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aimlowsqueeze
06-10-2006, 07:49 PM
I picked up a Type I from a friend of mine last weekend and today was the first time I had a chance to take it to the range. What a nice shooting rifle. I had to do some work on the front site to get it high enough for a 6 o'clock hold at 100 yards, but thanks to a cordless drill and an allen wrench, I now have a really fine front site that stacks the bullets right up! I was shooting a 129 grain Hornady Soft point Interlock with 26 grains of IMR 4895 to a sub 2" group. I am going to cast some .266 bullets next week and then I will try some cast bullets in my Type I and my Swede M96. Will post to let you know how it works.

By the way, any pet loads for either of these rifles?

Buckshot
06-14-2006, 02:50 AM
...............Don't know how the Swede will relate to the Italian made Jap rifle, groove wise. The Italian Carcanos usualy run close to .268" in the groove, but the ones made for the Japanese may have been held tighter? If it was shooting nominal .264" jacketed slugs okay, it very well could be tight as the Swede. Lots of Carcanos don't like the .264" jacketed slugs.

The Swede on the other hand is a bit more eclectic and some do very well with .264" CAST slugs. I do believe though that most (as I do too) size to .266". More for fitting to the throat then fitting the groove.

I did a test one time with an almost un-issued looking M38 I had. I'd been shooting .266" cast slugs and it did very well. I had no complaints at all. I decided one day to try sizing some to .264" to see what would happen. And to make it interesting I fired them at 100 yards. Ten of .266" and 10 of .264". Danged if the .264" ones didn't shoot better. And it was better enough I didn't have to take calipers to the group either!

So far as pet loads go, I like 34.0grs of surplus WC872. However there are may other powders that will work. What you will need to do is to stay below 1650 fps. If you can get accuracy over that, then good for you. Keep at it and see how fast you can go. DUe to the fast twist in the Swede about 1650 fps seems to be a threshold.

You can start with 10.0grs of Unique, to.

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

mooman76
06-16-2006, 09:54 PM
Mine slugged out to .265. I haven't worked up any loads yet!

Maven
06-19-2006, 07:27 PM
Bore dimensions in the Swedish Mausers, while perhaps not as extreme as SMLE's, vary nonetheless. Before you even think about purchasing a mold,* slug your bore. As to accuracy, the fast twist of the bbl's. limits the top speed that CB's can be driven. I.e., by trial and error, many of us have learned to limit velocity to 1,650 - 1,700fps if we wish to obtain peak accuracy and a minimum amount of bore leading.

Loading Data: I've had excellent results (high degree of accuracy, low extreme velocity spreads) with WC 820 (15gr.), H/IMR 4198 (19gr.), VV N133 (19 gr.) and AA 5744 (17 - 19gr.).

*Good luck finding such a mold and/or one that casts large enough to fit your bore. As Lee doesn't offer one (except for last year's group buy) and Lyman will no longer offer them in 2006, your best bet is to seek a used one, but only after you determine your bore's dimensions.

aimlowsqueeze
06-19-2006, 09:39 PM
My casting mentor already has all the molds and we dropped 200 each of 3 different .266 bullets last Tuesday night during our weekly "Cast Boolit Session." Tomorrow night we lube and gas check and I will be on the range Friday afternoon testing the Type I and the Swede with variations of the three boolits and the variety of powders that I have on hand. The Type I shot really well with jacketed bullets and IMR 4895, so I am looking forward to the cast bullets. As we all know, the Swede is the sweeeeeeetest shooter and I am having dreams about what I can put together with it. To top it all off, we dropped about 200 30 caliber bullets that we are going to size for my Swiss rifles and my Enfield 2A1, so I almost need a nap...it is sooooooo goooooood!