Persian 98/29; big groove and TIGHT bore!

[Ray1946]

I have a CZ(Persian) 98/29 that I purchased back in the 90's. This is one sweet-heart of a Mauser; really a beautiful rifle. I have been fascinated by this rifle for some time and decided to go the cast boolit root and develope a light recoiling target load for it. I have a great condition old 320366 Lyman mold for it and was going to try to make something work with this slug.

I decided to make a slug of the bore and groove at the muzzle to see what I needed to do to make it shoot. I have a few hundred hollow-base wad-cutters from when I was shooting bulls-eye pistol. After driving in the slug and pushing it back out I was truly amazed at the dimensions;the Groove was .3262 and the bore .3098! Gee Whizzz! I couldn't believe my eyes; I checked my mikes and drove a second slug into the barrel and it came out the same as the first. I went into my small library and located Olson's Mauser book and found mention of the fat lands and the narrow grooves. I have only seen one other modern rifle with .008 deep rifling.

Has anyone out there worked up cast loads with this rifle? Thanks for you help,..................

[Buckshot]

.................About your only option is to use the Lee mould, or someone else's design intended for the 8x56R Austrian straight pull. Or someone's fat 8mm design, if there is one. These Lee's drop a slug of .329/.330" depending upon the alloy. Best is to lube-size to .329" (will need a custom die), and then run it up through a push through die a thou or two over the groove measurement (a custom Lee type die) for your 8mm. Another rifle with this issue is the above mentioned 8x56R. Factory jacketed bullets for it are .329"/.330", yet grooves run from .330" (I've never heard of one at .329") to .335". With the 8x56R you're forced to use moulds intended for the .338" calibers.

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I have a Turkish M88/35 (Imperial German M88 re-worked in Turkey apparently starting in 1935) as above. It's grooves slug at .326". However it has wide lands about equal to the groove width, and it shoots well with slugs sized to .326" as mentioned above. I believe the lands upset enough lead into the grooves to form a positive seal against gas cutting. Since you do have a very tight bore you might be able to utilize a slug @ .324" also. It's something you'll simply have to try and see if it works for you.

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

[Ray1946]

Thanks so much for your input. I was thinking the same thing about the extremely wide lands causing upset into the narrow grooves, but its great to hear someone else confirm your thoughts. The other thing I was thinking was if the boolit was indeed sized .326, there may be huge "fins" created at the base of the boolit and this may cause problems as the boolit exits the muzzle. I think .324 or .325 may be the way to go.
I had an 8X56 Mannlicher back in the 80's and bought an NEI mold for it. The problem with that rifle was the leed or throat was so wide it was impossible to get anything to touch. Thanks and have a good one,..........Ray

[Char-Gar]

When the Persian 98/29s came to America, I bought one that had never been fired and is still that way. I then bought a barrel actions, cut the barrel back to 24" and built it up into a sporter. It has done very well with .325 cast bullets turning in 1.5 MOA with several bullets. The biggest issue is the tight bore with bullets that need to ride the lands. Most cast bullet designs for the 8mm have noses that are to large. I have a die to size the noses .301 and that does the trick.

[Ray1946]

Thanks a lot guys for the helpful advice.......................Ray

[Jack Stanley]

Sending a throat impression to Veral Smith at LBT will get a mold that will work very well for you . He made a mold for my Enfield that worked perfect .

Jack