doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Cast Bullets in 8 x 57 JR

Anyone using cast bullets?
Thanks!
Jim

Jim,
I haven't yet, but am interested.My problem is working with old guns that I have to cast bullets for,so I haven't gotten around to the JR(or JRS or J) yet.I support your idea and wait to see how you come out with the project.
Mike

You might want to try using 308 of the shelf cast bullets and paper patching them up to .318 and you can shoot them nearly full speed.

I'm going to give it a try with my 9.3x72 as .366 cast bullet molds are few and far between. I can get 200gr .348 bullets and patch them up to .364.

Jim,
If you want "off the shelf" bullets, rather than casting your own, try Buffalo Arms.For cast bullets, don't buy .318 bullets w/o slugging the barrel.I like .002" over groove diameter, but if a larger dia. bullet will easily enter a fired case, use it.
Oskar,
There are a good many options for 9.3x72R bullets,a common way to make 200 grain bullets is to shorten the fairly common Lyman 366408 mold to drop 200 grain bullets( easy enough with a 4 jaw chuck in the lathe.If the .366 bullet easily fits into a fired case, use it, if not size it to fit. My favorite is the 210 gr H&G 512c, but this mold is hard to find.
Mike

Try Accurate Molds website and see if they have anything in the proper .318 or 323 diameters. Also Night Owl Enterprises (N.O.E) on the castboolits website has done cast bullet molds as well.
And they did a few runs of a 286 grain rn gas checked bullet as well.Frank

In the early 80's I had a German hammer cape gun chambered for 16 ga and 9.3x72R. Although I could buy RWS ammo in Anchorage it was quite expensive so as an alternative I bought a box of .348 bullets and used a bond paper for paper jackets and reloaded for the gun. They were greased with Lubriplate and the final diameter was .364. Final weight is 200.2 grains. I found seven of them that I still have in a drawer. They shot well enough but I had little idea how all that stuff worked and didn't know anyone that could help improve the accuracy. I'd probably be embarrassed to say how I arrived at a proper load for this combination if I could remember.

I bought a nice Kerner falling block rifle chambered for the 9.3x57R/360 last year and ordered a Steve Brooks mould. The bullet is a stepped slick bullet and casts at 206 grains using a 20:1 alloy. I'm patching with a thin paper and my final diameter is .366. It is a very accurate rifle and with the paper jacket I don't have to fret over leading. I'm simply using beeswax for lubricant. My velocity is at 1,700 fps. I don't have to have a bullet sizer and lubricator with this method and it might be a good solution for you.

If anyone is interested in any additional details I can provide them.