Any recommendations for dies for the 7.62X54R? Preferences between Lee, Lyman or RCBS? I will probably be loading mostly cast bullets.
Lee dies are dirt cheap and very good. I would go for those. While I have yet to find any Lee equipment that is unusable,if you buy something from them,and dont like it,you have not wasted much money. That was my thought when I bought all my reloading gear. I spoke to some people who loved the Lee stuff,and some "snobs" who started in on the whole "if you invest the money now ,you can get stuff that will last forever" and "you get what you pay for" speech. While all of what they said is certainly true and I cant argue with it or say that it was terrible advice,I looked at it a little differently. I put about 150 in,to get the capability to reload 45 ACP (I bought alot more dies later) and to cast .452 (for 45 acp) bullets. When I started I had no idea what I needed or what I didnt need. If I would have bought expensive gear,I could easily have spent 5 times as much,and still got stuff that does not fit my needs. The only difference would be,I would have 5 times the money in it,and have very high quality stuff that would not fit my needs,which I would have to sell,at a considerable loss to replace with stuff that DID fit my needs. With the Lee stuff,most of it is pretty damn good. (as they put it in Modern Reloading ,the Lee reloading manual,its low cost and good enough (and has a pretty decent warranty,for something in its price range)
As I get more skilled at reloading,I will find things I want my equipment to do,and see things that I will recognize as being able to do the job better than things that came in the Lee kit. (The dies seem just fine so I don't see replacing them unless they wear out) When I find such things,I wont have to worry about the money I have into the Lee gear,I can throw it in the closet as a backup,sell it off here or on ebay,or just give it away. I have so little money into it,its no big deal.
Thats my general advice on starting any new hobby. If the lowest cost stuff is 5 or 10 times cheaper than the more expensive stuff,then buy the cheapest stuff to start with. (I did that when I started fishing too. I threw the original stuff from Walmart in the garage in less than a month and never use it,but I have 30 dollars into it. The replacement equipment cost me nearly 150,its far far better,but I didnt even know what I wanted or needed to start with because I knew nothing about fishing)
In summary,my opinion is,its damn cheap and gets the job done. If you don't know what you want,and don't know if you want Lee or the more expensive stuff,get the Lee. Even if you decide you really DO want the more expensive dies,sell the Lee,you should be able to get 15 or 20 bucks for them,and you probably will have paid 30 or so,and then buy the good ones. You will be down 10 or 15 dollars,but have gotten the use out of the dies,and know what YOU think makes a good die and a bad die and be able to make an informed choice.
You may want to order a 303 british expander. Most dies sets assume your going to be reloading 7.62x54R with .308 bullets. (I plan on ordering a custom collet die set for mine,it resizes the neck only for good life and best accuracy,but that's a whole other story) Most mosin bores are closer to 311. You will want to slug your bore to find out for sure. There are instructions all over the place. Just remember,use a piece of 00 lead (not plated) buckshot,and use a wooden,not brass or steel rod to drive the pellet down the bore,and of course make sure the bore is completely clean first. Im told most 91/30s are around .311 (I have one that is .311,one that is .312 and one that I have not slugged yet). I have also been told that older ones are more likely to be around .310,and that finnish ones are usually .308. Someone people say ALL Finnish ones are .308,but someone else told me that if the barrel was in good shape,they left it alone and those ones will be around .311 or .310.
As for bullets,if your bore is .311 or .312,then 303 British bullets are good. (thus the 303 expander). If your bore is .310,Hornady makes a bullet they sell as "7.62mm" which might work well. If your bore is .308,then you hit the jackpot. (as we all know,everyone and their brother (as well as their crazy uncle that lives in a cabin,casting his own bullets and waiting for "the end of days",who is probably crazy because he makes sandwiches right next to where he casts those bullets) makes 308 caliber bullets.
