7.62×54R
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 7.62×54R | ||
|---|---|---|
 Assortment of 7.62x54R rounds |
||
| Type | Rifle | |
| Place of origin | Russian | |
| Service history | ||
| In service | 1891 to present | |
| Used by | Soviet, Russian forces | |
| Wars | WWI, WWII | |
| Production history | ||
| Designed | 1891 | |
| Produced | 1891 to present | |
| Specifications | ||
| Bullet diameter | 7.9 mm (0.311 in) | |
| Rim diameter | 14.48 mm (0.57 in) | |
| Case length | 53.72 mm (2.115 in) | |
| Overall length | 77.16 mm (3.038 in) | |
| Primer type | Berdan | |
| Ballistic performance | ||
| Bullet weight/type | Velocity | Energy |
| 150 gr Spitzer | 2953 ft/s (~900 m/s) |
2905 ft·lbf (~3951 J) |
| 180 gr Spitzer | 2575 ft/s (~785 m/s) |
2651 ft·lbf (~3605 J) |
| Source: 7.62x54R Data at ChuckHawks.com | ||
The 7.62x54mm R 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 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. The round is colloquially known as the "7.62 Russian". The name is sometimes confused with the "7.62 Soviet", which refers to the 7.62x39mm cartridge.
The 7.62x54R is one of the oldest cartridges still in use by any military in the world. In general performance, it is in the same class as the .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 7.62x54R originally had a 210-grain round-nosed full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet. Due to experiences in the Russo-Japanese War, it was replaced in 1908 with a 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 152-grain boat-tailed FMJ bullet.
Large quantities of 7.62x54R 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.
Contents |
[edit] Types of ammunition
- Full-metal jacket
- Hollow point
- Soft-point
- Light steel-core
- Heavy steel-core
- Tracer
- Super-incendiary
- Sniper (Снайперские)
- Wood training rounds
[edit] Surplus ammunition
Most surplus ammunition available uses corrosive primers. One commonly encountered type of surplus -54R is Czech "silver tip" (image), which is Czechoslovakian surplus from the 1960s. Newer commercial ammunition is not corrosively primed.
[edit] See also
- 7.62 mm caliber
- Dragunov SVD
- GShG-7.62 minigun
- Mosin-Nagant
- Degtyarev DP-28
- PK machine gun
- Russian M1910 Maxim
- 7.62 x 53R Finnish
[edit] External links
- An evaluation list for variants, weights, and velocities of this ammunition type
- A dimensional diagram of the cartridge
- A description of the cartridge at Chuckhawks.com
- A guide to headstamps and bullet types at Mosinnagant.net
- CIP dimensions for rimmed cartridges
| Soviet infantry weapons of World War II |
|---|
| Side-arms |
| TT-33 | Nagant M1895 |
| Rifles & carbines |
| AVS36 | SVT40 | Mosin-Nagant |
| Submachine guns |
| PPD-40 | PPSh-41 | PPS-43 |
| Grenades |
| F1 | RGD-33 | RG-41 | RG-42 | RPG-43 |
| Machine guns & other larger weapons |
| M1910 Maxim | DS-39 | DP | SG-43 Goryunov | DShK | PTRD | PTRS ROKS-2/ROKS-3 |
| Cartridges used by the USSR during WWII |
| 7.62 x 25 mm TT | 7.62 x 38 R | 7.62 x 54 mm R | 14.5 x 114 mm |
