Ammo For Sale - Handgun Calibers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The 7.62x54mmR rifle cartridge is a Russian design dating back to
1891. Originally designed for the Mosin-Nagant rifle, it was used
during the late Tsarist era and throughout the Soviet period, in
machine guns and rifles such as the SVT-40. The Winchester Model
1895 was also chambered for this cartridge per a contract with the
Russian government. It is still in use by the Russian military in
the Dragunov and other sniper rifles and some modern machine guns
such as the PKM. The round is colloquially known as the "7.62
Russian". The name is sometimes confused with the "7.62 Soviet"
round, which refers to the 7.62x39mm cartridge used in the SKS and
AK-47 rifles.
The 7.62x54mmR is the oldest cartridge still in regular combat
service with several major armed forces in the world. This round is
mainly used in the Dragunov sniper rifle and PK machine gun. In
general performance, it is in the same class as the .30-06
Springfield. Because of its ballistic closeness with the iconic
American cartridge, a similarly rich military and historic heritage
and amazing longevity, is often nicknamed "The Russian 30-06". It is
also one of the few (along with the .22 Hornet, .30-30 and .303
British) bottlenecked, rimmed centerfire rifle cartridges still in
common use today. Most of the bottleneck rimmed cartridges of the
late 1880s and 1890s fell into disuse by the end of the First World
War.
The 7.62x54mmR originally had a 13.7 g (210 grain) round-nosed full
metal jacket (FMJ) bullet. Due to experiences in the Russo-Japanese
War, it was replaced in 1908 with a 9.7 g (148-grain) spitzer FMJ
bullet, which has remained standard to the present. To increase
accuracy, the Dragunov SVD uses the 7N1 variant of the cartridge,
which uses extruded instead of ball propellant and has a 9.7 g
(152-grain) boat-tailed FMJ bullet. The 7N14 is a new load developed
for the SVD. It consists of a 9.7 g (151 grain) projectile which
travels at the same 850 m/s (2723 ft/s), but it has a lead core and
is supposed to be the more accurate of the two.[4]
The cartridge case presents a pronounced tapering to facilitate case
extraction. In addition to being one of the first military rounds to
use smokeless powder, the 7.62x54mmR was ahead of its time for
another aspect, despite being a rimmed cartridge. The case is
significantly wide in relation to its length and it features a
rather sharp shoulder angle compared to other contemporary rounds.
This characteristic and the case tapering allow for efficient and
very rapid powder combustion, a design concept reintroduced again
with the Short Magnum rifle cartridges more than 100 years later.
Large quantities of 7.62x54mmR military ammunition were made with
steel cartridge cases. These perform well, but do not lend
themselves nearly as easily as brass cases to the re-sizing
necessary for good handloading. It should be noted that the vast
majority of 7.62x54mmR ammunition encountered will be Berdan primed,
which is generally not considered reloadable.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of the Mosin-Nagant rifles,
commercial versions of this cartridge with non corrosive primers are
nowadays very easy to find in sporting goods stores all across the
United States at reasonable prices, usually lower, compared to the
popular 30-06 Springfield. A good assortment of bullet weight,
ranging from 9.6 g to 13.2 g (148-203 gr), and bullet construction (FMJ,
soft-point, Spitzer, Round Nose) is available. Some of the popular
brands for the 7.62x54R are: Norma, Sellier & Bellot, Winchester,
RWS, Wolf Ammunition, Hotstot, Prvi Partizan, Igman and Barnaul.
Wolf Ammunition offers a 13.2 g (203 gr) FMJ boat tail Match version
of this round, as well as a 150-gr version intended for the Dragunov
and PSL semi-automatic rifles."
7.62x54mmR. (2009, March 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:56, March 20, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=7.62x54mmR&oldid=278245379