8mm Hakim and lead

[TCLouis]

Of course it is 8mm, all Hakim's are (just to stop the snide commenters among the crowd!)!!
Anyway, I have had this gun 20-30 years and it is still unfired by me.
Anyway I got to thinking maybe it would launch lead (gas system may give one a snoot full of lead/lube gases with each shot).

So anyone have any experience.

I have the 175 gr. GC GB and the 150 PB GB.

[wilecoyote]

the question lies in understanding if you only want to shoot single shots, which is certainly feasible, or to shoot semi-auto where the action of the automatisms requires a certain charge pressure that could give lead bullets such speed as to lead the barrel, as well as affect cleaning of gas hole, etc._
in my L1A1 I only tried lead in single shot, redux & gas checks: boring & no particular enthusiasm about the results, and soon I quit.

[cwtebay]

I've had a couple of them forever. I bought about a kajillion pull down bullets, so never had any occasion to shoot cast from them.
A good friend once said, "think SKS with a Middle Eastern flair".

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[Texas by God]

With the adjustable direct gas impingement feature of the Hakim, I'm pretty confident that you can find a cast load that will work the action. I only shot the ones I had with the abundant Egyptian, Yugoslavian, and Portugese surplus ammo of the time. Neat rifles.

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[Earlwb]

I used to have both their 8mm Hakim and their baby Hakim 7.62x39. I never tried cast bullets but there is no reason it wouldn't work. The gas port is adjustable though you may need a special tool for it. I am not sure, I forget now.
You might check on the bullet leade in the chamber to rifling and cartridge OAL. That is to have the OAL for the cartridge to not have the bullet get jammed into the rifling and get stuck there, should you decide to not fire the round at that moment and try to eject it. I did that once and it was quite annoying having the little rod propellant spill out into the action messing up everything until I cleaned it out. I was reloading but not putting in a hard crimp on the bullets.

[Gunor]

Hakim gas tool, find one or make it.
Clean and lube the gas valve - gently till you make sure it works and turns.

[Texas by God]

Cut a slot out of a suitable size nut driver to make a gas adjustment tool.
I wanted but never got a Rashid 7.62x39- that would have been fun. The Hakim was unusual, dependable,accurate, and horribly loud with that muzzle brake.

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[Earlwb]

I liked the 8mm Hakim, but the Rashid baby Hakim was pretty neat though. It apparently worked well enough for the Egyptians to adopt and use it for years. But The 8mm Hakim was huge and very heavy. That might be one reason why so many were abandoned in the Desert when Egypt lost during the 6 Days War in the late 1960's. Granted there are many factors involved but for the troops trying to carry a big heavy rifle while fleeing across the Sinai Desert during the route after a decisive battle wasn't on the their minds at the time. But Israel did wind up eventually selling many if not all of these guns in the US later though. I think that they are still finding the guns lost in the desert over there.

The ones I got took forever to clean the sand out of them. I took them apart and washed them several times. I remember taking one apart, washing it, drying and oiling it, then reassembling it, and when I tried it, I could still feel the sandy grit. Then it was back to disassemble, wash, clean, dry and oil, reassemble, test only to go Auughh!!! and repeat ad nauseum. Eventually I think that I got all of the sand out of them. Maybe. I remember that The wood stock was very tricky on the 8mm Hakim, as the sand seemingly got into the wood pores somehow. I could tap and shake the stock parts and sand would filter out. It took a lot of time and effort, cleaning the stock parts trying to get the sand out. So there could be a lot of Sinai Desert sand embedded in the stocks of these things. I remember occasionally running across one at the gun stores and when I tried the action, I could still feel some of the gritty sand inside of them. Anyway it is a good way to learn how to disassemble and reassemble one by getting all of that sand out of it.

[Eddie1971]

I have a Hakim and have had a couple others in the past. I just shoot jacketed in mine and it loves the PPU 196 grain FMJ's. There is a video on YouTube of a guy showing you how to clean and free up the gas valve, and also the muzzle brake. Just keep an eye after every shooting session on the gas tube. I'd say powder coat the heads and make sure you have one fat enough so you don't get any gas cutting.

[abunaitoo]

I was playing with mine with cast boolets.
Just could never get it to work.
It would fire and cycle, but not all that accurate.
I really should get back to it.
My shell deflector broke off.