I have many 54r rifles from Mosin Snipers, M39s to SVT40, PSL, Vepr, others.  Many scoped period or platform correct or modern.  I got into the 54r  caliber 10 or so years ago b/c surplus was so cheap.  I'm stocked with prob a lifetime supply of Bulgy and Russian crates/tins from the $60/tin days. I've often heard this was basically machine gun ammo.  This doesn't make sense to me as it's in tins and packed 15 to a box.  Pretty clumsy packaging for a machine gunner to deal with.  But I digress.


A few years ago I picked up a couple 50Cal ammo cans of brass Yugo that many raved about.  I don't believe I've ever really done better than 4-5 inch groups with any of my ammo leaving me missing 12" steel @ 200-300yds more than half the time.  it's frustrating and I'll usually just put em down or not bring em to the range b/c of this and the fact I have to immediately clean.  I'll bring other rifle/calibers out sometimes with current or milsurp ammo (8mm, x39, .223. .308) and almost always do better.  


Now, I am no make believe sniper or precision shooter at all.  I don't want to reload (today) nor pay 1.00/rd.  I just like to sight in as best I can @ 100yds (with history in my hands) and slap steel or other reactionary targets out to 400yds.  A true plinker !


Is any of the new lower cost steel cased 54r any good? I find Red Army Standard out there @ .40c/rd. Tula, Wolf, Golden Bear,  Purple Bear, Green Bear, etc, similarly priced.  Many of these under the cost per round of the same milsurp I have at today's prices.  If I can find better new ammo at a decent price I'd think about selling off maybe 2/3 of my stash at a bit better than today's crazy prices and reinvesting in the same volume of a couple different brands of new ammo.  


I  realize I should probably buy 2-3 boxes of each and spend a day figuring out what may be better but maybe they all suck.   Anyway, just wondering if anyone has some experience or perspective out there.

I got some of the LVE match (sniper?) ammo back when it was available.  I heard that LVE was the best of the Russian 7.62x54R ammo.  That is what I stockpiled for my Mosin snipers.  I have seen non match LVE ammo for sale, I would look for LVE manufactured ammo.

Doesn't seem to be anything that's readily available at retail. I'm looking to replace several thousand rounds with current lower cost new manufactured ammunition

PPU makes a 150gr soft point and a 182gr soft point brass/boxer. They ran about 70 CPR. Not sure about availability in this current market.

LVE Novosibirsk (factory code 188) Makes sniper and match grade 7.62x54r for the Russian army. The bulk, "spam can" stuff is essentially machine gun-grade accuracy wise. It is baffling that the Russians pack it this way for machine guns, but they do. PKM belts are designed to be re-used over and over again. That being said, some lots are more accurate than others. Many folks report the Czech and Hungarian stuff is the most accurate.

To best realize 7.62x54r accuracy you really have to hand load.

Many people say the Silver Bear 203 grain SP does the best next to handloading.

Yea I read that Czech and Hungarian were supposed to be great.  Not exactly readily available anymore.

I'm mainly interested hearing about the performance of NEW sub .50c (or so) per round ammo:

https://gun-deals.com/list/ammo/7.62x54R

Tula         148gr FMJ PY/BE/NC .38/rd
Red Army Standard AM3093 148gr FMJ PY/BE/NC .40/rd
Wolf Military Classic 148gr FMJ PY/BE/NC .44/rd
Brown Bear 174gr FMJ LC/BE/NC .45/rd
Tula TA76254 148gr FMJ PY/BE/NC .49/rd
Silver Bear       174grFMJZN/BE/NC.50/rd

I'm looking at possibly doing an inventory exchange of perhaps thousands of rounds.  Maybe that Silver Bear Heavy could be interesting (?) but not for semi autos?  Or just not in a PSL?

Yeah, the unavailable stuff is annoying to read how great it was.  The real-deal Russian 7N1 sniper stuff was supposed to be very awesome, but that's been long-gone for what, 20 years now?  Sure, I'll just pop over to Sportsman's Guide and get a tin of it.

Rule of thumb has been to keep semi-autos in the light-ball 140-158 range.  The heavy-ball 170+ rounds were intended for machineguns, and the pressure curves in the semi-autos are not designed for it.  You can safely shoot it in a Mosin given how strong the actions are, but the recoil will be a bitch and the bolt will probably get sticky.  Bring hammer to unlock it.

As much as PSLs, SVDs, M91s, and Veprs go for right now, I'd be hesitant to beat my gun up chasing heavy-ball options.  All the Russian ballistic-comp reticles are designed around the 147gr bullets as well.  Popping off a couple heavy rounds for hunting probably wouldn't hurt anything, but I wouldn't shoot it regularly.  If that's your plan, might be smart to get one of the KNS adjustable gas pistons to tune the action.  The S&B 180gr rounds are supposed to be king here, but good luck finding them.

Most of the current commercial offerings are bulk grade and just equal levels of "make noise, put hole in paper".  I don't think you're going to be able to really improve much and come ahead on the price in today's market, with the possible exception if you have some of the really bad surplus that was known for being inaccurate, but I can't remember what those were.  I'd probably still trust it more than bulk Tula though.

When it was common I had great results with the Polish surplus. It shot noticeably better than the Russian surplus in every gun I tried it in.

I'm guessing this is not something I can buy off the shelf at retail anywhere?

As is the roll of the dice with surplus x54r, the Polish lot I had was the least accurate. I broke it all down for the powder and projectiles to reload .303 Brit.

Got the following on the way:

7.62x54R 148gr Tulammo 148gr FMJ Ammo, 500rd Case. $274.95
7.62x54R 174gr Brown Bear FMJ Ammo, 500rd Case. $279.95
7.62x54r 148gr FMJ - Red Army Standard - 500 Rounds $260.00

Hope to get out in a couple weeks to see how they perform in the following:

SVT40 (scoped - not sniper)
Mosin-Nagant M91/30 (PU Sniper)
M39 (Century PU'd "Sniper")
PSL
Veper 54r

Finally got out:

BTW are the Tula and Red Army Standard the same stuff?  Aside from the external box the internal cartridge carrier, cases and markings are identical “TulaAmmo”.  Here’s what I was able to test with.
•Tula 148gr
•RAS 148gr
•Brown Bear 174gr

These are my 54r rifles with scopes.  I have another PU Sniper and another M39 (w/o glass) but didn’t bring them out that day .
•SVT40 wi PU Scope
•91/30 PU Sniper
•M39 wi PU Scope (a Century concoction from years ago – very cool and pretty rare)
•PSL wi PSO 3-9x24 Tigr, 1000m Rangefinder, SVD
•Vepr wi Accupoint 1-4

Excluding the PSL and Vepr the Tula and RAS produced similar results out of the SVT, 91/30 and M39.  The 148gr landed higher than the 174gr by about five inches wi 4+inch groups.  The 174gr produced 2-3inch groups. I forget if it’s cool to fire heavier bullets out of an SVT40 but they did seem to perform better (someone please advise).   All in all this new ammo is in fact a bit better than the various Russian, Bulgarian and Yugo milsurp I’ve been using especially the heavier bullet.  I’d be curious to move up in bullet weight

Here’s where it get’s weird.  The PSL actually shot better groups with the 148gr in fact I was able to pull off better than 2” 5-shot groups.  I couldn’t believe my eyes. Reproduced it three times after barrel cool down.  Was FINALLY hitting 300yd 12”steel plates more often than missing.

Last up was the Vepr.  I’m thinking it’s going to be great.  It blew chunks !!!  Awful !!!  5+ inch groups on the 148gr and slightly better on the 174gr.  WTF !!!   In fact I’d almost hazard to say it shot slightly better with the old light ball milsurp.  I am indeed perplexed.  I’m wondering if I should bother to sample different ammo for the Vepr or simply “off” the thing (can anyone share more Vepr experiences? Go heavier as some suggest?).  Now in all fairness I did have a 9x FFP on the PSL and the AccuPoint is 4x with a post reticle but certainly FAAAAR better glass than the old PU Scopes so I don’t think different optics were too much of a factor @ 100yds shooting from a sled.

Footnote:  BTW does over gassing have anything to do with accuracy?  I did get a KNS piston for the PSL.  It presently throws spent cases 20-25 feet back.  My piston is welded to the carrier so I’m waiting on a gunsmith buddy to install and look forward to retrying with heavy bullets.  The Vepr tosses rounds 5-10 feet forward or to the side.

Works well for some

Pretty generic info on the box.  Other than 148gr non corrosive berdan what is it?  Who makes it?

Wolf.

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/wolf-762x54r-ammo-148-gr-fmj-steel-case-76254fmj-p-108929.aspx

I think that's the only other low cost, new prod 54r I have yet to try.  I'd get a couple hundred rounds and see how it does but can't find in stock anywhere for under .50cpr.
 

Thanks, kmad