Re: 30-40 Krag update.

[meles meles]

Boolits, surely, ooman...

[dromia]

Laurie I just love the 7x57 round, it shoots like a fecking laser.

I bought a 7x57 95 Chilean Mauser along side the Krag, I was hoping to get a Spanish 93 to put alongside the Krag, the Spanish Hornet, to show how the SpamAm war experiences of the US made them move to a Mauser design and ultimately gave us the 03 Springfield.

Any way a pal of mine was interested in it so I gave him some cases and some 150 gn SMKs and pulled out a load of 38 gns of N140 as that was the powder he had.

We were shooting at stick ins on a field firing range at 100 yrds and the rounds were going high, I spotted a bit of limestone sticking out from the back at a 300yrd target, I told my pal to aim at that and it was spot on just kept hitting that stone all day, he talked me into selling him the rifle.

I have a 95 OVS Boer war Mauser so didn't really need two, the OVS shoots just as good.

I will get a 93 Spanish some day and will be confident that it will shoot every bit as good with the 7x57.

In my young days working as a stalker in the Highlands the 7x57 was a popular red deer round with a lot of the guest mainly chambered in Manlicher action sporting rifles.

About half were scoped and the rest just shot over open sights, the deer still dropped.

[dromia]

Boolits, surely, ooman...

For the masses, not everyone is as knowledgeable as you about such arcane accomplishments.

[Laurie]

I also had an OVS 7x57, around 25 years ago. DWM, mismatched bolt, looked terrible and cost all of £50 when a good SMLE was maybe £75-100. It had lain in the cadet armoury of a public school for years apparently, so had presumably been donated by an 'old boy' who'd brought it back from SA as a souvenir and it'd likely never been fired since liberation. It was a very good shooter indeed despite its appearance and I eventually sold it maybe 10 years on for £250 - a rare profit on my gun transactions - but have regularly regretted losing it, as one often does after the event.

Having read of the 1909 Brazilian years back in an American magazine, I decided I must have one eventually - long rifle, straight-out bolt-handle, handguard surrounding the rearsight and extending back to the front receiver ring, 7X57 - ticks all the boxes. And the '98 action too. I did have a search around for a Brazilian Mauser last year and eventually located one in deepest East Anglia, but it was priced at £850, or £875 .. something like that anyway.

Then I discovered Henry Krank in Pudsey had two Chilean 7X57 long Mausers at senesible prices, a DWM 1895 just like my old OVS but in better external nick, and a Steyr M1912 like the Brazilian model. After about three hours of examination and mental soul-searching, I plumped for the '95. Then .... you can guess what happened .... a few weeks on I rang them and asked if the M1912 Steyr had been sold. No, it hadn't, so I now have two Mausers when I started looking for one. If one shoots reasonably well, I'll be happy - if both, I'll be ecstatic. We'll see in due course.

[meles meles]

And of course you'll post details here and tell us all, ooman ? Maybe even compare it with a Lee of similar vintage?

[Dougan]

Just posted this to show that if you take the time to get your ducks lined up properly they shooting cast bullets gives up nothing to jacketed.

But getting the ducks to line up properly appears to be a bit of an art - The Trafalgar is coming fast and the cast loads for my SMLE and Mauser aren't ready - The SMLE load isn't bad, and I'm going to give it a try; it'll be interesting to compare the scores against the last four years with jacketed loads...

...but the Mauser loads are definitely not ready (didn't group well in good conditions today)...If I can't get some reasonable results at the next testing, I may 'bottle it' and use my normal jacketed load for the meeting, and then carry on with the cast boolits again after...

[dromia]

Just posted this to show that if you take the time to get your ducks lined up properly they shooting cast bullets gives up nothing to jacketed.

But getting the ducks to line up properly appears to be a bit of an art.

Much as I may like the romantic notion of cast boolits being a mysterious and magical from of alchemy it actually isn't. It is a process like any other handloading method, all that it requires is a sound understanding of you rifle and barrel along with properties of cast boolits.

These things are well documented, not least of all on the Full-Bore UK forums.

Reading only gives so much though and the theoretical framework needs to filled out with actual practice at the pot bench and range.

If I had to rely on jacketed bullets I could never get the results from all these old guns that I like to collect and shoot and more importantly the hours of pleasure and satisfaction it gives.

Cast boolits, you know they make sense.

[Woodshot]

Yes, very pleased you talked me into that purchase Adam, the laser like qualities are superb.