Cast Bullets in Mil-Surp Rifles?

[Advocate]

Anyone tried cast bullets in the 6.5x55, 7x57  or 8x57 military mausers?   Bear Tooth bullets makes cast bullets for all of these.  Has anyone tried them?  I think it would be kind of cool to use them (135 grainers) in my mint condition  6.5x55's.  Lots of shooting and minimal barrel wear.  

Would be fun in the 8x57 mauser too.  

Would enjoy hearing from anyone with experience with these.

[captainkirk]

I realize this answer is a bit outside your question, but I have used cast bullets sucesfully in a converted 308 spanish mauser.  Cast from a lee 152 grain mould, unsized, lubed with liquid alox over a light charge of unique.  Sounds like a 22 LR, shot very well considering the sights - 2-3 inches at 100yds.  No recoil, very cheap, not even all that much work...

results in other rifles/calibers may vary...

kirk

[Mikey]

Hay Advocate:  they work well.  Just read an article on just those, the 6.5, the 06, the 8mm.  Used to shoot them in my Brit 303s and my 06s.  Used a 7.62x25 insert and a 173 grain cast gc from a 308 to bonk bunnies.  Easy to shoot, accurate and capable of lots of fun.  Just my 2 cents worth.  Mikey.

[John Traveler]

Hello, Advocate!

Yes, I've done lots of cast bullet shooting with US and foreign military calibers including 6.5mm, 7x57, and 8x57, plus many of the old time blackpowder numbers.

In this country, the .30 calibers have found lots of favor with cast bullet shooters because of the great numbers of good .30 bullets around.  Shooting costs can be reduced to a couple cents per round if you cast with free lead and use medium pistol powders like Unique.

I found the 7x57 to be particularly easy to load for and accuracy is often much better than with military ball.  1.5 to 2" groups are the norm even without load development.

One caution for everyone though:  segregate your cast bullet fired cases from those you use for normal full-charge jacketed loads.  There can be a problem from shoulder setback and consequent case separations if you don't.

[S.S.]

Cast em' in a bit oversized mould, and a worn barrel can become a decent
shooter again too!

[Advocate]

Many thanks for all your comments.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

I routinely run 150 gr. gaschecked spitzers pushed by 36 grs. of IMR4198 through my 30/06 garand. Cheap, accurate and fun to shoot. It doesn't clog the gas system at all.

[ramaslama]

I shoot cast bullets in all my "retired warriors" and just love 'em!  I can go from mild to wild depending on how much noise and recoil I want to tolerate.  A lot of pistol silhouette shooters use the 6.5 caliber so there are a few really good molds for bullets that shoot really well.  Even if you don't plan to start casting yourself (caution! can be habit-forming) you will be able to find some well made bullets out there.  I'd advise you get the Lyman Cast Bullet Loading Manual- not only are there loads for rifle, there is a bunch of info on cast bullet shooting.  If you haven't already I'd check out the cast bullet forum- both here and at Shooter's.com.  There are some folks with an incredible amount of experience shooting cast bullets in everything from 22 Hornets to 50 Brownings. :eek:
A word of caution- shooting cast bullets can lead to uncontrollable cravings of wanting to make your own!  You've been warned  :-)
Dave L.