Anybody do this?

Not yet but its the next one on my list.

I've been thinking about it but I still have over a 1000 rounds of the stuff and with a bolt that should last quite a while.

I have some brass  and dies and have loaded a few test rounds but that is about all.

Same here, tons of non-reloadable Berdan cases, not even a handful of Boxer primed brass to reload.  
The few that I did load semed to shoot better than surplus ball, but we do miss that huge pumpkin-ball of flame.  

I used 7.62R to experiment with making gallery or "cat sneeze" loads.  The fireballs that fp mentioned sure are exciting, but there is something to say for the report of a pellet gun coming from a service rifle too!  IIRC, some of those loads would penetrate both sides of a metal coffee can @ 20'.

I have loaded a lot of 7.62x54R. Great caliber, all the way from light pistol powder loads to surplus-style fire-belching loads. With a good bore, you can usually get a Nagant rifle under 2 MOA.

What'cha wanna know?

How long has your brass lasted on average? Full loads?



 

I've loaded a fair amount of it, but only because I don't want to use nasty surplus that has useless brass.I load fired Privi and S&B brass, but it's all held up fine with multiple loadings, even hot ones. I don't shoot a lot of it, so a batch lasts me a long time. I haven't found that it stretches much either, so I'd imagine it would last a good while if you're using regular, safe loads. Gallery loads with a little Red Dot and 32 H&R bullets are loads of fun.

Full house loads depend a LOT on the rifle. Some have slack between the breech block and the end of the chamber, and there is some bulge on all guns. The semi-automatics are in a league of their own; many chew up the brass in some frightening ways.

Norma brass lasts a long time with a gentle, moderate-speed powder like Varget. I have some cases I know have had six loads through them for sure, but it could be more. Faster powders like H335 result in fireballs, even at minimum charge, and seem to work the brass a lot more in the same rifle. If I have time, I'll pick up some VV powder, as they seem to have some that hit the sweet spot for accuracy in that caliber.

Winchester brass "seems" to wear faster, grow faster, but it's cheap, I buy bags of it when I find it, and it works until it wears out.

Like the previous poster, I'll play with pistol powder loads ("gallery loads" is an awesome term, but my pistol range still won't allow my rifle), and those don't seem to do anything to the brass at all.

The only caveat to the caliber is to be sure to know your bore size, as some north american-made Nagants had .308 bore sizes. All the eastern bloc ones are .310-.312, and some Lee dies come with a .308 expander, making seating a non boattail .311 pullet hard.

I shoot surplus .311 FMJBTs, and Sierra soft points out of mine with very satisfactory results. I have also shot .308 Wideners OTM and .308 Nosler Ballistic Tips in 168 grain editions over Varget, and was quite impressed, but not all bores like .308 diameter bullets.

I'm building up a supply of reloadable brass and have dies. I'm toying with the idea of loading gallery loads with cast lead slugs.

Never tried cast slugs, but you should be able to use .32 cal outright or get a sizing die to take them down to .311.

If my range allowed it I'd be all over that, all the time.

.32 to .311 is way to much to try to size down.

Go for a .312 - .314 die and sizer with whatever mold.





 

I have a single cavity .311 180 I'm planning on using.

Lee makes a 155gr .312 mold that works pretty well for these. I shoot most of them through the AK, sized to .311, but I've shot some from the Mosin and PSL at .312 and they work nicely.

Norma brass
Rem Lrp
46.6 gr of IMR 4320
Sierra 180 or 150 gr game king
91/30 PU =
5/8" to 3/4" all day long

96 yard head shot on a tree rat.

Sure its head didn't just explode from the noise?

".32 to .311 is way to much to try to size down."
.32 pistol bullets measure .310, I have not tried them in x54 but have used them in 7.62x39 with good results, tho did not feed well in AK but ok in SKS

I also just started loading 150gr pulled bullets from Wideners in Privi brass for my PSL.

Sounds like quite the bubba job - it depends on whether you see firearms as historical artifacts or not I guess.

Mosin Nagants vary a great deal in quality. Some have seen hard use, and are pretty much shot out, and others have some mighty nice bores. Different countries used different threadings for the barrels too, although most follow the Russian standard. The shorter the barrel, the harder they seem to kick, especially with surplus ammo.

I have a 1954 (as in, post-war) Polish M44 that might fetch a pretty penny one day. It was unfired when I got it, and has been taken care of since. Oiled teak furniture, the works.

My main shooter though is a 1943 Russian M38, arsenal re-finished, is pitted here and there, the bore is so-so and the barrel was counter-bored, but it still holds 2 MOA with good ammo. This one had non-permanent mods done, like being fitted to an ATI stock and a forward scope mount and long eye relief scope. I do toy with idea of putting a miculek-style muzzle brake on there though, since that would take the edge off it nicely.

I reload for it.  I like it a lot.  I've used 3031 with great success at low recoil accurate loads.  I'm gonna try others.