I have an old Mosin Nagant M44 and it has a bad bore. Would it be possible to get the barrel bored out to .338 and if that is then how would I get a die set for it? It seems like it would be a fun round to shoot and would be a little diffrent. Has this been done? Hope it will work and has been done that would be cheaper then.

No reason you can't try making a silk purse out of that sow's ear, but if you're that attached to the rifle you'd be a bazillion dollars ahead by simply rebarreling it. Otherwise, a 35x54R would at least let you shoot cheaper pistol bullets in it.

Rainman By the time you have that barrel re-bored to 338 and then buy a set of dies you will have spent more than it would cost to install a new barrel. The Nagant doesn't lend itself very well to sporterizing.

I'm not a fan of the Nagant, but I like the 7.62x54 cartridge, and I especially like the Finnish version 7.62x53R, which shoots a .308 bullet. The brass is made by Lapua.

I think this brass - either the 54R or the 53R would be excellent in their respective calibers .311 or .308, but also as the basis for wildcats - from 6.5mm, perhaps smaller, and up to 9.3mm, including 8mm, .338, .358, etc.

The platform is not the Nagant, but the Thompson Encore.

KB

by the time you did anything ,it would be cheaper to go to a hock shop and find an old 8 mauser ,.,. or a 338 RUM that has ringed the last 3 owners.. The possibilities are nearly endless where you guys can hop in your outfit and go to a gun show ,or 10 ... I do know a guy who had a 35 -30/40 krag ,,,,That he put in a siamese mauser....It pretty much did what a Whelan does..

quote:

Originally posted by Kabluewy:
I'm not a fan of the Nagant, but I like the 7.62x54 cartridge, and I especially like the Finnish version 7.62x53R, which shoots a .308 bullet. The brass is made by Lapua.

I think this brass - either the 54R or the 53R would be excellent in their respective calibers .311 or .308, but also as the basis for wildcats - from 6.5mm, perhaps smaller, and up to 9.3mm, including 8mm, .338, .358, etc.

The platform is not the Nagant, but the Thompson Encore.

KB

Howdy,
the 54r and 54r are exactly the same rounds, though the finish barrels due tend to run closer to .308 than .314.. but i've slugged them from .307 to .314. The finns tend to be smaller, but there is not a .308 "offical" version of this round, as the europeans means bore, not grove, in these things.

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:

quote:

Originally posted by Kabluewy:
I'm not a fan of the Nagant, but I like the 7.62x54 cartridge, and I especially like the Finnish version 7.62x53R, which shoots a .308 bullet. The brass is made by Lapua.

I think this brass - either the 54R or the 53R would be excellent in their respective calibers .311 or .308, but also as the basis for wildcats - from 6.5mm, perhaps smaller, and up to 9.3mm, including 8mm, .338, .358, etc.

The platform is not the Nagant, but the Thompson Encore.

KB

Howdy,
the 54r and 54r are exactly the same rounds, though the finish barrels due tend to run closer to .308 than .314.. but i've slugged them from .307 to .314. The finns tend to be smaller, but there is not a .308 "offical" version of this round, as the europeans means bore, not grove, in these things.

jeffe

Mr Jeffe, as respectfully as I can say, and meanwhile knowing that I may not be correct ---
I believe the Finn version - 7.62x53R "Officially" uses the .308 bullet. I won't say anything about groove or bore, because I may become confused about that, but I ain't confused about the bullet diameter. In Finnland, Lapua is official as it gets, and Lapua loads factory hunting ammo using their .308 Mega bullet 185gr, and the 7.62x53R brass is in fact shorter than the 7.62x54R. Redding dies, and RCBS (in 7.62x54R) dies both come with a .311 and a .308 expander ball.

From the history I read, the Finns rebarreled the surplus Russian rifles to shoot their official .308 bullet diameter.

Fair enough...
I had a 38 (?) that had finn, rus, finn capture marks on it, with a tikka barrel and "like an smle enfield" front sight... dang thing SHOT very well...

but, it wouldn't shot .308 bullets..

wait a second, I minute be the dummy here..

I never TRIED 308 bullets in it.... i took the "primed brass".. that came as 440 rounds of tinsealed hungarian, pulled the bullets, tossed the bullets and primers, and reloaded.... was cheaper to get these at gun shows than the buy the right primers, for awhile...

so, weird enough, it MIGHT have shot .308 bullets just fine.. but it was a honest accurate easy to feed rifle either way.


and, in either event, I wish there whas a .311 OU double rifle for that...


jeffe

The Soviet 6.6x54R Biathlon cartridge was based on the 7.62x54R case as was the 8.2x53R(.323 dia. bullet) Finnish and the 9.3x53R Finnish.The 8.2x53R and the 9.3x53R were at one time factory loaded in Finland.

WC

You might look and see what existing loading dies might work for a neck size die. Maybe look at the 338 RUM, or the 338 Win mag to see if they would work with the bottom of the die cut off.
The Lee RGB dies are pretty cheap.

I guess I knew that it would be cheaper to rebarrel from an existing rifle. I just wanted some ideas if this had been done.

I think I remember a place that did rebores for around $60ish??? Then you would just have to cut the neck and throat.
Anybody know who does rebores for affordable?
Does Bauska rebore barrels? They only charge $100 for a new barrel blank.
PTG makes a UNI neck reamer.

Hi!

.338x54R is made by Finnish Gunsmith's If i recall right it was an anniversary project of Finnish hunting magazine Metsästys ja Kalastus(Hunting and Fishing).
Name of the cartridge was 338MK.
If i remember it right performance was similar to semi-hot 7mm REMA about 4000-4700 joules.

Anyway almost all variables between .222-.458x53R or 54r are tried by Finnish gunsmith's

Tumppi

what about Johnson in SD for the rebore? All of a sudden this spring I am seeing quite a few (10-12) Nagants with octagon receivers rebarreled to 45-70 in somebody's laminated sporter stocks...a sign the end times are near? They are all shooting 405gr bullets around 2000fps and happy as a brood of pigs turned loose in a pumpkin field.

Rich
DRSS