What size bullet?

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

     I need a little help here. The task is to produce a usable bullet and load for a Husqvarna model 46 in 9.3x57mm this is a bolt action rifle using the Swedish Mauser M96/M38 action and fitted with a Bushnell Scope Chief 3x scope in Hilver mounts. The bore is slightly frosted but cleans really easily, for instance I put a .40 cal bronze brush with P-H 009 solvent on it through the bore a couple of times then 3 tight patches and the bore is clean, looking sideways against the strong natural light I can see no copper fouling and I shot 22 rounds loaded with Norma 232 Grn Soft Points through it last Thursday evening.

    Measuring the bore as best I can using a digital Vernier caliper I get a size of 0.356" across the lands and 0.371" in the grooves which of course means that the grooves are about 0.008" deep. At a show some time ago I picked up a two Lyman moulds:-

35875=200 grn
35897= 232 grn

     Which of course is meant for 0.358" calibre  but I did cast some of very soft lead like that used in Muzzle loading rifles and patched them. Well they went down range but that's about all I can say for it  :roll: .

    Bearing in mind the size of the bore what size bullet would be the most suitable for paper patching? The aim is to be able to shoot a bullet of about 200-270 grains at velocities of 2100-2400fps with accuracy of 2" or under at 100 yards  :wink: .

    Reading Paul Mathews book The Paper Jacket he says to use a bullet that is 0.0005" over bore diameter well my bullets are about 0.003" over bore diameter but because of the deep grooves to get the bullet to Groove diameter I need to patch it up to 0.372" which is a lot of patch    :shock:

   The reason for wishing to use PP bullets is that any 9.3mm bullets are hard to come by here and as the Police wish to remove the 9.3 from the ones I am allowed to hunt deer with I cannot buy expanding bullets anymore which means that I cannot get any bullets as I know of no non expanding i.e Soft point bullets in 9.3mm so cast and especially paper patched is the only real option. I do have access to a good lathe with a 4 jaw chuck and to me it seems reasonable to bore out one of the moulds to suit this rifle for normal cast bullets and 35897 is a tapered nose gas checked design so that is the one that would be more suitable for boring out in my opinion.

    Any advice of help will be gladly recieved  

[rudybolla]

This site has all of the Swede experts.  And the 9.3x57 has been a major topic of late.

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=41

[JBMauser]

I have three points for you to consider.  your measurements indicate that your bullet will engrave if forced down the bore with no patch which is all you need for proper fit and grip.  Second, if you play with the alloy you cast with you will get a slight varriation in bullet dia. dead soft lead will drop from a mold at a different dia. than hard linotype.  And lastly.  if you wish to open a mold a slight bit it can be done by casting a bullet with a nail in it and coating the bullet with lapping compound and spinning it with a drill.  There is a second method used to enlarge the cast bullet without permenent change to the mold.  It is called Beageling a mold as named by the inventor.  You get foil tape from an airconditioning supply house and you tape over one side of the mold and trim out the cavity with a fine razor. The advantage here is you can work larger in steps.  This method is discussed at length at this board http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ the home of Beagle.  Hope this helps.  JB

[Brithunter]

Hmm and I was just going to mount the mould in an independant 4 jaw chuck and clock the cavity true then skim out the required amount which is 0.007" to make the mould drop a 0.372" cast bullet which is 0.001" over groove size. Of course doing this I would need to get a larger neck expander to be able to seat them without damaging the bullet. Need a different size expander to use the PP bulets anyway so that is no hardship.

    For the cast bullet I have also considered just getting a 0.375" mould and using the lube sizer to size it down to the required 0.372" which might be a better option.

[JBMauser]

I think I would opt for the resizing die.  since the pill will be in a paper jacket I don't see why a little stress to bring it down to the desired dia. woud matter.  And since you can cast it with softer lead I don't think it will "stress"  the pill.  I have not gotten around to it (I have to find a 4 jaw chuck) but I plan on boring out a lee mold to make a straight walled pill for Paper patch.  One thing I have done with my little Unimat lathe is make my own M die spud for my cast fat 30's.  (7.65 Argi and .303) the M die also flares the mouth a tad.  I shoot my cast bullets on the fat side so I need a larger expander than what is used supplied in the standard dies. JB

[Brithunter]

Hi JB,

    I know what the "M" die looks like as I have one for my .303  :-)  #7349005.

    As for lathes well we have a selection to choose from here, both dad and I were machinists by trade although Dad was a far better one than me  :oops: . He was also into model making, steam models, but due to his health he cannot do much now. Over the last 16 years he has had 3 fairly major strokes  
   
     I am not sure if we have a 4 jaw for the best lathe which is an Holbrooke. Big beastie which came out of Smith Industries tool room  :lol: If it really comes down to it I may have to make my own mould blocks, boring them out with single point tools wll take a little time but should produce a perfectly round mould cavity. I would Mill the blocks to fit the Lyman handles  :wink: . The old Lyman 450 sizer I have, well I have never used it as of yet and would have to buy some dies to get it up and working, maybe later make my own dies but hardening is not something we are set up for. May have to look into that at a later date. :wink: .

   Oh someone mentioned the swedish Civilian rifles forum on Gunboards, well my rifle is on that forum under the stickied 9.3x57 thread, it had a Meopta scope fitted then.

[iiranger]

#1). If you have a groove diameter of .371... I would be inclined to look for molds for the .375's, .375 Winchester, .375 H&H, etc. and a "ring die" to take them down a bit. Lead in one pass. I think you would need two rings for jacketed bullets. Then you would have what you needed in the lubed lead bullet... Alot of them have been shot.

#2). Mr. Richard Corbin (rceco.com) has a special interest in paper patched projectiles. He has a book developing on his web site that you can read/download for free. First point here is paper. Not sure, myself, which is best and available over there. Second is technique. He answers emails fairly promptly. I don't know of a better source. His brother, Dave, also has a web site, corbins.com, but he is not as focused on the paper patched from what I have read. He keeps writing tho... LUCK...

[Brithunter]

Thankyou for your replies  I have been laid up for a week or so nothing has gotten done although I did discover I have some comercial cast 270 grn 0.375" GC bullets. Wehn I play with making a sizing die I will try it with these and see what I can chamber size wise.