If so, any load recommendations?
I normally use H4895 and H or IMR 4350.
I have a chance to get some .338 Hornady Round Nose bullets at a good price that I will resize for the 8x56R and would appreciate some opinions...
Thanks,
Dan
| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
8x56R with 250 grain jacketed bullet? |
Lead | |
|
Has anyone tried a 250 grain jacketed bullet in the 8x56R?
If so, any load recommendations? I normally use H4895 and H or IMR 4350. I have a chance to get some .338 Hornady Round Nose bullets at a good price that I will resize for the 8x56R and would appreciate some opinions... Thanks, Dan |
|||
junkbug |
|||
|
I have used .338" Sierra 250 grain jacketed Spire point boat-tails in one M-95. This is my carbine with the oversized bore. I did not resize these
bullets.
My load was 2.2 cc of IMR 4227, which is equivalent to 28.5 gr, according to the lee dipper scoops chart. I didn't weigh the charges, as they are only a mid range plinking load. Extraction was OK. There was no copper fouling on the lands, so the bullet was not terribly oversized for the bore/groove. I am going to have to slug that barrel some day. Accuracy was better than most. The boat-tail bullets don't have a lot of bore contact, so that may explain the lack of copper fouling. I haven't tried loading full power loads with this carbine yet. Don't have a chronograph either. |
|||
yockey5 |
|||
|
I think saddlesoap did some work with this bullet?
M1Garand issued April, 1956, new in wrapper to B.G. Yockey, at Camp Pendleton, California. serial #2774590. Have you seen it? |
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
junkbugm
Thanks for the idea about plinker loads. The IMR 4227 idea has me thinking... yockey5 I'll send a pm to saddlesoap... Thanks, Dan |
|||
yockey5 |
|||
|
Let me know coz I think I have some resized .338 x 250 grainers.
M1Garand issued April, 1956, new in wrapper to B.G. Yockey, at Camp Pendleton, California. serial #2774590. Have you seen it? |
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
Picking them up today.
Might do some testing next week. Will give an update then... Dan |
|||
gschwertley |
|||
|
I've used 250 grain bullets in the 8x56R. I resized them to .330 for my rifle. I used another approach on propellant selection. I used a full charge of slow burning propellant. My load was 45.0 grains of H-1000, which is very slow. The bullet was a 250 gr. Hornady round nose. The muzzle velocity was 1513. I think you could use a number of slow propellants to do the job, such as 4381 or even 4350 so long as you kept the charge up. Slow burning propellants have a slow burning curve that eases the bullet on its way instead of giving it a sharp slap like faster ones do. The slow (relatively) initial burn is what you want for getting that heavy slug going. I'd be very careful about bullet size in relation to actual bore size in the rifle to be used with this one. The heavier the bullet, the higher the pressure will be if the bullet is too tight. When you use a very heavy bullet in the 8x56R with the proper components, you're just doing the same thing they did with the original 8x50R which used a bullet of about 246 grains in weight. You're taking a step backward because the intent of the 8x56R was to get more velocity out of the cartridge with more modern components. I understand that you might want to use the 250 grain bullet for economic reasons, as that was my reason for doing so. The .338 bullet is not popular for reloading; most people who own .338 Mags are not target shooters and don't use up bullets very fast. Sometimes you can find deals on heavy .338 bullets and when we can pick them up for bargain prices, we can reconfigure them for use in 8x56R. |
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
I have some 4350 on hand, so I will try that out as well. There was a guy trying to unload some H-1000 at a gun show this weekend at a good price, but I passed
on it...
I thought about the 8x50R when I was thinking about using the bullets. I took a quick look at "Cartridges of the World" and the author suggests a load using another powder (3031?) that I don't have. Thanks for the advice about the bore size. My first test will be at .329 and I'll see what happens. You are right on about the .338 bullets. Getting a very good price... Stay tuned... Dan
Last Edited By: dfrako
03/25/09 13:17:53.
Edited 1 times.
|
|||
gschwertley |
|||
|
H-1000 is one of the slowest powders and doesn't have a lot of utility for most milsurp calibers. It was originally made up for long range shooting with
.270 Winchester. When you are experimenting with heavy bullets, it's a safe play. It's another one of those things (like the .338 bullets) that if
you get it for a good price, you can find uses for it.
Some of the cast bullet rifle shooters prefer max loads of slow propellants (as opposed to light charges of faster powders). 4350 (either one) would be okay for the 250 grain bullets, just be sure to use a full charge, something in the range of 45 to 50 grains for 8x56R. Be careful when you are trying to relate 8x50R to 8x56R data as published on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It may or may not be stated in a given reference what bullet size is being used. As we've discussed before, the 8x50R uses a .323 bullet that rides the lands in a .330 bore and seals on the base. If the American reference gives data, they may be using a .323 bullet (without the sealing base) and the pressure is going to be way down on those loads. There is plenty of gas leakage around the grooves when a .323 bullet without a sealing base is used in an 8x50R load. You lose about 75 to 100 fps between the .323 and the .330 bullet. I'm not sure that I would use IMR 3031 with the 250 grain bullet sized to .330. I wouldn't know a starting point for the load. It's pretty easy to come up with a load using the slow propellants because even with a case-full of powder, you aren't in danger of an overload. With the slow powders the danger is more on the side of reduced charges. 3031 has been known to do strange things with reduced charges, so this is an unknown in experimenting with it using heavy bullets. |
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
Way behind on this experiment...
Had some minor surgery mid-march. Things were good for a while, but then I started to feel lousy. I seem to be back on track, so I am trying to catch up on a few things (like my income tax prep!). Once I catch up, I'll head up north and get some testing in, this month for sure. Dan |
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
I had a chance to make it to the farm and try out a couple of the 250 grain bullet loads that were suggested here. I also fired a couple other loads that I
like for comparison purposes.
All shots were fired at 25 yards in an M95/30, one of the $50 cracked stock specials that I cleaned up and repaired earlier this year. In the pictures, the target dots I used measured 2 inches square. All Primers were Winchester Large Rifle. Here are the loads I tested: Load C Powder: 43.0 IMR 4350 Bullet 200 grain Jacketed Soft Point O.A.L. 3.00 Load D Powder: 43.0 IMR 4350 Bullet: 205 grain Soft Point O.A.L. 3.00 Load G Powder: 28.6 IMR 4227 Bullet 250 Round Nose Soft Point (resized from .338) O.A.L. 3.00 Load H Powder: 45.0 IMR 4350 Bullet: 250 grain Round Nose Soft Point (resized from .338) O.A.L. 3.00 The pictures show the results. As you can see, the carbine seems to like the 200 and 205 grain bullets. Those same loads (C and D) also do well in another M95/30 I own. Interestingly, the carbine shot the 250 grain bullet with the IMR 4227 load very well, but did not do as well with the IMR 4350 load. I wish I had a chronograph with me in order to see the velocity difference between loads G and H. So, I think the IMR 4227 load is a keeper as is my original loads (C and D) with the IMR 4350. I expect I will experiment more with IMR 4350 and the 250 grain bullet as well. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Dan |
|||
gschwertley |
|||
|
That's pretty good shooting with the 4227 load using 250 gr. bullets. I haven't done any experimenting with 4227 in 8x56R yet; your results encourage
me to do so. I've had absolutely lousy results with 4227 using cast bullets in 8x57 Mauser, to date. That fact has kept me from going forward using it in
8x56R. I've used 4227 in .357 Mag and in some of the .224 bullet calibers with success.
|
|||
dfrako.parallaxscurioa... |
|||
|
That's only the second time I've tried 4227 in this caliber. Late last year, I experimented with it using a 175 grain gas checked lead bullet and some
buffer. The results were promising with or without buffer, so I will eventually get back to it.
As far as the 4350 test, I am going to try it again with the 250 grainer, going up an down a couple grains to see if I can improve on the results. One interesting aspect of this experiment is the gun itself. I know plenty of people who would look at the bore and muzzle of it and say it's worthless. I guess that is one of the benefits of reloading; you can often find something that gives acceptable performance, regardless of the condition of the gun! Dan |
|||