fun to shoot with that cup steel buttplate.
 
Work up some loads using 5744, it makes nice mild, Accurate, rounds.

I use it in all my surplus rifles and a few others, including my 375 H&H.
 
If you check out the Lyman cast bullet book, they list a lot of reduced loads using inexpensive lead bullets. I've used a lot of .30 ca. cast in things like 30/30, 30/06 etc., and there are all kinds of possibilities for other dia. bullets as well.
 
my steyr is arriving today, I'll be expirimenting with trail boss and cast bullets to get a nice, light recoiling, low reporting load.
 
Most of my lightweight loads for .308 Win. and 30-06 class rifles use cast bullets and 25.0 gr. of either IMR of H4895. My wife wanted a light load to practice with her Ruger M77 RSI in .308 but that rifle is extremely fussy about ammo and won't shoot cast bullets accurately at all. I tried an experiment using the 25.0 gr/4895 load with some 150 gr. Winchester Power Point bullets I had on hand and they worked reasonably well for her. If I were to try that with a 30-06 level cardtidge, I think I'd go 2.0 full grains higher.
Paul B.
 
There is always that balance in accuracy and velocity. I load down to save gun wear.

I am using TAC in the 30-06 and have done well with it though its not one of the normal recommended accuracy loads.

What works in one gun doesn't necessarily work in another, let alone across different mfgs.

Rifling differences are important in that equation.

My 1917 with original barrels likes the 175 gr with TAC.

The JA barrel one prefers the 4831 at a couple hundred fps faster.
 
Having a couple of Spanish milsurps in 7x57mm mauser, I handload
to pressures of the carbines era (40,000-44,000 CUP) which gives
me a velocity of 2400 fps with a 160grn bullet, 2500 fps with a
150grn, and 2600 fps with a 140 these are plenty good deer killers
as well as black bear.
a standard 30-30 load with 150 grn runs about 2300 fps, so the mauser is
just slightly more powerful with the same recoil or less, depending on the rifle.
These mausers are a pleasure to shoot and plenty accurate, not scoped,
lightweight and easy to carry all day.
 
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