Paper patching 308 cast for Mosin Nagant

ap55

I found a bunch of .308 cast bullets and thinking of reloading them in 7.62x54 and paper patching them.Low speed plinkers to mid range for feral hog control.Using H4895 or varget,maybe IMR 3031. 165 Gr.round nose and 180Gr. round nose. I found these in a lot that I bought here on GB.

bpost

Best to slug your bore. SOme will shoot .308 diameter just fine without paper patches. I would try Unique powder or 4198, it has given me more accuracy over mild charges of the medium burning powders.

ap55

Thanks for the help will look for those powders.

jonk

As bpost said, slug your bore. Let's say it slugs .311. Assuming .002" thickness, a normal double wrap of paper will get you up to about .316" which is too thick; you're aiming for about .312-3 in this instance.

What I do is after wrapping and drying, push through a lee sizer that has been thoroughly degreased, to 1-2/1000" over bore diameter. Load with the bullet just off the lands so that the paper starts into the throat with no distortion.

Alternatively, you could size the bullets down to about .304" before wrapping, and not size after.

I like to put a dab of Lee liquid alox on the patch after things are seated, with a q-tip; just a dab, mind you. I find this helps reduce bore wear as paper actually can be quite abrasive.

The nice thing about paper patched bullets is they can be pushed to jacketed velocities with no leading, and no need to use gas checks. Getting them to shoot well is a task in and of itself, but it certainly can be done. I recommend visiting the cast boolit forum; they have a whole sub forum on paper patching.

charliemeyer007

Odd to find .308 sized cast bullets, most I see are .309 to .311.

The Lyman 49th lists only a 200 gr cast bullet 314299 or 311299 for smaller bores.

Powders listed 2400, sr-4750, imr 4227, 4198, n133, rx7, and xmp 5744.

The 5744 labeled as most accurate. I ran like 32 pounds of the older 5744 in a 44 mag with cast bullets. Was my favorite load.

ap55

The .308 came to me already sized and lubed 4 different weights,types in boxes of 100. 165Gr to 180Gr. I think that someone was going to find a good cast load and never got around to using them.

ap55

As a side note I found some air mail paper 25% cotton to try, very thin stuff.

jonk

As a second note, it seems that most responders are missing the 'paper patching' part of the post, and just talking about the typical .311-314" mosin bullet.

I'll be honest; I've messed around with paper patching but have never really bothered, except in my old 11mm Mauser, which has an oversized bore (I patch up .446" bullets to .454" for a .452" bore)... though I have at least tried it in 30/40, .303, and 7.62X54R. It's just far too time consuming and doesn't offer much benefit for 100 yard or less plinking over properly sized and lubed gas checked cast bullets (to me anyhow). But given your situation- you have the pile of bullets- you can surely do it. If they are pre-lubed, melt the lube off in boilign water first; lube will cause the patch to slip.