After Balkan war moved down to the south back in nineties, there were zillions ammo left behind and I found it would be a pure waste if I don’t find any use of them. Amongst others 7,62x54R came to front. Took it as a rimmed chamber I used it in O/U Czech double ZH. Tho right from the beginning problems arise. Bullets were military ball type and as such not quite felicitous for hunting use. So I have drilled the bullets – made them HP - also glued pellets on the tips on some. They worked like a charm on all hoofed animals encountered here in EU. They made good exits on all game- with app. 1 inch dia.



from left to right:

1. PPU (Prvi partizan) - military - brass – 170 gr copper bullet FMJ - drilled with glued pellet insert - HP
2. Russian military – steel copper plated “brass†– 150 gr steel coppered FMJ bullet drilled - HP
3. Russian military – 150 gr tracer bullet
4. for comparisation 7x57R



Next one was tougher. Since this caliber was made for Russian machine guns, there were those nasty thick corrosive primers. Due to the thickness of the primers there was occasional hang fire because the firing pin on a double just couldn’t break it. So I planed the primers on the lathe a bit and it worked without any problems since (still had to clean the barrel for a week or so after every shot tho ).



Left original one, right planed

Good old days

Mouse are you joking, did you plane a live primer, was the round complete?

You are a brave man.

Pics of the Ds please. BTW you wouldn´t know where I could find one of those Ds from CZ?

Used of cours! PM me if so.

Best regards Chris.

I have sold that double years ago - it was converted from 7x57R/16 combo. 16 ga barrel was blown up due to soil plug - I was solving a close fight between a terrier and a badger (holding a dog with one hand and unintentionaly lean on a rifle ). I do have some classic photos from non digital era - will dig them up over weekend and post them.

what kind of accuracy were you getting from your rounds?

i have an old nagant, and have been using Olympic ammunition with good result (non-steel, non-corrosive)

iv run out though...so am looking for new ammo

If memory serves me well it was app 2 inch at 100 m (with 150 and 170 gr combined) - tho these days - Norma and Lapua offer good factory ammo.

P.S. Also Prvi partizan and S&B

Making "expanding" bullets out of ball ammo has been done ever since at least WWI in this country. But it is NOT recommended for two good reasons: You never really know if any two bullets thus altered are going to produce similar results. Some may expand, others will just go through. And, while rare, it is possible for a bullet to blow the core out the opened front end and leave the jacket stuck in the bore. Next shot, POP! or Kaboom!, as you desire. This is less likely to happen with boat-tail bullets.

On his 1909 African Safari, TR did use some M1906 ammo in his Springfield. But the bullets, 150-grain FMJ falt-base type, were not altered. Yet they often tumbled on impact, giving a very impressive performance on African plains game.

The Brits, in order to circumvent the Geneva Conventions, used clay or aluminum, plugs in the nose of their Mark VII, 174-grain FMJ .303 ammo. This made the bullet unstable, so it WOULD tumble in the enemy's body! This way, they escaped the onus of using "dum-dum" bullets, while obtaining the same effect legally! Oh, I say! Not sporting, old chap! Not sporting at all!

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
But it is NOT recommended for two good reasons: You never really know if any two bullets thus altered are going to produce similar results. Some may expand, others will just go through. And, while rare, it is possible for a bullet to blow the core out the opened front end and leave the jacket stuck in the bore. Next shot, POP! or Kaboom!, as you desire. This is less likely to happen with boat-tail bullets.

those were all taken into consideration before any action was taken - bullets performed with surprising similarity as described above (exits app 1 inch dia - on roe sized game there was a number of small pelet size holes surrounding the main exit wound - all in radius of additional 1/2 inch) and none of the bullets shed its jacket in the bore - indeed all boat-tail.

Thanks for pointing it out - I should emphasize that all described above is potentially dangerous - so don't do this at home.

I have dusted off old albums and found only two barely useful photos with mentioned rifle on - photos have different focus in mind - sorry, so just as a peep.

and I thought I was doing "cool" stuff when I pull the bullets, tossed the powder, and used the milsurp as primed brass ... btw, with 150gr .311 bullets, my nagant (36 or 38) and my svt40 shot moa or better

Hey Mouse, Great looking dog. I'd expect it to be an outstanding tracker.

Best of luck to you.

However there was a continuation on the matter – since primers were planed they were further away from a firing pin’s reach so the pin had to be custom made (longer) so it jutted out – a bit …meaning that when using normal ammo the pin was slightly pushing against primer (there were visible scratches on the normal primers)…since primers were worked out with certain accuracy there were unavoidable differences and in two occasions the primers were thinned bit too much so the pin pierced them through (when shot of course)– and on one of those occasions (when the rifle was opened) the pin broke…

Some more on rifle – upper barrel original CZ (Poldi special steel) - additional (lover barrel) Ferlach’s (Bohler rasant), stock was right handed with fancy cheek – but utterly unpleasant for lefty, so it (the cheek) was later grinded off, there was a Schmidt & Bender 4x36 mounted with “Suhler – einhack montageâ€. The rifle was never meant for shots over 150 m – mainly used for tracking and driven hunts, so at the end the first trigger (upper barrel) was cut off and it became ST (first pull lover barrel, second pull upper one)…all in all some fancy stuff with blasphemy all over but it was fun .

Thanks Hot Core – yes she was a prime tracking dog (“Hannoveranerâ€) – I earned a good deal of cash for my study by tracking wounded game with her – sadly she was killed in her 10 th year of age by a wounded boar that almost got me too (knocked me down but didn’t come back to cash in).