8x57 groove dia

[giz189]

I just recently started gearing up for casting in K98. Slugged the barrel twice with a soft slug and came up with a .3164 bore and .3271 groove. Just wondered if anyone else has found this large of a groove diameter in their rifles. Bore is shiny and rifling in excellent condition. Hope it is going to be a shooter. My mould drops at approx. .328 . Will just have to try it and see.

[Ben]

K-98 rifles as the war progressed and slave labor began taking its toll on quality control caused bore diameters to vary quite a bit.

Try it and report back to us.

Ben

[giz189]

I will. This one is stamped 1937.

[SciFiJim]

Seems a bit large, but it can vary quite a bit from rifle to rifle. At least you already have a mold that casts that large. If you don't have a .328 sizer, then pan lube and shoot as cast. I would not size them down at all if your groove diameter is that large. You might also try beagling the mold to get another couple of thousandths.

[adrians]

mine is .327 (dou 44) k98 ,
i have the 323471 from noe ( THANKS SCIFI ) and got it to drop at 328.5 with ww and a tad of tin . (beagled a tad.)
i haven't had a chance to shoot any yet' i did a chamber cast to get the dia but will have to slug the muzzle end to see if there is any variation down the barrel.
by the way that mold jim honchoed is great in all my "smaller" 8 x 57's drops at ..326 perfect. have a great day . :twisted::bigsmyl2::evil:

[leadhead]

The Germans would not have put that big of a bore on any of
there K98's There quality control was top notch especially in
1937. Are you sure you measured it right?
Denny

[Char-Gar]

I have a 98/29 Brno made Persian Mauser (1930 vintage) and it has a .323 X .319 barrel and I shoot .325 bullet in it with good results.

[giz189]

mine is .327 (dou 44) k98 ,
i have the 323471 from noe ( THANKS SCIFI ) and got it to drop at 328.5 with ww and a tad of tin . (beagled a tad.)
i haven't had a chance to shoot any yet' i did a chamber cast to get the dia but will have to slug the muzzle end to see if there is any variation down the barrel.
by the way that mold jim honchoed is great in all my "smaller" 8 x 57's drops at ..326 perfect. have a great day . :twisted::bigsmyl2::evil: Adrians, I have that same mould and it drops right at 328. Just gonna lube and shoot first.

[303Guy]

The Germans would not have put that big of a bore on any of
there K98's They might not have. Bores can enlarge from wear perhaps even coupled with light corrosion in between firing over time. I have such a bore but not on a mauser.

[skeet1]

Could this be a Russian capture rifle? I believe they reworked a lot of them.

Ken

[adrians]

Could this be a Russian capture rifle? I believe they reworked a lot of them.

Ken

ken, mine is an r/c :twisted::coffee::evil:

[adrians]

giz, let us know how it does with the noe 323471,,,,, it'll be a while afor i get a chance to shoot mine ( tornado hit the range ,,,bummer.) :evil::D:twisted:

[7s&8s]

The Germans would not have put that big of a bore on any of there K98's There quality control was top notch especially in
1937. Are you sure you measured it right?
Denny

I agree with Leadhead and SciFiJim that it seem on the large side, unless rifle was rebarrelled after war. IMO I would expect a bore in good shape to be .323"-.325".


I chased my tail for quite some time with a pair of vernier calipers in one hand and a micrometer in the other. Had 0.002" difference between the two at .285" - .287" range (7mm).

I used the caliper to measure the bore slug at .285" and then loaded .286" sized bullets (measured with micrometer).

Accuracy was dissapointing, to say the least. Imagine my suprise, when I re-checked the same slug with the micrometer and it now read .287". I then re-checked some of the same sized bullets which read .286", same as before.

I was a bit embarassed when I came to the realization that I was putting .286" bullets down a .287" bore and acting suprised/disappointed with the results...

Moral of the story is .285" does not necessarily equal .285"...

I no longer mix and match measuring tools...

Good luck; it sounds like you are on the right track!

Best Regards,
Tom

[Buckshot]

................I have a VZ24/47:

http://www.fototime.com/79DAE87BBF8BE29/standard.jpg

I know it isn't a K98, nor was it made in Germany. It's bore/groove is: .316" x .327". It's throat is .329" and I size the boolit to .328". The barrel is in very good condition and shiney it's entire length. I use the Lee C329-205-R slug intended for the 1895 Steyr straight pulls. The only problem using that design is that the lube groove OD is .316". Also true to Lee designs, the 2 grooves don't carry much lube. It will shoot pretty well up to about 1800 fps and then accuracy drops off. Since viewing the muzzle shows a dry grayish wash I believe the boolit is running dry. I really have no need for a higher velocity so this isn't much of a handicap.

I have the RCBS 338 mould but haven't had any slugs cast from it in quite some time, so I've not tried them. They drop at .340", but the lube groove OD is .300". While I'd have to size it down to .328", I made a push through die that size for the VZ24/47 and pre-lube sizing it to .338" then running it up through the .328" push through would still provide a slug capable of some fine shooting. It should carry sufficient lube to possibly better the Lee design's performance.

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

[giz189]

................I have a VZ24/47:

http://www.fototime.com/79DAE87BBF8BE29/standard.jpg

I know it isn't a K98, nor was it made in Germany. It's bore/groove is: .316" x .327". It's throat is .329" and I size the boolit to .328". The barrel is in very good condition and shiney it's entire length. I use the Lee C329-205-R slug intended for the 1895 Steyr straight pulls. The only problem using that design is that the lube groove OD is .316". Also true to Lee designs, the 2 grooves don't carry much lube. It will shoot pretty well up to about 1800 fps and then accuracy drops off. Since viewing the muzzle shows a dry grayish wash I believe the boolit is running dry. I really have no need for a higher velocity so this isn't much of a handicap.

I have the RCBS 338 mould but haven't had any slugs cast from it in quite some time, so I've not tried them. They drop at .340", but the lube groove OD is .300". While I'd have to size it down to .328", I made a push through die that size for the VZ24/47 and pre-lube sizing it to .338" then running it up through the .328" push through would still provide a slug capable of some fine shooting. It should carry sufficient lube to possibly better the Lee design's performance.

..................Buckshot Hey Buckshot! I measured mine again and it is still at 316 x 327. Mine is stamped S/237 over the chamber and 1937 on the receiver. It also has the stern star marking which I believe means some of the parts were farmed out to some smaller manufacturers to build. By the way Buckshot the sizer you made me is perfect. Thanks a bunch. The code on mine means it was made in Berlin-Lubecker Maschinefabrik, Lubeck...or part of it was anyway. Doesn't appear to be a r/c as I can't find crossed rifles anywhere. Doesn't matter, as all I want it for is to just shoot. Got my first loads loaded with NOE FAT 323471. Hope to shoot tomorrow. Will post.

[giz189]

Hey Adrians, I don't have pics, but results with the 323471 from NOE were good. I sighted it in at 50 yds. It shot about 3/4" group there and I was satisfied with that. So I set some reactive targets up at 75 yds, ie bottles of water, coke cans with water, rocks... the wife and I had no trouble busting these. I loaded them with 16grs 2400 and Fed LR Primers. COAL was 3.002. The last two grease grooves were showing when seated this length. Hope you will be as happy with your mould as I am with this one. If it had a scope, it would be better, as I have a hard time seeing those iron sights.

[nanuk]

I have a bubba'd 8x57. shortened barrel, aftermarket sights (i'm gonna try to install some receiver sights on it

no idea as to manufacture, and most marks were ground off

but the bore shows crisp deep rifling

haven't slugged it yet.

but I'm not concerned as there are a few options to moulds.

I just need to find my Round Tuit

[303Guy]

... at 50 yds. It shot about 3/4" group ... If it had a scope, it would be better, ...Hold on! That's flippin' good shooting with iron sights! Wow!http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/webowdown2u.gif giz189

[adrians]

morning,
giz your seating depth is almost a match to mine (i crimped mine ,maybe to much .?)
they are tumbled in LLA but i'll do a light nose dip before going to the range ,,,,when it opens up !!!!!.
as 303 said 3/4 at 50yds is awesome with those mauser issue sights, i have a williams peep on my 98 so i'm exited to see what it will do with these loads (17g ---2400).
here's a pic ,,,hope it works!
and i see your in magnolia, i'm in littlerock,,, small world aint it?:evil::coffee::evil:

[giz189]

Hold on! That's flippin' good shooting with iron sights! Wow!http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/webowdown2u.gif giz189 Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Going to try it out at 100 to 150 next time out.

[giz189]

morning,
giz your seating depth is almost a match to mine (i crimped mine ,maybe to much .?)
they are tumbled in LLA but i'll do a light nose dip before going to the range ,,,,when it opens up !!!!!.
as 303 said 3/4 at 50yds is awesome with those mauser issue sights, i have a williams peep on my 98 so i'm exited to see what it will do with these loads (17g ---2400).
here's a pic ,,,hope it works!
and i see your in magnolia, i'm in littlerock,,, small world aint it?:evil::coffee::evil: Yes, small world indeed. I was kind of worried about how these would shoot after checking groove and bore diameter. I was really surprised at the groove diameter. I had Buckshot make me a die for my lubrisizer at .028 to mostly lube with and it works fine. I am probably going to get an expander button to open my brass up a little more. The sizing die closes neck dia. to .318 and expander opens it to .320. I wish it was a bit more than .320. Oh yeah, I crimped mine a little also.

[9.3X62AL]

That is some REAL FINE shooting, sir!

My current 8 x 57 is an utter delight dimensionally, throat is a fat .324" and grooves are a skinny .324" or fat .323". (Like that ultra-high-tech rendering? :) ). I size the Lee 175 grain bore-rider GC @ .325", and if Buckshot has a bad day offhand I can almost keep up with his scoring. Now, on a good Buckshot day--I'm in the weeds. But that's not the rifle's fault. I haven't pin-gauged the lands, but the boolit is a slightly draggy slip-fit at both ends of the barrel. This G98/40 seemed to avoid the trumpet-form rifling created by slob cleaning through the muzzle.

[giz189]

Thanks AL. I hope to be able to post some pics later after I get my shooting bench set up in the back yard. However, posting pics is a controversial deal for me. You know, if you don't post pics, somes says, "Idoubt you did it". If you do post pics, someone says "You didn't do it at that distance." So, as I am not shooting to satisfy anyone but myself, I may not post pics. Anyway, that is a minor "worry" these days. Ya'll have a good one.

[303Guy]

Posting pics is interesting for us. Nice shooting makes me feel good and motivates me to do better myself!:drinks:
(Makes me realize I'm getting out of practice!):wink:

Thanks for sharing.:lovebooli