Milsurp that just won't shoot cast

[garrisonjoe]

Alloy (and any hardness treatment) should match the chamber pressure of your load.
Velocity matters, for stabilization and lubrication.
Your load makes a ton of difference.
Bullet diameter is often best with body one-thousandths over groove diameter and nose close to bore diameter (especially important with a long nose in a bore-riding bullet).


And you don't tell us much about these important characteristics. So, every thing here is really a wild guess.

A moderately fast rifle powder with a hardened wheel weight bullet (16-20 Brinnell hardness) that is heavy for caliber (compared to jacketed) loaded to around 1900 FPS is where I start with most of my mil-surps, including 1903 Springfield and several 8mm Mauser 98 designs.

good luck, garrisonjoe

[Good Cheer]

And sometimes blowing a lot unburned ball powder out on the ground is just the thing to whoosh those wheel weights like Clark Kent flying out of a phone booth.

[gwpercle]

Three things that I look for right off the bat .
1.) Barrel must be smooth , not pitted , not rough and not dark .
2.) All the metal fouling must be removed ... all of it , the old cupro-nickle jacket fouling is the worst .
If you have too ... lap the barrel untill it is smooth and clean .
3.) The Crown ... usually every old military rifle could stand a re-crowning , they may be lop sided and or have dings that ruin accuracy . Check the first inch of rifling ... if worn from cleaning from the muzzle , consider cutting the barrel back two inches .

I have a model 95 (or 96) 7 x 57 Spanish Mauser that I lapped the sewer pipe barrel , cut the old barrel back to 20 inches , had it re-crowned and new Williams open sporter sights mounted ... that turned it into a decent shooter ... not the best with cast boolits but good enough to take Hogs and Deer and would shoot old 175 grain RN Remington factory ammo surprisingly well .
Gary

[Eddie1971]

Three things that I look for right off the bat .
1.) Barrel must be smooth , not pitted , not rough and not dark .
2.) All the metal fouling must be removed ... all of it , the old cupro-nickle jacket fouling is the worst .
If you have too ... lap the barrel untill it is smooth and clean .
3.) The Crown ... usually every old military rifle could stand a re-crowning , they may be lop sided and or have dings that ruin accuracy . Check the first inch of rifling ... if worn from cleaning from the muzzle , consider cutting the barrel back two inches .

I have a model 95 (or 96) 7 x 57 Spanish Mauser that I lapped the sewer pipe barrel , cut the old barrel back to 20 inches , had it re-crowned and new Williams open sporter sights mounted ... that turned it into a decent shooter ... not the best with cast boolits but good enough to take Hogs and Deer and would shoot old 175 grain RN Remington factory ammo surprisingly well .
Gary

Funny think about point #1 on your list is that I have a few rifles with dark bores and they still shoot cast great.

[Alferd Packer]

Some shoot cast bullets great right from the start.Then there's one that needs a larger diameter bullet or a longer or shorter seating depth.

Experiment and keep a little record of what you try.
I wish you success!
Try everything .