Talk about 'deep throat'!

[jonk]

I made a chamber cast on my Lebel Berthier carbine the other day. This gun never shot well with anything (granted, awful sights and a worn muzzle don't help) but I figured I'd give her one last shot before selling.

Ordinary dies size a case to accept a .323 bullet. The original french bullet measured something like .325.

So I have a mold that drops at .332 for my 8X56R Steyr, and I wanted to see if that was in play or not.

The neck diameter of a loaded round (spec) is .350. Assuming that with a .323 bullet, I needed to have the chamber measure something like 12/1000" more to allow for bullet fit and release, plus a deep enough throat to permit seating at a reasonable depth. So let's say a chamber dimension of at least .362" at the neck.

Ok, so the cast revealed.....drumroll..... .375"! Yow, that thing could take a full 338 pill with no issues, chamber wise! The throat was a bit better diameter wise. I don't think it would take a .338 slug much beyond the chamber itself. It was pretty long though- even seated with just the gas check below the case it chambered no issues on the Lee 329 bullet.

Now the bore on this beast slugs .328". So no wonder I had bad results with a .323 either cast OR jacketed. The .332 as dropped from my Lee mold doesn't QUITE fill the throat but it does come close I think. I have an 8mm Karabiner that I could beagle to see if that monser would do the job.

So we have a big old mouth and a deep throat. Linda Lovelace would be proud...:mrgreen:

[autofix4u]

You make me wish I had kept my Berthier carbine. I never could get it to shoot well. The biggest boolet i tried was .325. It now has a good home at the local Military muesem. I always thought it would be a very handy rifle at that length & weight.

[Dschuttig]

Just looking at your thread.....

I have a 1907-15 converted to 1916 config that is in unissued condition, brand new barrel that has a throat very similiar to yours. Groove diameter is .327, so I've been using the lee 8x56r bullet. I was a little worried that resizing the cases so much would give really short case life, so I bought a neck sizer from CH4D with collet to size down neck to fit .329 just snug-enough. Combine that with annealing every now and then and I got 15+ reloads through the cases with no seperation. Dan

[Wayne Smith]

BaBore is making the Oldfeller 8x56R Frankenstein mold - I think to .332". Sounds like your boolit.

[dantoweed64]

I have a Berthier, barrel slugs at .324/.327 so I acquired the lee .329 mold, had some bullets cast for me by The Bull Shop (great experience) now I can't get the bullets in the case, even with a lee universal expander. I crushed a few necks trying to seat bullets. So, should I anneal and neck size with a 8x56R neck sizer/decapper? Suggestions? Brass is from Grafs, looks like PPU. I didn't have any trouble seating .327 sized J bullets. Cast are sized to .329, gas checked, lubed, case necks lubed. The few I loaded are bulged but chamber. Thanks for reading!...dan

[texassako]

Get or make an expander that will fit those. My R35 uses a .327" boolit and I use a custom expander from Buffalo Arms in a Lyman M die. They show a .329" expander on backorder, but there are some members here that make them for sale as well.

[dantoweed64]

Hi and thanks. Do you know the diameter of the neck expander for the 8x56R resizing die?

[Dschuttig]

What do you mean neck expander? Do you mean the expander ball? I can measure my rcbs 8x56r neck sizer if that is what you need.

[msg1956]

Hi and thanks. Do you know the diameter of the neck expander for the 8x56R resizing die?

Could you just replace the Lee Lebel expander ball with this 8x56R parts?

http://leeprecision.com/ez-x-exp-8x56-r-hung.html

I am going thru the same drill with my 05-17 Berthier rifle. The bore slugs out to .315/327 and the chamber is so oversized, I don't want to use the Lee 8mm Lebel dies as they would overwork the brass after it is fired.

[texassako]

Could you just replace the Lee Lebel expander ball with this 8x56R parts?

http://leeprecision.com/ez-x-exp-8x56-r-hung.html

I am going thru the same drill with my 05-17 Berthier rifle. The bore slugs out to .315/327 and the chamber is so oversized, I don't want to use the Lee 8mm Lebel dies as they would overwork the brass after it is fired.

I am sure it would fit since Lee uses that little collet on the top to hold the decapper/expander. You might need to play with the length, and you might need to sand it down wile spinning in a drill since 8x56r bullets are .330" or so.