CB loads in the gew98

[gew98]

Has anyone played with Cast loads with a gew98 in military trim. I've never played with one excepting jacketed bullets and with the 32 ACP marbles sub cal adaptor. If you have please share your experiances to help induce me to go that route.

[offshore44]

I shoot a cousin of the Gew98, the M24-47, and all I have ever fed it is cast. Shoots better than I do. The 7.92x57mm round appears to be a good cast boolit shooter, and my experience seems to bear that out. Do yours have the 0.318" bores or the 0.323" bores?

The M24-47 and the M48 are both in military trim. I slugged the bore on my M24-47 and it came out to be right on spec for bore and groove diameter. I have a Saeco mold that drops a 190 grn boolit in the right size. I gas check them and lube them...load them up and shoot them. They run right at about 1,900 to 2,000 fps depending on the powder that I have on hand... I use H4895 or AA5744. The rifle doesn't seem to care very much about powder, or about charge weight. I use Lyman #2 alloy or water dropped wheel weights. Again, the rifle doesn't seem to care much. It is boringly easy to shoot the center out of a clay at 100 yards with about any load I've worked up so far.

Cleaning is really easy as well. Two passes with a dry brush, two passes with solvent wetted patches and a pass with a dry patch.

This rifle has actually turned out to be one of my two favorite long guns to shoot, and gets the most time out of the safe, besides my big bore.

[Dutchman]

How about some bigger photos of your very nice rifles? Despite my rather beater Gew98 it shoots rather well. It came out of Turkey. Mauser Oberndorf 1917.

My Persian 98/29 is quite partial to Lyman 323471 .324" with 15.5 grs Unique. The Gewehr 98 likes RCBS 170 gr Flat Nose .323" with 12 grs 700X. The same RCBS boolit in the Gewehr 98 like 20.5 grs 2400 just a little better than 700X. It also has more horsepower than the 700X load.

Gewehr 98: 14 grs Unique with Lyman 323470 .324"

Neither the Gewehr or Persian 98/29 like .325" boolits. They both prefer .324" or .323".

http://images56.fotki.com/v1601/photos/2/28344/6806565/DSCF1749k-vi.jpg

http://images51.fotki.com/v174/photos/2/28344/1676633/DSCF1428yy-vi.jpg

[gew98]

After decades of loading cast boolitz in most pistol calibers and some rifle calibers and having several dozen gew98's and a handfull of gew88's it gets expensive to feed them jacketed bullets. Hence my desire to look into casting and shooting the right 8mm bullets for these oldworld long barreled lovelies. I've got several gew98's that with the Marbles converter to 32ACP are awesome shooters with various FMJ 32 ammo. I have even loaded some with cast 32 S&W bullets with great results.
I used to cast for 7,65 arg , 303 brit and 7,7 jap as well as 30/40 krag , 30/30. Anymore I basically just do the 50 cal minie and 405 & 500 grain 45/70 pills , and some 44 mag.
Being I like to shoot these old real and safe mausers alot...cast just seems a good way to go unless I get into custom swaging..that's another thought altogether.

[gew98]

Oh , yes and some eye candy..let's see....

[3006guns]

I haven't played with cast in my Gew98 98 yet, but I have in a Yugo 8mm. Plain base 214gr. boolit (I modified a Lyman mold) over 10.7gr. of Trail Boss. The accuracy is scary at 50yds...5 shots produces a nice cloverleaf hole. Haven't tried it at 100 yet but I expect good results. The 8x57 seems to be a natural cast shooter.

P.S. I'm jealous....my Spandau is nowhere NEAR that nice. Of course, it only cost me twenty five bucks too........

[frnkeore]

Hey Dutchman,
I'm not to far from you and I lived in and had a machine shop in Yreka for 10 years.

You should bring those 98's up and we can see how 88's compair to them with cast bullets.

Frank

[Dutchman]

Hey Dutchman,
I'm not to far from you and I lived in and had a machine shop in Yreka for 10 years.

You should bring those 98's up and we can see how 88's compair to them with cast bullets.

Frank

hi Frank

I'm in White City every couple weeks as my 85 yr old mother lives in a group home for people with Alzheimer's. It's right across the road from the Jackson Co. rifle range. I don't pay attention much to the street name but I be you know where I mean. I've been in Yreka since Oct 06 at the mouth of Humbug gulch. The only machine shop I'm aware of in town is that one on Oberlin, Yreka Machine Works or something. I've been in there once a couple months ago. Had to have them do a brazing job on a piece of cast iron.

Now that summer is here I go shooting fairly regular at the Dodge rifle range north of town. Usually nobody there but me. I take an ice chest and a sub sammich and make a long day of it.

I have a Gewehr 1888 but I've not worked with it yet. It's one of the Ecuador rifles with a new Czech barrel. The Persian 98/29 shoots real good.

Dutch

[Dutchman]

Oh , yes and some eye candy..let's see....

I like your taste in rifles very much.

If you can manage to get an order in with Gardner's Cache you can buy some of the RCBS 170 gr flat nose .323":
http://gardnerscache.com/8mm_170_lfp_g_c.html

They shoot real good in 8x57 .323" rifles. Seat them to touch the rifling.

Dutch

[gew98]

I see what you mean on "If you can manage an order with them" as they state on their website - quota filled presently.
Some of the gew98's I have a great shooters , some well better off with a shotgun. I used to have a couple with shrapnel & or bullet strikes but traded them off as they eventually lost my interest. I almost bought one of those persian mausers 20 years ago - with matched bayonet and factory target. Man they were all at the time flat new rifles right out of the crate. I just could'nt get passed the "not been there ,not done that look".
On spandaus I have a wad of them as they were a prolific gov't arsenal like Danzig .

[frnkeore]

I can't give you a load for the long barrel but, in my 98K length barrel, I got 2" groups at 100 with,

46 gr WC 852 (slow, simualar to 4831)
F210 primer
WW/ lino 1-2
Snug fit in the neck but, push able with 323471 bullet
Pushed into the lead with the case (not mag feed)

average velocity 2114 fps
Ex. spread 40
std deviation 14.5

You would probably pick up 100 fps with your 5" longer barrel so, start 2 gr down and work up.

Frank

[gidgaf]

I like the whole *idea* of using cast boolits.
Yes these things shot them jwords when they were issued.
But they were considered expendable tools at the time, also.
I figure every time I shoot mine, it's one less shot left.
Cast lead wears less and cleans way easier than copper. Or steel.
I still have some W748 left- I'm trying to keep from burning anything up.
I don't go for max velocity, but for max accuracy.
The target don't care how fast you missed it!
And I'm cheap- a bucket of yard sale fishing weights and my Lee mold and I'm off to the range!

[BoolitBill]

I got a Nazi marked one at a gun show years ago because the price was right. It didn't shoot worth a darn. I tried several jacketed loads but it would not shoot straight. Bore looked good but no accuracy, could hardly keep it on the 3x2ft backing much less the paper target. Then I discoverd this site. I learned to slug the bore!!! .325 Now I load Lee's 175gr sized to .326 (had Lee make that custom sizer) and the gun shoots 2 inches at 100yds. I would bet someone with better eyes than mine could get better groups but I am happy with this gun and grateful to all on this site. Sometimes lead is the only way to get accuracy.