Morning gentleman, it appears Bentaz has summoned moi.
Bentaz would be correct - I do indeed reload for my old girls. Press in the garage makes me feel extremely guilty at a mere thought of paying for factory ammo, like kicking puppies kind of guilty. Very guilty.
Factory ammoCentreway Firearms usually has 7.62x54R ammo. Last time I was there (this week), I didn't pay attention to factory ammo, but they certainly had brass. I am fairly certain the'd have ammo too. Frankston has some factory ammo I believe, as well and possibly this guys:
http://www.cluboutdoors.com.au (they have a very small shop in Beaumaris that services their eBay store, but they do sell ammo). Just ring around. I would buy up all PPU ammo you can, cheapest and alright brass for reloading it. More on reloading below.
Surplus ammoSurplus ammo is fun, but Berdan primers are
not your friends. I shoot it once in a while (very occasionally), but geez I hate the clean up job. You will get some residue (someone else described it in more detail above) all over the place, barrel, internal magazine, etc. Which means after you come home, you will need to strip the rifle for cleaning. And I am not talking about pulling the bolt out, I mean stripping it (
http://myshootingjourney.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Mosin-stripped-1024x768.jpg) and giving it a good clean. Including pouring boiling water or diluted ammonia (household cleaning stuff) down the bore and mag, etc. To neutralise the salts. And scrub, scrub, scrub. You'll need to do this before storage or it will attract moisture (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AyRX58ZHGg). Basically, there's bunch of much much much better modern ammo, there is no need for surplus, unless you have OCD and must collect the whole set
ReloadingProjectiles will be your biggest expense. You have 2 options. Slug it and get the exact caliber you need (
http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm) or just go with factory minimum diameter (I posted my measurements of surplus and modern bullets here somewhere too) - 0.3105" (not .311).
If the gun is shot out a bit, you may want to slug it to get a better fit. In my case, I just purchased 1000 .3105 pills and that's that. It's not a target rifle, it's a happy blast maker, so tack driving is not an issue, as long as it shoots 1MOA of gong or whatever is being destroyed on the day. You are looking at 50c upwards. Keep an eye out on Usedguns.com.au and buy when you see bulk cheap deal. Generally, you won't find any 'Mosin' projectiles. But you will find lots of 303 - they are the same and range in diameter. Make sure you are using the right caliber - either go with standard .3105 or slug your barrel and use a better fitting diameter based on your measurements.
I think at some stage I may have bought up all 7.62x54R ammo in Melbourne
. So I am set for brass, hence I am not sure about the cost exactly. I think you may be looking at 80c per case at Centreway for brand new Starline brass, I could be wrong here, but for some reason that number sticks out. But, if I were you I would just stock up on PPU factory ammo and enjoy the gun without being too concerned about reloading. Once you are happy with the gun, then reuse the brass for reloading when you're ready.
Primers will cost you around 6c - 7c each.
Powder, you'll be looking at let's say 45 grains, in case of AR2208, depends how much you paid for it, but going with say $45 for 500gm, that's 26c per cartridge for powder.
So excluding brass (since you shot it once anyway, so it's free now
), you are looking at around 83c per cartridge (i.e. the second time you use the brass).
FYI
Something to keep in mind:
Lee doesn't make Collete die to resize neck of the case (prolongs the case life heaps). I know you can get them to make you a custom Collete die specifically for your rifle, I think AUD100, but I haven't tried that yet. Instead, you will need to full length resize, which means your brass is not going to last as long if you run it hotter than it needs to be. Best to stock up on brass.
Hope this helps.