99E = 308 or 7.62x54

rusobr2

fella's, im looken to buy a 99e savage in the 308, this subject was brought up when there was about 4 of us standing around talking s--t, and one of the wanabe bullistics experts mentioned that this would also fire the 7.62x54 round.i have seen different long guns on the net advertised as 308 or 7.62 x 54 , so i ask , whats up? thanks, rusobr2

Nwcid

NO it will not fire the 7.62x54r (it also ends in r for rimmed like a .30-30 round). Unless it was a total miss print I am sure you have NOT seen add for .308 and 7.62x54r being fired from the same gun without changes to it.

.308 is the same size as the 7.62x51 Nato round. The power is a little bit different between the 2 but not enough that it should make a difference.

Tailgunner1954

While its possible (with a lot of extra work) to make a 308Win/7.62x51 fire in a 7.62x54R chamber, it's basicly a one shot affair IE: use that one shot to capture another weapon/ammo.

The rim on a 308Win is .473, while on the x54R it's .562.
The Base diameter for the Win is .470, while on the x54R it's .484.
The shoulder on the 308 is .450, while on the x54R it's .454.

nononsense

rusobr2,

Rather than argue this point, it's easier to use a drawing or a picture to show the differences. Examine the dimensions carefully as I can't guarantee that these are to scale:





Explain to your buddy that:

The rotary magazine used in the Savage M99 is cartridge specific and one set up for the .308 Win. will not load a 7.62 x 54R cartridge.

The .308 Win. headspaces on the shoulder while the 7.62 x 54R headspaces on the rim.

Best.

ern98

I have read where people trying to sell a rifle chambered in the rimmed Russian military cartridge, 7.54x54r, that they offer the comparison ballistically that the .308win is very similar. Not that they are interchangable but are ballistically similar. Then trickel down causes other misscomments and who know what is written when....

beantownshootah

To be clear its the 7.62x51 (aka 7.62x51 NATO) that is similar to the .308 Winchester. The civilian .308 round is a LITTLE more powerful, but the two are more or less equivalent, and most bolt-actions guns that can safely handle one can handle the other.

The 7.62x54R (R is for "rimmed") is a much older and totally different cartridge. The 7.62x54R is used in old Soviet-bloc guns, including the famous Mosin-Nagant rifle, as well as a few more modern designs including machine guns. As mentioned the RIMMED cartridge tends to makes this round incompatible with detachable vertical-stack type magazines, explaining in part why there are few semi-automatic guns that use it.

Its true that ballistically, 7.62x54R (aka "the .30 Russian") is similar to the .308, or in fact, a little more powerful, but these rounds are in NO WAY interchangeable.

That's cuckoo-talk.

In certain guns, it *might* be possible to rechamber one to fit the other, but that would actually involve quite a bit of work, and is NOT a simple matter of swapping out barrels.

And here is my question, does anyone know of any modern bolt action guns OTHER than the Mosin-Nagant and its variants that is chambered for 7.62x54R? EG does any American gun maker make a gun in this caliber?

I know there are Dragunov-type "sniper" guns in this round, but I wouldn't mind having a gun that can take this milsurp type ammo, but is in a better package than the Mosin.

rusobr2

fellas,fellas, you are so right, came home at noon and punched out a copy on the printer of the specs, and took it to my wanabe bullistics expert , now he's a wanabe buddy, i am new at some of this, and i have enough common sense to check things out, before i put the wrong shell in a hi powered rifle or any wrong anything in any rifle, but i let him know, that some people mite just take his word for it, and get a big kaaaaaaaaaa booooom,also i did look back at some of the other auction sites, and these shells were mentioned in basicaly,comparison only. once again i do appreaciate all the expert help,thanks ,rusobr2