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Peeps

My buddy is buying and L39 and has been trying to research safe home loads to stay within the chamber pressures limits.

Can anyone help with some info please.

Cheers
Alan

Cast boolits with Accurate 5744 - no chance of a problem then (IF you stick to the recommended loads)

The L39 should be proofed to 20 tons and therefore almost any of the available commercial ammunition should be ok.

I use HPS Targetmaster, RUAG/RWS in my 1971 Palma Envoy without any signs of undue pressure.

Hi all,

I am the thorn in the side of 20series who is looking at buying an L39 - the one I am in favour of is stamped 19T and the seller has warned me away from the commercial ammunition. I am a reloader, and am interested in the idea of cast bullets as most of the shooting will be done 100 yards only so any advice there would be appreciated.

Hi mas36.
Why has he warned you away from commercial ammo.?

We have an Envoy which is stamped 19T I have used RG and RWS, and my FMJ reloads without problems. Not used cast so sorry can't help. Someone will have a recipe you can try Roger over to you.

Do a search for cast bullets, cast boolits. The subject has been covered in some depth here.

You will need to take a chamber/throat/lead/bore/groove cast of your rifle in the first instance see Texas Macs article posted by me in the library.

When you have some specific questions fire away.

Thanks for that, sounds like its gonna get complex but I have plenty of time re the cast bullets. I will indeed post specific questions as they form in my ageing grey matter. As for being warned off commercial ammo the seller advised me that 19T is the military proof and commercial pressures are higher. I guess I need to dig a little deeper on this issue but thanks anyway.

mas36

If the rifle is stamped 19T get the seller to have it reproofed to 20T. The 19T proof is no longer relevant as all 7.62 x 51 /308W rifles should have a 20T proof as that is what the proof house does.

And, once you have 20T proof, if you want to be gentle on the old girl, may I sell you some of the NRAs finest RUAG 155gr ammunition?

In order to comply with the UK Proof Houses agreement for use of below-CIP-dimension barrels (which are used by just about every serious TR shooter in the UK), the Maximum Average Working Pressure (MAWP) of NRA RUAG ammo is 3650 Bar. This should be compared with the CIP MAWP limit for .308"Win of 4150 Bar. Coincidentally, the absolute max pressure for NRA RUAG happens to be the CIP MAWP limit. So, if you have a .308 / 7.62x51 rifle that you want to treat gently, NRA RUAG ammo is contractually specified to be approx 10% below the European standard pressure limit.

Iain
NRA Firearms Manager

Thanks to both Steve E and IainWR for the comments and it certainly cleared a few things up for me. As for that nasty old NRA RUAG, I already shoot a fair bit through my 308 and all my reloading is done with the once fired brass. I wonder if I could get a discount out of Fred now it looks like Ill be buying more ammunition and brass from the range office?