Cast Boolit suggestion for Yugo M48

[jchag1718]

Hello. New member here with a few questions. Let me first state that I have been handloading for about 1 1/2 yrs. I load for my M1 Garand and my deer rifle in 30-06. I have a Yugo M48 in 8mm. I have slugged the barrel (twice to be sure) and it measures; .327 groove / .314 lands. Now my research suggests that those measurments should be; .323 / .311. This bears out in that it shoots surplus ammo 6-8" groups at 50 yds. So my conclusion is the barrel is shot out. However, when cleaned and viewed the lands look strong. I would like to be able to target shoot with this gun.

1 - Would it be worth my while to handload cast boolits?

2 - If so, what size bullet would I need to purchase?

3 - Or would I have to cast my own?

4 - Do I need a special set of dies to load cast boolits?

5 - Or is there any other special equip. that I might need?

I have ruled out changing the barrel because of the expense. It was my first milsurp with all matching #'s. I would like to keep it and be able to shoot it as is. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Jeff

[Echo]

My best recommendation is to order a custom mold from one of the several makers noted and supporting this forum. Of course, that could be $100 plus/minus, depending.

Another possibility - to keep the matching numbers, you could have the barrel relined. Spendy, but...

[mpmarty]

Cast your own and if necessary beagle (look it up here in this forum) the mold to drop boolits large enough for your rifle. .328/.329 would probably work out for you. 8mm is a cast friendly round and if you wanted a bit more you could have the chamber re-cut to take a 30:06 case necked up to 8mm.

Welcome to the insanity.

[runfiverun]

lee makes a 2 cavity mold that pours in the 329-330 range it's for the manlichter schoenauer if i am remembering correctly. it's called an 8mm something [i know no help]
but a mold does exist.
i had one pass through here a while back and sent it on.

[jchag1718]

lee makes a 2 cavity mold that pours in the 329-330 range it's for the manlichter schoenauer if i am remembering correctly. it's called an 8mm something [i know no help]
but a mold does exist.
i had one pass through here a while back and sent it on.

Thanks for all the responses. Would this boolit be appropriate for my application:

Lee #90775, .329" diameter, 205 gr. RN GC

This is for the 8x56R Mannlicher. If I were to load this, how would I expand the neck of the case? Would I have to get a neck sizing die with a larger sized mandrel? (.329 as opposed to .323) Thanks.

Jeff

[462]

That Lee mould should work.

Get a Lyman 8 mm expander (M-die) and have member Buckshot custom make an expander plug to your specifications. His price is more than reasonable and his workmanship is supurb.

[jchag1718]

That Lee mould should work.

Get a Lyman 8 mm expander (M-die) and have member Buckshot custom make an expander plug to your specifications. His price is more than reasonable and his workmanship is supurb.

Thanks 462.

[curator]

Most Yugo Mausers were never issued and so saw little if any use. If you slugged your bore with wheel weight alloy, you may have had some "spring-back" on the lead slug. I have slugged a couple of dozen M48 Yugos and found them to be very consistently .323-.324 in the grooves and .312-.314 on the lands. Throats slugged to .325 on almost every one. Of course, you could have gotten a lemon, so if you did not use dead-soft pure lead, your measurements may be off a little.

As far as a good boolit mould, look around for the Lee 8mm "Karabiner" mould that was being sold by Mid-South in their special order section. It will cost around $20 and work very well for every Yugo I have seen. Here's a link to the site:
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000068MMKAR
Casting with wheel weight alloy +2% tin, these drop out at .3155 and 218-220 grains. I size mine to .325 and seat them to just touch the lands when the bolt closes.

[HangFireW8]

+1 on the use pure soft lead.

I have 3 8mm Karabiners (one single cav and two double), one 8mm Maximum and previously had another 8mm Maximum. None of them cast much over .325" unless beagled. All are recent production (last 3 years). NONE of them match the drawings from this site that they are supposed to be based on. None of them match each other, either.

I would dearly love to have a correct Karabiner or Maximum.

[jchag1718]

Most Yugo Mausers were never issued and so saw little if any use. If you slugged your bore with wheel weight alloy, you may have had some "spring-back" on the lead slug. I have slugged a couple of dozen M48 Yugos and found them to be very consistently .323-.324 in the grooves and .312-.314 on the lands. Throats slugged to .325 on almost every one. Of course, you could have gotten a lemon, so if you did not use dead-soft pure lead, your measurements may be off a little.

I originally used a fishing egg sinker to slug the barrel. So, to be sure, I slugged the barrel again today with a '00' buckshot (.330). Just in case the egg sinkers were giving me some spring back. The results were the same (.327 groove / .314 land). I'm guessing its corrosion somewhere in the mid section of the barrel. When tapping the slug in from the muzzle, its seems pretty tight for the first 5-6". Then it gets real loose almost to the point where it moves a couple inches with each tap. Then it tightens up again the closer it gets to the chamber.

[runfiverun]

the lead will only measure the smallest point.
airc i'd look at the nose diameter on that 8mm manlichter boolit, i think it was 318 or something like that.
you have to think of the major and minor sizes in the bbl, as well as the throat shape.

[45 2.1]

I would dearly love to have a correct Karabiner or Maximum.

There will be upcoming MiHec GBs for both boolits to the correct dimensions.... just wait a little while.

Meanwhile this GB for the 8x57mm Mauser is one you should want. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=157729