Speaking "FRANKLY"
By Frank Marshall Jr.
WW I MILITARY'S CUT IT WITH CAST
During the lean years prior to WW II, surplus military
arms and ammunition were an attractive alternative. The warrior class
rifle interrupted the reign of the All American .30-30 cartridge and its
Mod.-94 carbine. Now at low cost were the M-1917 Enfields, Cal. .30-06,
the .30-40 Krags, the cancelled-contract Russian 7.62 mm and the "Beau
Geste" Lebel; that lean and mean pride of the colonial "desert
diplomats."
The Frenchy 8mm Berthier Lebel when used with the Balle D 198 grain
boatail at 2300 f.p.s. revolutioniz¬ed long range riflery. While the
Germans did quite well out to 400 meters with their flat base 154 gr
spitzer at 2900 f.p.s., the French kept the camel bandits at bay in the
dunes out at 2,000 yards; and kept the German munition mongers up late
at night working their slide-rules trying to unravel the wonder of it
all.
A military rifle collector who frequented "Uncle Will's" carriage house
matches had purchased a new Remington 8mm Lebel rifle for a couple of
bucks brand new. At that time, you could also get Western Cartridge
Co."contract" 8mm Lebel ammo with the long 198 gr long range bullet for
peanuts. So, this fellow shot that ammo at everything, but Will wouldn't
let him bring it, into the "Coop's" indoor range, as, that was
exclusively for lead loaders only.
The gravel bank in town was the local rifle range on Saturday and
Sundays, and we often checked the 3 shot clip loading Lebel rifles
against Enfield, Krags, the Mosin Nagant, and the Mausers in their
unaltered state. If you have never had a chance to check out the Lebel
rifle, then I can vouch that it was no where near as bad as a lot of
biased reporters had many Gunnys believing. The French soldier was a
lousy shot, but that was not the fault of the rifle or ammo, according
to our tests.
After Will's military collector friend had fired all his jacketed ammo,
he got a hold of 100 Remington cases, and fooled around with a fat .32
caliber cast bullet of about .327" diameter from a #32360 mould, that
weighed 200 grs in a 75/25 lino-lead alloy. The Lebel rifle had shot 8
inches high at 100 yards with the issue ammo, but with that
accommodating cast bullet, the load was adjusted to hit dead on at 100
yds. This was no small accomplish¬ment, as most WW I military rifles had
their lowest rear sight set for 3-400 meters.
As "Uncle Will" would say, it was "a prime example of an all compatible
load in conjunction with very cooperative coincidence." We figured this
200 gr bullet was getting about 1500 f.p.s. out of the Lebel's 31", 9.5"
twist barrel. The flat nose cast bullet, in front of a charge of #80
powder, actually did better on deer than the zip-thru military boatail
spitzer; and about as well as the Remington 170 gr RNSP factory load.
The military surplus rifles were the rage for a few years, providing
low-cost fun, and proved to be quite revealing. During this era, many of
us learned about snug fitting cast bullet benefits in odd-ball throats,
and the usually deep-grooved barrels.
With the pot-belly stove keeping a camp-size pot of coffee hot and
keeping the shooting shed end of Will's fabulous "Chicken Coop" 100 yard
indoor rifle range warm, this was a utopian set up for about ten or so
hard-core cast loungers. Even though most of the regulars in Will's
group of insatiable experimenters were well-heeled affluents, they had
there share of "give-a-way" military rifles.
As I recall, the highest priced D.C.M. rifle was the .30-06 M-1917
Enfield at $7.50, and the low end was taken up by the .30-40 Krag at
$1.50. The Russian Mosin Nagant 7.62mm and the 8mm Lebel were usually
some where in between. Mausers couldn't be purchased thru the D.C.M.,
but were imported, and considerably higher in price. Most riflemen of
this era had the .30-06 Enfield rated #1, with the Krag #2, and the
Russian and French rifles about even. Individual lead loaders had
hard-headed opinions as to what rated #1, and most had a pet cast load
to back it up.
The Lebel man, a notable military collector, for whatever reason
happened to like his particular rifle. I will confess, that my favorite
foreigner was the as issue Remington M-91 Mosin Nagant 7.62. The M-91
Mosin rifle, especially the Remingtons, were well made to the strict
specifications of the Russian Czar's ordnance inspectors. I had one with
a .300" bore and .312" groove, a snug chamber - devoid of a throat - but
a long low-angle leade to bore diameter; which was similar to the Mauser.
Hindenburgh's elite Prussians had a great respect for the Russian rifle
and 7.62 Russian Rimmed cartridge.
Just as with the Remington contract Lebels, the Remington made M-91's of
my experience were all of blued steel, except the bolt and cleaning rod;
the walnut stocks were straight grained and well finished. Barreled
action fitting to the stock was unusually close for a wartime production
rifle, and superior to some sporters of post-war vintage that I've
owned. The M-91 Mosin has been overall regarded as a great rifle, by
those qualified to judge impartialy; and are still in ready reverve in
some Communist countrys after better than a 90 year tenure.
This Russian rifle and the Remington 150 gr spitzer factory load, at
2800 f.p.s. from the long 31" barrels, probably acquainted more average
hard-times deer hunters to the shocking aspects of high velocity impact
than our own .30-06. Also, many hunters believed that the Russian rifle
kicked less than our own Springfield, with its skimpy butt stock,
although they both weigh about the same.
To make the M-91 Russian rifle into a sporter carbine, we simply cut the
barrel to 20" and the forend 2 1/2" forward of the lower band; filling
the cleaning rod hole with a walnut dowel. A new band-style front sight
base then allowed any height front sight to match the issue rear. With a
front sight of proper height, we could sight in 3" high at 100 yds, be
dead on at 200, and only 11" low at 300 yds; when using the Remington
150 gr factory load. We would turn the bolt handle down and voila, a
rough and ready sporting rifle. The Russian rifle was now only slightly
less handy than a .30-30 carbine, but with much more power.
I made up many of these M-91 sporters at a total cost of about $8.00,
and would tune them for the 150 gr Rem. factory load to print dead on at
200 yds, guaranteed! I got $17.50 for them, along with the 15 rounds of
ammo left over from sighting in. This combo would do you proud, hunting
the power lines or in the orchards, if you did your part; and I never
had a complaint.
For my own select 7.62 Russian "Econo-Carbine", I used the #311284 gas
check bullet in a fairly stiff 60/40 lino-lead mixture, that weighed 210
grs. With this load at 1850 f.p.s., when sighted in with 215 gr jacketed
ammo, I had only to move the rear sight up one step to be sighted in
with the cast load. This bullet cast at .313", and I used a.314" sizer,
for I found long ago that unsized bullets usually show an accuracy edge
over the long haul. But, more on this later
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