M95 confusion

[wallenba]

Ok, to all who responded to my previous post, my apologies for being a little thick headed, but I'm still a little confused as to the choice of the .338 boolit in the 8 x 56r M95. My bore slugged .330 groove and .314 lands. Do I understand correctly that since the groove to land dimension is so great that it is safe to shoot a .338 sized down only .004 @
.333 or .334 or even larger?
:veryconfu
__________________

[Beekeeper]

In a word Yes


Jim

[Bret4207]

The 95's have unusually deep rifling. Your particular example is rather tight if it is actually measuring .330. Mine runs about .332+/-. Lees .329 boolit drops right at .329 in my alloy. Totally unusable. The .338 boolit is just a larger version of the .329, vice versa actually. I've shot the boolit as cast at .340 from my 95, it works fine. That rifling form handles the displaced lead rather nicely. A modern, tight barrel might not do so well. The throats on these rifles are, well, generous lets say, so you can get away with a fatter boolit usually than you might with a tight necked production rile.

In your case, if the rifle is actually .330, I'd get a Lee .329 sizer and hone it out to about .331 and size that 338 boolit down and try it with 13.0 Red Dot or 16.0 2400. You can always go fatter if it seems to want it.

[Beekeeper]

tanks Brett,
Knew you would have the right answer if I said something.


Still raining there?


Jim

[jonk]

Safe, yes. If it chambers. Take a fired case and see if a .338 will fit. If it won't, measure the distance across the inside of the case neck and try to fit a bullet as close to that as possible. Mine for instance will chamber up to a .335" slug (brass measures .336" across the inside of the neck) without issue.

I took a standard Lee set and bought one of the decapping rods for .338, then sanded it down in a drill a bit at a time until it measured .333, giving 2/1000 of neck tension. It didn't have to go far, as the stock expander was for .336 or so, to give proper tension on the original bullet.

Then there is the seating issue. A fatter bullet will often bind in a seating die. I personally took care of it by using the seating die for my 8mm Lebel. No, the bullet doesn't enter the seating channel- way too fat. No the cartridge isn't supported. But the tapered shoulder area catches the bullet and centers it over the 8X56 cartridge just fine- you just have to leave the die way out. Might not be absolutely true and centered, and you can't overflare as this will not take the flare out at all, but for what it is- a stumpy carbine with crummy sights and frosty bore- it chambers, functions, and fires pretty well.

If you wanted you could also lap out the seating die neck area.

[wallenba]

The 95's have unusually deep rifling. Your particular example is rather tight if it is actually measuring .330. Mine runs about .332+/-. Lees .329 boolit drops right at .329 in my alloy. Totally unusable. The .338 boolit is just a larger version of the .329, vice versa actually. I've shot the boolit as cast at .340 from my 95, it works fine. That rifling form handles the displaced lead rather nicely. A modern, tight barrel might not do so well. The throats on these rifles are, well, generous lets say, so you can get away with a fatter boolit usually than you might with a tight necked production rile.

In your case, if the rifle is actually .330, I'd get a Lee .329 sizer and hone it out to about .331 and size that 338 boolit down and try it with 13.0 Red Dot or 16.0 2400. You can always go fatter if it seems to want it.

I double checked the slug, yeah it's .3305, so I'm going to call it a .331. A lot of good clarification for me here, Thanks a bunch guys. UPS is coming today with some of my stuff, it will be a while before I whine again. Pretty much gettin' the picture tho. I might still be able to use my .329 mold, it's dropping .331-.333 (with Lyman #2 and a touch of lino thrown in), with the wide dimension at the parting line. It might be a Beagling candidate.

[DanM]

My M95 slugs similar to yours, .330-.331", and it still shoots best with .334" boolits. You really need to fill the throat with these rifles for best accuracy. Something to do with the deep rifling. With the smaller slugs, accuracy goes south well before reaching medium velocity levels. I have a Pachmeyer leather recoil pad on mine, and enjoy the thump!