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jonk
I have a Portuguese Mauser Verguerio in 8mm Mauser. Mirror sharp bore. Using cast lead bullets with Red Dot powder it can shoot inside a 3" bullseye all day at 100 y which isn't great but is very good. Same gun with any surplus (I've tried Romanian, Yugo, and Ecuadorian) or handloads with jacketed bullet sprays 'em all over the place. Bore slugs .323". Crown is good. Strange, huh?

"...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 Conf
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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • Pearyw
    Do you know what the barrel twist rate is. I have had a problem with some of the old Mausers like my 7mm Chilean 1895 which has a twist rate less than 1 to 8. It was designed for a bullet weighing over 200 gr and will not stabilize anything under 175 gr. I tried some surplus ammo that was around 150 gr and it threw them all over the place. You moght check your targets at 100 yds and see if there is any indication of key holing.
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  • jonk
    I thought about stabilization myself. No keyholing, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be part of the problem. I have used mostly 200gr projectiles; I'll have to try some 170gr. jacketed as the cast ones that do so well are 175gr. I'll have to check twist rate unless someone knows it offhand. Perhaps they simply stabilize better at a lower velocity? I'm wondering if the barrel has a high rate of twist that is optimized at the lower velocity.

    "...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 Conf
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  • Sunray
    Geez, Jonk, you sound like you're complaining. Most of those Portugese Mausers were made by the gnomes in the Black Forest, same as the Wehermacht issue K98's. Ball ammo tends to be somewhat hot. Much hotter than any cast load. Your rifle just likes them. You could likely fine tune the load and get under an inch.
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  • jonk
    I guess I am complaining a bit. I'd rather use surplus as it is so cheap right now. I hate reloading if I don't have to. Not that I don't enjoy the process, I just don't have time to load for every caliber.

    "...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 Conf
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  • Wheelgun
    jonk,

    You don't mention the diameter of either your cast bullets, or the jacketed slugs you're shooting..... I'm definitely not an authority on 8mm's, but does the surplus ammo use .318" or .323" bullets? If they're .318", that would "splain" why you're getting shotgun-like patterns as opposed to "groups"... [;)]

    Mark

    Wheelguns is REALGUNS!
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  • jonk
    Well since I slugged the bore you can assume I know about the .318" vs. .323" deal. Virtually ALL surplus encountered uses .323" bullets sot that isn't the problem. The cast bullets are sized a little large, .324".

    "...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 Conf
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  • Wheelgun
    quote:Originally posted by jonk
    Well since I slugged the bore you can assume I know about the .318" vs. .323" deal. Virtually ALL surplus encountered uses .323" bullets so that isn't the problem. The cast bullets are sized a little large, .324".

    Yup, I figgered you sized your cast bullets to match your bore, but I just wasn't sure about the .318" vs. .323" question with regard to what's found in currently available surplus ammo. I knew both bore sizes existed, hence the comment on the possiblity of .318" pills in the surplus rounds.

    Assuming you're using the original battle sights, 3" groups @ 100 yards ain't none too shabby.... But, if you're like me, you'll keep splitting hairs tryin' to get groups down into the 1 MOA range... [:D]

    Mark
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  • TRAP55
    HAD THE SAME PROBLEM, CHECK YOUR HEADSPACE.
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  • Sunray
    It's highly unlikely any current surplus 8mm would be .318". .318" 8mm ammo is very, very old. Especially, as Jonk slugged the bore. Jonk, I reload everything. Up here(Canada) even surplus is too expensive for my tastes and you don't get the quality. It's kind of like commercial beer compared to brew your own. It just ain't the same. Load up some ammo with good commercial jacketed bullets and try that. I'd use whatever the accuracy load is in your manual for testing purposes. I'm thinking that surplus is military and it's just not good ammo in the first place. Reloading is good therapy after a long day.
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