8mm cast lead bullets which powder to use and how much.
I have just got into reloading for my 8mm Mausers,and I am looking into making some cast bullets. However, I am slightly confused if I am not mistaken you do not simply load a 170 grain cast bullets with 47 grains of H380, like you would with a jacketed spitzer 175 grain. I currently have Winchester 231 would this work? If so any one know how many grains? It seems most people use 2400 powder with about 20 or so grains of it. In other words any one have access to which powders to use and how much of em to use. Are your standard large rifle primers good for this as well? Thanks in advance..:???:
Re: 8mm cast lead bullets which powder to use and how much.
I find that 12 grains of Trailboss makes an excellent clean cast bullet load for the old military Mausers like 8mm, 7mm, 6.5 mm etc with any typical bullet weight for the caliber (usually around 150 grain bullets).
Re: 8mm cast lead bullets which powder to use and how much.
Regarding the OP, no you cannot subject cast bullets to the same pressure used for jacketed. They're too soft. Most people use a faster powder meant for pistol or shotgun. A chrono helps watching for max velocity, usually 1800 fps. Trail boss was basically designed for lead cast bullets. I like 2400 and red dot respectively. Finally found a really good 8mm combination this weekend. Lee 175 gr cast that I honed out to 325 and 18.4 gr 2400. I had three holes touching at 100 yds. 18.2 gr gave a 1.5" 5- shot group. Velocity was about 1680 fps. Going to try the same loads this weekend to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Oddly, 18.4 of 2400 is now my go to load in three different calibers.
Re: 8mm cast lead bullets which powder to use and how much.
+1. Lot of info on Mauser loads here. On honing.. My lee mold produced a bullet that was too small for my (or most any) mausers. I used a cast bullet, some honing compound and a drill to make it bigger. Tricky job.
Re: 8mm cast lead bullets which powder to use and how much.
Do a search on slugging a barrel. You basically use a soft lead fishing sinker slightly bigger than the bore and drive it through. Measure groove depth with a caliper and use this to determine your bullet size needed. Usually a thousandth or two larger than the bore. A lot of these rifles differ in bore size.