Lyman 8mm mold

[Ray1946]

I was sitting here looking at my 2nd addition Lyman cast bullet book and noticed an 8mm boolit that I had never heard anything about. The projectile in question is the Lyman 323481. This sweetheart looks like a 311413 on steroids. I have never seen a mold for this slug or even any written info about it. Has anyone here ever made or loaded these boolits? Its kind of a cool looking(I like spitzers) slug,................Ray

[Larry Gibson]

Many years ago I had the 323481 and the 323366 (still have it) and, not knowing what I know now, thought I could shoot those 2 cast bullets out of my 8x57 at 2400 - 2500+ fps with great accuracy at long range.........and , after trying everything short of PCing them, (it was used back then) I discovered that neither of those bullets gave good accuracy above 1700 fps. I didn't fully understand why back then but just found out the hard way they just wouldn't.

The 323481 was traded or sold off a long time ago. Once I understood why that bullet wouldn't do all that well at higher velocities I often thought if it didn't have that scraper groove, if it had a longer bearing surface, if there were 3 shallower lube grooves and if there was a bit shorter nose w/o so much bore rider...........but then that's the XCB design features........

Then I picked up a Lyman 323471 and found it could be driven to 2200+ fps with excellent accuracy out of many milsurp 8x57s with excellent bores.........haven't found another 8x57 bullet that comes close to it's performance, especially at longer ranges past 300 yards. The 323481 may be a "cool looking sweetheart" but its ugly sister, the 323471, has a perfect body for a long throated milsurp 8x57 chamber and can certainly "dance" a heck of a lot better........

Larry Gibson

[Ray1946]

I agree with your brutal honesty completely because I used its little brother(311413) for several hundred rnds. trying to get some kind of accuracy at something more than 1650 fps. This was in a 96/11 Schmidt- Rubin. I finally gave up on the 413 and went on to fool with the NEI version of the 311365. This bullet seemed to shoot very well at just over 1900 fps. using a rather stiff charge of RL7. In one practice session(rapid prone), I fired a 10-shot knot that measured 1. 1/8". That was a long time ago and I hope to do better this time around....................Ray

[Donor8x56r]

I'm looking on every gun show for that mold.No luck so far.

[Ray1946]

The mold I have is the NEI 195308. It is an exact replica of the 311365. As far as I know, NEI is still in business, just in a different location. I have been watching Ebay and Gunbroker for a few years now and have never seen a 311365. Good luck with your searches.................

[CHeatermk3]

Here ya go-
NOE:

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=30_359&osCsid=j1nf17gte3bqlnged4du nnf4i3

[Calamity Jake]

I have NOE's version of 323471 and no 8MM to shoot it in.
It is cleaned and heat cycled per instructions and unused
If anyone is interested it's for sale.

[LAGS]

I have both the NOE 323365 GC and the .311365 with one plain base and the other cavity GC.
Both boolits shoot very well.
But some LE and MN rifles do prefer the 316299 sized to fit the bore or should i say + .001 or better

[Ray1946]

I just bought a "471" about 3 weeks ago at a gunshow. There is a little rust on the outside, but the cavity is really great, still has bluing on it. As near as I can tell from my calipers, the grooves look like the are running about .326. After I get some necessary things done around the house, I'm going to crank some out and load them in my Persian 98/29...............