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View Full Version : 8x50R Lebel load data using WC860?



MarkK
11-16-2006, 05:30 PM
Has anyone tried this? CBs or j-bullets? Thanks in advance, Mark

Buckshot
11-17-2006, 02:19 AM
................Nope, don't have a Lebel. Load data should be VERY simple. Step one: fill case, step 2 mash in the boolit :-). A full caseload will present no pressure problems. I'm not aware of the Lebel's case capacity so it may shoot clean or it may leave some unburned powder in the case or bore (or both). If it doesn't burn as clean as you'd like, dump in 3.0grs of 4198 first and then fill the case with WC860.

..............Buckshot

Four Fingers of Death
11-17-2006, 06:09 AM
Buckshot, we don't get WC860 or any other surplus powders, our military explode them when they hit their use by date. I used to work at a prison that was about 2miles as the crow flies from where they used to dispose of old stuff. The explosions were so great the ground used to move under your feet, you could feel the shock wave and you saw dust flying off the bricks of the cell blocks, what a waste!

What powder would be an equivalent of it?
Mick.

MarkK
11-17-2006, 10:46 AM
The powder is reportedly equiv to AA8700 and H870. Will measure case capacity today. What about IMR4895 as a kicker? BTW, this is a great board!

Four Fingers of Death
11-17-2006, 05:30 PM
We get the local ADI powders (which are sold as Hodgsons in the states), Winchester (the only foriegn powder that has always been available here) and recently, Alliant powders are being imported. :-( I miss the IMR stuff, but ADI replaces it pretty well and the quality is as good or better, long shelf life and not subject to ambient temp. That's why I never look at the surplus powder page, it would be like self flaggelation :-)

Buckshot
11-18-2006, 04:34 AM
The powder is reportedly equiv to AA8700 and H870. Will measure case capacity today. What about IMR4895 as a kicker? BTW, this is a great board!

...........I think it's a great board also, and welcome by the way! You could try 4895 as a kicker. Basicly you don't want anything real energetic. Just something that's easy to light and will build pressure the slow surplus can build on. Going slower then 4198 would present no problems other then you 'Might' need a bit more of it. However start with 3.0grs anyway and go up a grain at a time, being ever mindfull of pressure indications.

Hopefully you're real familiar with the primer you're using, and have a chronograph? For your first range outing I'd load from 3 to 5 grains of 4895 in five round batches and see if the loads begin cleaning up.

..............Buckshot

Cbenc1
11-26-2006, 08:01 PM
I have had good results in my 1915 Berthier looong rifle using 50.0 grains of IMR 5010 and the 250 grain (or so) 8mm maximum boolit from Midsouth, sized to .329"
I got a 2.5" group at 100 yds. It only left 3 to 4 unburned grains of powder in the barrel after each round. I am going to try try WC872 and WC860 in the future.

CB

MarkK
11-29-2006, 11:35 AM
Yeah, I should have pointed out that I'd be using my looong Remington 1907/15 for shooting. From what I read on this site the longer the barrel the more powder is burned. So I guess I can expect similar results with WC860. A case full of WC860 in 8mm Lebel is about 50gr which should be ok for jboolit but will back off for CBs. I've read (Chuck Hawks?) that 8mm lebel used 323 bullets but have read elsewhere that the bores can vary 327. I wonder if this true with all Lebels and Berthiers?

Buckshot
11-30-2006, 03:21 AM
.............Mark, you're just using the WC820 to measure the case volumn right? I just had to ask, to make sure.

...............Buckshot

MarkK
11-30-2006, 01:55 PM
Yes. I pour the WC860 up to the neck then weigh that charge (not WC820 which I had mistakenly typed in my previous post now corrected) . I do this in triplicate and take an average. This average I call a case full.

KCSO
11-30-2006, 02:45 PM
My 86/93 runs right at 323. I haven't used an of the surplus in it yet, but I was amazed at how accurate the Lebel's are. The Lebel outshoots the Berthier by a good 2" at 100 yards.