converting LEE Karabiner to round nose?

[JKH]

Hey Guys,

Last year I purchased a Karabiner mold from Midsouth, it casts some of the most beautiful boolits I have ever seen! Actually the fit and finish is as good or better than their 6 gang molds which is impressive.

Anyway, the main reason I have this mold is for my 1888 Commission type sporter with .318" bore (takes some creative sizing but the results are well worth it:bigsmyl2:), my problem is feeding that big flat meplat in the 88 as well as 98 Mausers, some will work but most wont and I do not want to dremel my rifles, particularly the vintage sporter with octagon barrel, etc. just to make a lead boolit feed.

Having said that, the Karabiner is perfect for duplicating original loads for the 88 so that the factory sights will be properly regulated, as using any lighter bullet/boolit makes it shoot several feet high depending on load!

Is it possible to make one cavity into a round nose configuration? And if so what is the best way for a non machinest, non lathe owning person to do this? Actully I would be very happy to pay one of the very talented machinists (professional or hobbyist) to do the job for me (if I can afford the price;)).

So, what do you all think? This would leave me with one original cavity if I should wish to use this boolit for hunting, and one for good feeding and make my old 88 feel useful again.

Thanks

Jeff

[turbo1889]

I have a similar problem with a custom mold I use for "fat" 30-cal rifles (7.62x54R, 303-Brit, 7.7-Jap, etc. . . .)

Here is my thread about how I'm planning to alter it:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=100420

I have purchased all the tools I need to attempt the modification but I just haven’t got around to doing it yet. I'll try to get my butt in gear and get around to it this weekend and then I can report on how it went and you might be able to do something similar to your mold.

[Nrut]

I have the same problem with my Brno 8X57..
For now you can use a NOE Bullet Base Chamfer Tool or a LEE case mouth chamfering tool to round "nose of your boolit" (not mold) ..
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=110345
In a portable drill I chuck the loaded round in a LEE case holder and use their case mouth chamfering tool..
With the NOE tool you could do just the opposite and since these boolits are so long you could round the noses before you load them..

Your extractor may need tuning..
The second thing that you can do is check to make sure that your extractor is holding the case base tightly against the bolt face..
Using the bolt off my Brno 7X57 in my 8X57 both the Karabiner and the Max boolits feed fine because the 7X57 bolts extractor holds the case firmly against the bolt face..
A gunsmith should be able to adjust the extractor..
If I can ever find my Mauser book I'll do the same with my extractor..:groner:

[JKH]

Nrut,

I like your idea of rounding the nose of the boolit, I loaded some Karabiners that are sized (nose and body seperately) specifically for my 88 commission sporter, while loading them I was thinking about your post and spied my RCBS case mouth chamfering tool and decided to give it a try.

Uniformity will be the trick but I think if I chuck unsized Karabiner's in my drill press, and clamp the chamfering tool in the verticle grooves of my machinist vice, I should be able to get a uniform cut around the circumference of the boolit nose, I will just have to come up with and easy way to measure the remaining meplat to keep them all uniform. I had considered weighing each boolit before cutting and stop when X grains of weight had been removed, however, each boolit weighs slightly different from the others so I decided nose shape and uniformity were more important to maintaining accuracy than a few tenths of a grain weight.

I hope in the days to come to test the rounds I already chamfered, if this works well they should feed much better in my 88 and all my 98's as well. My main goal with the Karabiner though is to duplicate the balistics of original 88 - 8x57 loads so that my cast boolit loads will shot to point of aim for the fixed sites on the sporter (one fixed blade for 100, flip up blade regulated for 200), as it is right now all my loads with jacketed bullets or lead boolits are shooting way high and I do not want to alter the vintage sights in any way.

Thanks for the great ideas guys!

Jeff