M/N M38

[jack19512]

Had a good day shooting today.  Shot my M/N M38, Swiss K31, BC 45/70 and my CZ 452.  I have a lot of the bullets and powder that I pulled from some Czech Silvertip 7.62X54 and I am working up a load for my K31 using the pulled bullets and powder.  Here is a pic of two groups shot from my K31.  One 3 shot group is circled with the marker and the other 3 shot group isn't circled.  Not the greatest group but not bad for a start.  Shot from 102 yards.   I have to admit, none of my rifles so far seem to like the Czech Silvertip bullet.  But the powder does good.




Here is a 3 shot group from my M38.  I almost sold this rifle because it shot so bad with all of the mil-surplus ammo I tried in it.  Now it is one of my most favorite rifles to shoot.  I actually enjoy shooting it as much or more than I do my K31.  Reloading can sure make a difference. 

[Airsporter]

I thought the K31 has a .308 bore vs. .311 for MN 7.62x54.

[Almtnman]

I thought the K31 has a .308 bore vs. .311 for MN 7.62x54.

That's my thoughts also. If he is using .311 diameter bullets in the K-31, I bet it's building up some tremendous pressure levels.

[bluebayou]

How is that M38?  Is recoil as bad as they say?  Have you fit a pad to it? 

[jack19512]

I thought the K31 has a .308 bore vs. .311 for MN 7.62x54.

Technically the K31 is a .308 bore.  The M/N's can be anywhere from .308 to .311-.312.  If you have a M/N you need to slug the bore to find out for sure what your bore size is.

My M38 prefers the .308 bullets where one of my 91/30's prefer the .311 bullets and won't shoot the .308 bullets worth a crap.  My M38 won't shoot the .311 bullets worth a crap.

Even a lot of the .308 bullets don't mike out to .308.  The Czech silvertip mike out to .310 so there isn't any pressure problems that I have seen.

My K31 doesn't like the .308 bullets(168 gr. Barnes Triple Shock) my M38 likes and my M38 doesn't like the .308 bullets(165 gr. Hornady Interbond) my K31 likes.

[jack19512]

How is that M38?  Is recoil as bad as they say?  Have you fit a pad to it? 

I have 4 M/N's, 1 M38, 1 M44, and a round receiver 91/30 and a hex receiver 91/30 and the M38 is probably my favorite.

I do not shoot any mil-surplus ammo out of my rifles.  I handload for all of them.  I can make it as mild or wild as I want to.  No, I haven't fit a pad to it, never found the need to.

[jack19512]

This is what my K31 will do with the 165 gr. .308 Hornady Interbond bullets.  Which mike out at .309.

[jack19512]

I didn't know this but noticed it in one of my reloading manuals for the Swiss 7.5X55 this mourning.  I copied it exactly as it is printed.  I knew this was something that you should do for the M/N's but not the K31's.



"In developing the following data, we used five different Schmidt-Rubin rifles.  Considerable difference in bore diameter caused wide variations in pressure.  Therefore, we strongly urge the 7.5X55 mm handloader to slug his rifle's bore and use extreme caution in working up loads."

[jack19512]

Also, I noticed in one of my reloading manuals the 7.62X54r bullet diameter spec. was .308 while in another of my manuals it was listed as .310.  Which goes back to why you should slug the bores of your M/N's.

[S.S.]

due to wear, any bore should be slugged before reloading.
Mosins can go .315-.316 and probably higher in diameter.
And I thought the 7.5 Swiss was actually .307?