Light loads for fire lapping 8 mm mauser barrel

[JWFilips]

Hi Folks I'm at a loss ...I have been trying to find some light loads I can use to fire lap my 98 mauser barrel However I'm only coming up with flat out loads. I can use slugs from 180 grain to 250 grain And have a good supply of many rifle powders along with Pistol / Rifle powders
I'm looking for a load to just get the deed done. I got a sequence of 20 lapping rounds to fire Anybody have a direction as to powder & charge to accomplish the work? ...Thanks in advance

[TCLouis]

msg deleted by author

[JWFilips]

Just need to get me to 1000 to 1500 fps & I think I will be good (?). Haven't found anything close for 8 mm Mauser except with starting loads are about 2000 Fps

[curator]

How about 9 grains of Unique? This has been my firelap load for several 8mm Mausers with booltis from 170-225 grains. Make sure the slugs are BHN 12-14, no harder or softer for best result.

[462]

Bump the above Unique load to 13 to 13.5 grains and you may just find a very accurate reduced load that you can enjoy shooting all day long.

[Okie73]

How about the "Universal Load" of 16 grains of 2400?

[tomme boy]

Fire-lapping with lead bullets are supposed to slow enough to just make it out the barrel. I would try about 6 gr of bullseye or red dot. Jaceted are supposed to shot at normal speed. Thats why they tell you to use the heaviest bullet you can find. It take place of being fired slow by the extra length of the bullet.

[Maven]

I've done this and found that 4grs. of Bullseye was more than adequate. They will not only exit the bbl., but travel at least 50 yds. and are lethal to boot.

[Calamity Jake]

I firelapped a 91-30 in my garage with cast and 2.0 grains of bullseye fired into a piece of 2.5" thick
tree stump the boolit shot about half way thru the wood.

[jonk]

So, you have 500 some posts here and don't know anything about suitable loads to get you minimal velocity? Where ya been man? :kidding:

When I did this I used 6 grains of red dot. NO BULLET LUBE. Kind of defeats the purpose. You just want enough to reliably push it through the barrel; too much and the nekkid slug will lead things up.

[dragonrider]

3-4 grains of red dot has worked for me.

[JWFilips]

So, you have 500 some posts here and don't know anything about suitable loads to get you minimal velocity? Where ya been man? :kidding:

When I did this I used 6 grains of red dot. NO BULLET LUBE. Kind of defeats the purpose. You just want enough to reliably push it through the barrel; too much and the nekkid slug will lead things up.

Well when I joined this forum it was to learn to shoot & cast Lead boolits from my hand guns. Loading manuals & online data abound with light loads for pistols with cast boolits
However I never loaded for cast boolits for a rifle. Just started down that road and it sure twists and turns differently from loading rifle jacketed bullets. The 8mm Mauser data I found in my loading manuals and online really dosen't show light loads with 160 to 240 grain cast boolits Even Lyman #48 has them moving fast ( with slow powders) So I figured I would ask first.

[Wolfer]

Five or six gr of clays or bullseye will work good I suspect. I've went as low as 2 gr with the lee 175 without sticking a boolit. Quiet enough to hear the firing pin fall.
My hunting load is 17 gr of 2400 and the lee 175 gr lubed with LLA. Gets me 1700+ and very accurate. Also very pleasent to shoot.
While I've never tried the 10 gr of unique load I would be extremely surprised if it wasn't accurate if the gun, boolit is accurate with anything else. Woody

Ps. 20 gr of 2400 is also very accurate with the Sierra 170 gr. I don't know the velocity but it shoots to the same point of impact as my cast loads in my gun.

[tomme boy]

The slugs you have. You never said if they were lead or jacketed. If they are jacketed I would not use some of the light loads you see offered. If they are jacketed, I would use 16gr Bluedot. I have used this one in the 8x57 with 200gr jacketed and it was a nice soft shooting load.

[JWFilips]

The slugs you have. You never said if they were lead or jacketed. If they are jacketed I would not use some of the light loads you see offered. If they are jacketed, I would use 16gr Bluedot. I have used this one in the 8x57 with 200gr jacketed and it was a nice soft shooting load.

Sorry, They are cast boolits.

[white eagle]

post count means very little to nothing
if you are unsure ask away
no such thing as a stupid question

[leadman]

Much easier to ask than to get a boolit out that is stuck in the barrel.

[helice]

With cast I was taught to go with soft, slow, and heavy.
Also Veral preferred no bore-ride boolits.

[JWFilips]

I have Been having much success with the "looog" Lee max 250 gr. Since they are oversize they actually fit my bore.
4.7 gr BE with the firelap rounds......... fun to see where they hit when aiming at the 200 yd range! The fire lapping is progressing well.
On the normal cleaning of that barrel I was ripping patches ...but now they are pretty well in tact & things looking good inside the bore
Many thanks to Larry ..."largom" for all his help He has been walking me thru it.
I'm starting to get excited because I can see a day when I can run cast boolits for target work down this rifle!