Paper patched GEW 88??

[Cosmiceyes]

You need a hover craft! lol I'm glad everything is getting better. Something you might try is focusing on the front sight,and let the target,and rear sight blur. That's what I was taught when I was little. 's

[Good Cheer]

I'd like to figure out how to make the perfectly indexed magnet attached hooded bead front sight.
But hey, my '88 has a .325" groove barrel and I'm still cogitatin' the bestest boolit to patch!

[mikeym1a]

I have three barrels, now, on '88 actions. Bought another bolt, minus bolt head, off fleabay this evening. I have a machinist friend who might make me up some of these heads, if I give him mine as a sample. He's looking for something to make a little extra cash on. But, anyway, The newest '88 is listed in another post. I'll have to get a stock and such for it, as it was stripped. This is one of the czech made replacement barrels from the 1920's. It has .308/.318 bore/groove, and looks like it was never fired. It appears to still have machine marks in the grooves. To patch for that, I guess I'll need a .310 boolit. I have a new-to-me Lee mold that throws some very nice boolits. Didn't realize it until i started checking them for culls, but, this mold throws 2 gc boolits, and three pb boolits. I've a pile I made one day. Need to find them, and mic them to see what size they are. It's now early Monday Morning. I'm gonna try to go shooting Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday. Wish that range wasn't so far away. Guess I'll have to join the local Isaac Walton League and see if I can use their range. I was a member years ago, but the rifle range was not much. They are supposed to have done better. Here's hoping for clear weather!!

[Cosmiceyes]

I have three barrels, now, on '88 actions. Bought another bolt, minus bolt head, off fleabay this evening. I have a machinist friend who might make me up some of these heads, if I give him mine as a sample. He's looking for something to make a little extra cash on. But, anyway, The newest '88 is listed in another post. I'll have to get a stock and such for it, as it was stripped. This is one of the czech made replacement barrels from the 1920's. It has .308/.318 bore/groove, and looks like it was never fired. It appears to still have machine marks in the grooves. To patch for that, I guess I'll need a .310 boolit. I have a new-to-me Lee mold that throws some very nice boolits. Didn't realize it until i started checking them for culls, but, this mold throws 2 gc boolits, and three pb boolits. I've a pile I made one day. Need to find them, and mic them to see what size they are. It's now early Monday Morning. I'm gonna try to go shooting Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday. Wish that range wasn't so far away. Guess I'll have to join the local Isaac Walton League and see if I can use their range. I was a member years ago, but the rifle range was not much. They are supposed to have done better. Here's hoping for clear weather!!

When I lived in Christiansburg,Va.I joined the Isaac Walton League. It was great having such a nice private,safe range. It's not that expensive,and a lot of good people belong. I even had fun helping out at different events we put on!!!! 's

[mikeym1a]

i haven't been an IWL member for quite a while. And their web site had a bunch of hoops I will to jump through to become a member, again. I have to submit an application, be 'investigated', and attend one of the monthly meetings before i would be allowed to use the range. That and the membership fee kind of put me off, and I haven't done it yet. But, I need to, as it's only a 40 minute drive to this range, instead of the 60+ for the other. Decisions, decisions.

[mikeym1a]

Warfarin is weird stuff. It makes you tired, but at the same time, sometimes you just can't sleep. It's 0825EDT, and I've been up all night. Spent the time working on ammo. Sorted and wrapped a bunch of boolits. I have 3 different ones I want to try. Different wrapping material gives different thicknesses. The three Mod 88's all have different bore & groove sizes. And I realized I don't have enough cases for 8 different loads. So, I'm trying to re-purpose some old Pakistani blanks. Seems like good brass, but is brittle. Doesn't appear to have been annealed. So, I cut off the ends of the cases (one piece of brass from base to 'bullet' tip), dumped the powder, and run them through an 8mm full length sizer. This die set was just the thing. The sizer is an expander as well. I think I have come up with a heat sink for the base of the case, so I can anneal the neck for the expansion that will occur when the gun is fired. I fired a couple of these blanks in my Argentine Mauser, and the neck simply split. So, I will try and anneal. If any of the primers pop, I will know that my heat sink is not working, and I'll stop. Gonna try and stay up all day, so I can sleep tonight. Then get up early and go to the range on Friday. (best laid plans of mice and men???) I need some coffee. CHEERS!!!!

[mikeym1a]

Well, it's 14 hrs later. About finished with the ammo. I cut, emptied, formed, trimmed 97 cases. (I had 3 casualties. poor dears!) I had forgotten how long that takes free hand. But, almost done. My boolits haven't turned out like I wanted. Turns out I casted a bunch of boolits with the wrong mould, and could only use about a third. They still turned out too large, even with onion skin. They should have been smaller than they turned out. Can't figure out what I did wrong, but, I'll load up a bunch of stuff, and off we go tomorrow morning. Have to be back mid-afternoon. Grand-daughters coming for the weekend. Great kids. I watch them and shake my head in wonder, what neat people they are growing into. Son is doing a really good job. Makes his old man smile.

[mikeym1a]

Got out to the range today. Both Mod 88's still shooting high. The Spandau was shooting to the left. Drifted the front sight a bit, and got it shooting center, but still high. Has anyone ever commented on what abysmal rear sights these things have? Plus, the range owner had groomed the range, and gotten rid of all the target stands that were sitting on the range. One of them I had put there. So, I guess I'll have to make a couple and take them with me. So, no targets to share. Spent the entire time shooting at the silhouettes. Took my son with me. Had him do some of the shooting. He confirmed that it wasn't just me shooting over the targets, and to the left. Both guns pulled up lame, though. I suspect that i had a 'paper ring' in the chamber. The Spandau locked up, and when the bolt was opened, the slug stayed in the bore, dumping 40grs of 4895 all over the table. I felt bad about that. Wasting good powder. Then I realized that I didn't have a ramrod with me, the I couldn't shoot the gun any more. So, I switched to the Steyr. For a gun with a poor bore, it was actually shooting pretty well, until it would not chamber any more rounds. Bolt would close on an empty chamber, but not on a round. Pulled the bolt, held the chamber up so the sun shone into it, and saw a ring in the chamber. Guess I had a paper ring there as well. Have to figure out why. Only put about 40 rds throught he Spandau, and about 15 through the Steyr. My son said that part of the rear sight is missing on the Spandau, the right side of the V notch is broken out, and he said that the whole thing is twisted. Gotta figure out something there. I need a better rear sight, one that works with my 63 year old eyes. When I shot my 1911A1, I think I realized what part of the problem is; flat black front and rear sights, and a flat black target. When everything is lined up, you can't tell where you are shooting!!!! I need some white and red dots on the sights so I can pick things out. I was shooting my .45 at the same 75yd target that the shooter to my left was shooting at with his AK, and I was hitting it almost as often. Made me snicker. My cast boolit load for the .45 performed really well. Just been away from it for too long. Felt good in my hand. And it did not come home empty. Picked up lots of range brass; not as much as I had hoped for, but, still got a lot. When I started picking up the stuff on the ground in front of my spot, the people on either side of me watched a minute, and then they too started policing their brass. Came home with about 1000 pieces of unknown quality. Found about 20 5.7X28 lying there. Found that odd, as it is rather rare in the stores I frequent. It was a fun afternoon, frustrating, but FUN. Nice to have my son around, as well. He's great company. Hope everyone reading this had as nice an afternoon as I did. CHEERS!

[Cosmiceyes]

I had a friend who made a weaver base fit his Mauser rear sight. He put a Holographic sight on it. He told me it spoils him. He didn't do any damage to the rear sight base,just drilled some wholes in the Weaver base,and made some screws to fit the two pieces together. I don't know if that can be done to you sight base or not?

[Frank Savage]

You don´t list the yardage you was shooting to, so I just assume.
Also, I still have no experience with Gew 88, but since the sights and setting are almost the same for rifles from Mauser 71 to Turkish Mausers, it´s most probably the basic sight setting for 300 meters. Perfect for hitting a man between waist and shoulders from 50 to 500 meters easily, but nothing for target work. My Kropatschek shoots about 10" high with full-power load. Measure the height of the v-notch and the height of the front sight above barrel axis (height above the barrel surface + 1/2 of barrel dia in given crossection) and you´ll see that the difference is somewhere around 1/6 to 1/5 of an inch, the front sight being lower. So the first zero is somewhere around 3-5 yds and the second one just on 300 meters if original laboration is duplicated. You´ll need new, taller front sight made and fitted for ordinary 100 yds zero. The shooting to the left was the original windage for compensation of deviation of the bullet, I would say. Quite a lot of these older guns have two marks on the front sight-one is for 50 or 100 meters, the other for basic 300.
Or use a baby load. My Kropatschek shoots spot on 50 meters if loaded as 32-30-276 PP with holy black and grits for filler

[mikeym1a]

I had a friend who made a weaver base fit his Mauser rear sight. He put a Holographic sight on it. He told me it spoils him. He didn't do any damage to the rear sight base,just drilled some wholes in the Weaver base,and made some screws to fit the two pieces together. I don't know if that can be done to you sight base or not?

I presume you mean he put it on the actual rear battle sight. I've seen commercial sight replacement for long eye relief telescopic sights for mausers that fits onto the rear sight mount. As much trouble as I have with those sights, I actually want to try to keep them as original as possible. But it is something to think about.

[mikeym1a]

You don´t list the yardage you was shooting to, so I just assume.
Also, I still have no experience with Gew 88, but since the sights and setting are almost the same for rifles from Mauser 71 to Turkish Mausers, it´s most probably the basic sight setting for 300 meters. Perfect for hitting a man between waist and shoulders from 50 to 500 meters easily, but nothing for target work. My Kropatschek shoots about 10" high with full-power load. Measure the height of the v-notch and the height of the front sight above barrel axis (height above the barrel surface + 1/2 of barrel dia in given crossection) and you´ll see that the difference is somewhere around 1/6 to 1/5 of an inch, the front sight being lower. So the first zero is somewhere around 3-5 yds and the second one just on 300 meters if original laboration is duplicated. You´ll need new, taller front sight made and fitted for ordinary 100 yds zero. The shooting to the left was the original windage for compensation of deviation of the bullet, I would say. Quite a lot of these older guns have two marks on the front sight-one is for 50 or 100 meters, the other for basic 300.
Or use a baby load. My Kropatschek shoots spot on 50 meters if loaded as 32-30-276 PP with holy black and grits for filler

The range is supposed to have two silhouettes at 75yds and two more at 100yds. I was shooting at the 75yd target. As long as I held for the waist level, I got a hit. If I aimed at center mass, it was over. These silhouettes are man-sized, from the waist up. Interesting info on the sights. It would explain why so many of my shots are high. The rear sight on the Spandau has the right side of the 'v' missing, and my son says the whole thing is twisted. I think I'll take a pop-rivet washer, and epoxy it to the rear sight, for a proper sight picture. That may be why the gun was shooting off to the left. I had to drift the front sight a good bit to the left to bring it back to center. Gonna try to get to the range tomorrow (well, today, now), weather permitting. Still suffering from my stiff neck. Couldn't go to the range today, as I had to have blood drawn at the clinic, and they always schedule it for the middle of the day, so there is no time to go before or after. BUT, I did manage to get 112lbs of WW's, so the day was not a total loss.

[Cosmiceyes]

The range is supposed to have two silhouettes at 75yds and two more at 100yds. I was shooting at the 75yd target. As long as I held for the waist level, I got a hit. If I aimed at center mass, it was over. These silhouettes are man-sized, from the waist up. Interesting info on the sights. It would explain why so many of my shots are high. The rear sight on the Spandau has the right side of the 'v' missing, and my son says the whole thing is twisted. I think I'll take a pop-rivet washer, and epoxy it to the rear sight, for a proper sight picture. That may be why the gun was shooting off to the left. I had to drift the front sight a good bit to the left to bring it back to center. Gonna try to get to the range tomorrow (well, today, now), weather permitting. Still suffering from my stiff neck. Couldn't go to the range today, as I had to have blood drawn at the clinic, and they always schedule it for the middle of the day, so there is no time to go before or after. BUT, I did manage to get 112lbs of WW's, so the day was not a total loss.

You could just get a replacement ladder from Nuirich Arms. I have been dealing with them since the 70's. Where did you find the actual paper wrapping/reloading technical information? I am thinking of exploring this with my US-Krag barrel action when I'm done.

[mikeym1a]

Hhhhmmmmmm. Numrich. Meant to look through their catalog, but, hadn't gotten around to it. I'll have to give it a try. The technical info is from Paul Matthews' 'The Paper Jacket'. I've read it through several times, but need to re-read it, It is full of info, but I have not figured it all out, yet. Went shooting again today. I could not tell if I was hitting the silhouettes or not. I think I was, as I was not seen dust spurts from the berm behind the targets. Last time, one of the guns locked up. When I cleaned it, I got a paper ring out of the chamber throat. That explains why another round wouldn't chamber. For todays shooting, I forgot to do a final trim on my cases, and some were too long. I think I'll do another post about this ammo, with pictures. It will be a bit longish. But I have found it interesting. My shooting is getting better. I'm hitting more than I am missing! Next time, I'll have to make and take a target stand with me. There were three out there today, but they had been shot to pieces. And I need to get out there on a monday or tuesday. should be less people there, which is better for me. After all the other shooters left today, I went brass hunting. Wasteful people. I picked up nearly 400 .223 brass, boxer primed. Found a bunch of .45's, about a dozen 8X57 boxer primed. I have found that Tula steel cased rounds marked '.223 Rem' is boxer primed. If I could find them fresh, no rust, I'd take them as well. It was fun shooting, but need to get a little more formal about it, so that I can document my progress.

[Cosmiceyes]

Hhhhmmmmmm. Numrich. Meant to look through their catalog, but, hadn't gotten around to it. I'll have to give it a try. The technical info is from Paul Matthews' 'The Paper Jacket'. I've read it through several times, but need to re-read it, It is full of info, but I have not figured it all out, yet. Went shooting again today. I could not tell if I was hitting the silhouettes or not. I think I was, as I was not seen dust spurts from the berm behind the targets. Last time, one of the guns locked up. When I cleaned it, I got a paper ring out of the chamber throat. That explains why another round wouldn't chamber. For todays shooting, I forgot to do a final trim on my cases, and some were too long. I think I'll do another post about this ammo, with pictures. It will be a bit longish. But I have found it interesting. My shooting is getting better. I'm hitting more than I am missing! Next time, I'll get a little more formal about it, so that I can document my progress.

OK on the Paul Matthews book. I am very curious about it. 's

[mikeym1a]

I went shooting again, today. This time I took a target stand, as well as home made targets. The targets are made of a heavy, white printing paper my son brought home from work. It was a roll end. I made 7, about 18" sq, with a 4" bull. Each target had a different colored bull, all of a bright color discernible to aging eyes! At 100 yds, I got one hit, it was nowhere near the bull, and it was not point on, it was sideways. I then moved to the 50yd target, and used shooting sticks to steady the gun. At 50 yds, with 6 rds, I got a 6"group. Not too good, and, only one of the six rounds was point on. The rest were sideways. After that, I proceeded to shoot the remainder of the ammo at the 75yd silhouette. I hit it about half the time. Then, just to check to see if it was just me shooting, I got out my 1909 Argentine, with some very old MilSurp ammo (with J-boos). I fired 12 rds at the 100yd silhouette. The first to were ranging shots. The third and the rest were all hits. I was firing standing, off-hand, no shooting sticks. Well, I did have one misfire. As I dismounted the weapon to eject the round, it went off, turning it into a hangfire. So that was a miss, also. BUT, 9 out of 11 rounds rang the target. So, I haven't totally lost my abilities. Now I have to figure out why the boolits are tumbling. I didn't get to shoot the Styer made '88. The first round misfired, and when I went to extract it, part of the rim tore off. That happened the last time, and I had to drive it out. I had throughly cleaned the gun, especially the chamber, but, it happened again. Not sure what it wrong there. I may just remove that action from the stock, and put the new 'Ecuador' action in its place. That barrel is in really nice shape. I do need to make a chamber cast, though.

[Cosmiceyes]

I went shooting again, today. This time I took a target stand, as well as home made targets. The targets are made of a heavy, white printing paper my son brought home from work. It was a roll end. I made 7, about 18" sq, with a 4" bull. Each target had a different colored bull, all of a bright color discernible to aging eyes! At 100 yds, I got one hit, it was nowhere near the bull, and it was not point on, it was sideways. I then moved to the 50yd target, and used shooting sticks to steady the gun. At 50 yds, with 6 rds, I got a 6"group. Not too good, and, only one of the six rounds was point on. The rest were sideways. After that, I proceeded to shoot the remainder of the ammo at the 75yd silhouette. I hit it about half the time. Then, just to check to see if it was just me shooting, I got out my 1909 Argentine, with some very old MilSurp ammo (with J-boos). I fired 12 rds at the 100yd silhouette. The first to were ranging shots. The third and the rest were all hits. I was firing standing, off-hand, no shooting sticks. Well, I did have one misfire. As I dismounted the weapon to eject the round, it went off, turning it into a hang-fire. So that was a miss, also. BUT, 9 out of 11 rounds rang the target. So, I haven't totally lost my abilities. Now I have to figure out why the boolits are tumbling. I didn't get to shoot the Styer made '88. The first round misfired, and when I went to extract it, part of the rim tore off. That happened the last time, and I had to drive it out. I had thoroughly cleaned the gun, especially the chamber, but, it happened again. Not sure what it wrong there. I may just remove that action from the stock, and put the new 'Ecuador' action in its place. That barrel is in really nice shape. I do need to make a chamber cast, though.

Mausers do have the strongest extractors. You actually may have a piece of lead in the chamber. I had a tiny piece in a Ruger 243 chamber that was on top,and every time I fired the case stuck. So I took it to school,where Sid Cross the instructor found it. I used a drill an shotgun brush in the chamber with lead removal solution till it was gone. 's

[mikeym1a]

That's a thought. I'll take the 20ga brush and run it in the chamber using my Ryobi drill. I have plenty of Hoppes #7. I guess those two cases are just junk. The boolit is driven so far into the case, I don't think it will come out. The case did show signs of scraping on the sides. Wonder what got in there. I have an endoscope, I'll have to bring the gun to the computer, and see if I can tell what is in there. Thanks for the idea.

[mikeym1a]

Well, I did that. Chamber looks pretty clean, now. So, I tried chambering one of loaded rounds, and it went 90% in and stuck. I didn't try to force it, and I got it back out. At the base of the case was a bright ring. Then it dawned on me that I had not full-length sized these cases. Some of them work in both guns, but not all. This particular case is a WW, and in the past, I found that they gave greater expansion on firing than my federal or R-P cases. ANYWAY, I goofed. now to get out the full length resizer and run all them through. Well, that answers one question I had. Now on to the others.............. Well, got out the FL sizer, and put a few through it. Made a big difference. Never forget the basics. In the past, I had one rifle in each caliber, and I could get away with neck sizing, but not now, with three guns using the same case. My Bad!

[mikeym1a]

I'd like to figure out how to make the perfectly indexed magnet attached hooded bead front sight.
But hey, my '88 has a .325" groove barrel and I'm still cogitatin' the bestest boolit to patch!

You know, I've given thought to put a magnetic base sight to put on the receiver! But I think what I need first is a new front sight. Guess I need to dismount one and measure the base to see what size I need. There were a bunch on fleabay just a few weeks ago, and I missed them all. I have three '88's, and they all are .318-.319 groove. The chamber is the big difference. The Spandau '90 model I have has a decent bore, but has had the 'S' mod to the chamber. From what I've read, that means the chamber was recut to accept the 'S' round, and the throat opened up to accept the same. Then it constricts to the original bore size. AND, from what I've read, the boolit needs to be wrapped to seal the throat, so that there is no gas cutting. I size my boolits to .314, and wrap them in 16lb legal paper, which has 25% rag content, and when they dry, they come out to .324-.326. That should seal the throat, and since the bore is .311, the paper should squeeze down, and spin the boolit adequately. If your barrel is .326 groove, then the bore is probably around .318. A .318/.319 wrapped in onion skin should come out about right for your groove, but only a good attempt will tell. If that is still too thick, Paul Matthews, in his book 'The Paper Jacket', suggested you use paper from dress patterns. It's thinner than onion skin, so I might just do the job. I may have to try that myself. I've got to spend some money getting sizing dies to figure out what size will actually work. The other two I have should be a bit easier, as the throat should not be so oversized, so I should be able to work with a more 'normal' boolit. I think I need to make a good ramrod, drop one of my wrapped boolits into the chamber, and push it through the bore, and see how it comes out. If I use steel, I think I will have a brass guide made, and a brass button to put on the end. Maybe I should do the push through thing on all three. It might just help figure out what's going on.