Shot the 8X56 today- follow up post

jonk

Thanks for all those who gave input. I shot the gun today for the first time using surplus 1938 ammo; at 5 yards, even with a minty bore, the result was about a 7" spread, with a number of wild shots. The gun recoils violently and I understand now the criticism of the straight pull system that it lacks sufficient camming action to start ejecting the empty. Several times I had to kick the bolt open. Overall though, I am happy for my $94. Can't wait to get into handloading.Which brings me to my question. Anyone know if the Lee reloader dies out there for this caliber resize to .323 or .329???

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"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conference in 1899.

Tailgunner1954

I had 3 of the M-95's (in 8x50R) and never had any troubles getting the fired brass to eject. You have lubed the cam ramp inside of the bolt sleeve haven't you ?The only bullets i could get back then were the .323'sThe greatest fun you can have with them is watching some "expert" trying to open the bolt *evil grin*Bob

v35

I'm talking from memory of at least 50 years ago when I had a 95 european sporterized carbine with folding leaf rear sight and double set trigger. I recollect the cartridge was called 8.2x50 Rimmed Steyr. Might you be shooting a .323 bullet in a .329 bore? The designations 8x56, 8x50 and 8.2x50 Rimmed Steyr always confused me.P.S. dont forget to scrub the corrosive salts out of that bore.

v35

I'm talking from memory of at least 50 years ago when I had a 95 european sporterized carbine with folding leaf rear sight and double set trigger. I recollect the cartridge was called 8.2x50 Rimmed Steyr. Might you be shooting a .323 bullet in a .329 bore? The designations 8x56, 8x50 and 8.2x50 Rimmed Steyr always confused me.P.S. dont forget to scrub the corrosive salts out of that bore.

Der Gebirgsjager

Jon-Did we talk about this perhaps as long as a year ago; or was it someone else? Anyway, I really like these old guns. I must, because I've got 5 of them. I tried to convice my wife that if you leave them alone in a dark closet they reproduce--but I think she's onto me. To my mind they are one of the classiest actions ever designed. Now the bad news is that you will seldom find one with the correct bore size. They have been used and abused for many years in at least two world wars, and the bores show various amounts of wear. I do not have any that will actually slug .329. The tightest one I've got is .332. It is shiney and was obviously well cleaned, but is oversized. Would you believe that the largest, which shows obvious wear to the rifling but no pitting is .338? This is not to say that there are no rifles remaining with a .329 bore, but I've been unable to get one on 5 out of 5 tries. I do have a friend that actually owns one (.329), and it will shoot surplus military ammo quite satisfactorily. If you slug your rifle's bore I'll bet that it's oversize. The only way that you will get this rifle to shoot satisfactorily is to order a custom mold that matches the size of the slug and cast bullets that will fill the bore---or rebarrel. Slug the barrel and get back to us.