cast bullet convert

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  • Last Post 11 June 2018
loophole posted this 10 June 2018

About 5 years ago I got my son-in-law interested in shooting.  I gave him a Ruger .357 and he went through the obligatory black rifle phase before he became fascinated with milsurps.  He got an o3a3, a Garand and a number of other WWII era rifles.  He shoots with me a couple of times a month now.  He has become a decent shot, and we share a lot of good times reloading and shooting.

I got interested in 60's era match rifles (still some good deals out there because a military rifle loses much of its value  to collectors when it is modified in any way.)  We found a beautiful Polish Mauser--bore looks new--crudely inletted into Bishop stock blank. Cheap.  I should have saved the stock in case somebody has a "ugliest home inletted stock" contest. I inletted the Mauser into a low priced blank from brownell's.  Now some of you Mauser experts will have to check me on this but I believe the Polish barreled action a good deal lighter than the K98--smaller barrel countur. 

My neophyte military collector shot with me for a few years always sneering at my cast bullet loads.  He just couldn't understand why I fooled with lead when it is so much easier just to buy jacked bullets.  A few weeks ago we shot the sporterized Polish Mauser off the bench, first with some of the military level jacketed loads.  Both of us decided after 2 or three rounds that the recoil was much more noticeable, and a 13gr Red Dot load was very pleasant.

Well, the other day our boy stumbled across a Persian Mauser carbine--a K98 type rifle with a much shorter barrel than the K98.  He asked me to bring some of my cast 8mm loads when we went to the range Saturday because he realized his military loads might be a little too stout in the carbine.  I watched as he suffered through his loads, then saw a smile of genuine enlightenment when he switched to my loads.  (With military sights and my 72 year old eyes I shot a 3-1/2" 5-shot group at 100yds.)  On the way home he told me the carbine woud be a cast gun, and he started getting interested when I introduced him to some cast bullet basics.

A success story in my estimation.

Steve K 

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John Alexander posted this 11 June 2018

That is a success story. If all our members would do that and sign em up we could lower the dues.  Good work.

JOHN

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JeffinNZ posted this 11 June 2018

Wonderful.  It's a little bit addictive.....

Cheers from New Zealand

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