8mms are great fun

[Nobade]

Got to shoot my Yugo 24/47 some today with very good results. I tried a couple new things this time - Ranch Dog 165gr. 30 cal. boolits straight from the mold patched with my new 15# green bar paper (thanks for all the suggestions on this stuff!) come out right at .323". Load was .3cc IMR4227 + 3.2cc WC860 + .5cc BPI shot buffer. Boolits hand seated and just barely run into the full length size die to put enough of a crimp to keep the boolit from falling out. I could wobble it around easily by hand, and the theory was the fireformed case would center in the chamber and the boolit would center itself in the throat. Well, it works! I was shooting near MOA groups at 50 and 100 yards. The kicker charge probably could be increased if you wanted more power but it was enough to make that slow gunpowder burn clean with no residue in the bore.

I am really liking the 8mm for paper patched shooting, mainly because there are lots of fat 30 caliber moulds out there to make boolits with and I don't have to size them way down first like I do with 30 cals. Plus the gently tapered throat makes fitting boolits to them very easy. Mighty useful rifles.

-Nobade

[goofyoldfart]

Nobade: is it 15# paper or is it 16#????? I have found 15# around here but finding 16# is hard. really would like to know. God Bless to all.

















michelle12170

[Nobade]

15#. I bought it from an outfit in Colorado on Ebay, it really works well. The recommendations of others here on the forum, especially pdog shooter, are very useful!

[303Guy]

Plus the gently tapered throat makes fitting boolits to them very easy. Mighty useful rifles. Worn throats are perfect for PP. I'm battling with no less than four rifles with 'good' throats. :-?

You might be starting a price rise on milsurp 8mm's! I wonder what's happened to all those old 8mm barrels that have been taken off for building sporters on the actions?

[blixen]

This thread puts in the mood to paper patch for my Yugo M48. The bore slugs at .328.
I'm casting .313ish Lee 180gr. bullets for my 30-30s, Argies and SMLE. Could that be patched up to .328/.329 for my 8mm? Or is that too much paper?

I tried patching with note book paper --two wraps brings the .311 to .324--, but the accuracy was horrible.

BTW, with .324 Jacketed slugs the accuracy is great. Go figure.

[Nobade]

If the as-cast boolit is a firm fit in the bore - not falling through, it should work with some thick 20# paper and the right load development. When I started trying to PP my 8mm, results were awful. But after working with it for a while and most importantly learning to use fillers, it all came together and now it shoots extremely well.

[303Guy]

How much slower is W860 than W780? What happens if you don't use the priming powder?

[Nobade]

It is a lot slower. More like H870, it is nearly the slowest ball powder out there. (WC872 is slower still.) If you don't use the priming powder it is much slower, on the order of 1000 fps, and leaves a lot of unburnt powder in the bore as well as has huge velocity swings.

It's really funny in the 45-70. Without the kicker charge it barely breaks 400 fps, and throws powder all over the ground. With the kicker it duplicates black powder speeds and shoots reasonably clean.

-Nobade