I am thinking of having an Encore barrel made for the 7.62x54R. I was wondering about the proper bore/groove size for this round. Douglas makes a .311 groove with .303 bore(I think) that I figure will be about right. What are your thoughts? Have any of you ever done this?

I like the idea of using the cheap ammo for plinking and that big rimmed round is about perfect for the Encore. Figure I may be able to load some hunting bullets made for the .303 or 7.65 Argentine for hunting rounds too. Plateau Hunter

I see no sense in that other then you want to use the 7.2x54R round. In that case I'd just go ahead and use a .308 groove x .300 bore barrel and load the round with the very plentiful selection of good 30 caliber bullets out there.

.311 or .312, and .304


same EXACT as a 7.62x39

which is what I would suggest

jeffe

I have owned a couple of m44's that were 0.313 and 0.314".

I have a Sako barreled m91/30 that is 0.298" across the lands and 0.308" in the grooves. I think it will shoot very well, once I get to shoot it.

For what this is worth, all the commercial 7.62x54r ammunition you'll find is loaded with .311" bullets. Were I in your shoes, I would specify the .311/.303 barrel and not look back.

The snag you'll run into is most of our good American reloading die manufacturers offer die sets with a .307 expander ball instead of a .310 like you'll need. Or, such has been my experience thus far.

Some reports of that day indicate it was .300" bore, but with .311"-.314" grooves, depending on maker & tolerances. I don't know how authentic those measurements are (were), but that makes sense, as many of the older barrels had deeper grooves than are the norm today.

I had an Encore barrel made in 7.62x53R, which is the Finnish version - using .308 bullets. Lapua makes brass, and loaded ammo using their 185 gr Mega Bullet in .308 diameter, which are readily available. I had to buy the reamer for the project.

7.62x54R brass works too. The Redding dies, and the RCBS dies come with two expander balls - one in .308, and the other in .311.

I suppose one could shoot the .311 bullets through the .308 barrel, but I see no need to do that when the Lapua ammo works really well.

I see no need to shoot the really cheap ammo, when I can easily afford to pay $23 or so for a box of quality Lapua ammo. And I like to handload anyway, and I really don't want to mess with .311 bullets in inventory.

I do not regret my decision to go with a barrel bored for .308 bullets. I would make the same choice again, and recommend the same for you.

Best Regards,
KB

I took a chamber cast on both of my rifles and found that the 4 groove barrel had one pair at .312 and the other .314". It was the same on both guns.
Now do you think they did that on purpose? Maybe they were trying to make it accept a wide range of bullets?