I see that some of you guys are active reloaders for the 8x56r in the M95 Styer rifles. Thought you might be interested in the results I am getting with cast bullets. I tried the Lee .329" mold and got little better than pattern results. Did some research on the castboolit site and found out that most of these rifles like a fatter bullet, more like .334". the opinion on the castboolit site is that Lee got it wrong with their 8x56-.329" mold, and my rifle seems to bare this out. I was lucky to get some cast bullets along with this M95 carbine when I bought it, and the previous owner had done his homework, as these bullets are sized to .334". My first attempt was a load of 36gr, IMR4350 with compressed Cream of Wheat fill. This load was estimated from experience with other medium bore military loads. Here is the very first target I fired with this new rifle and load:
These targets are shot with the Lee 338", 220gr bullet sized to .334":
Same bullet a little hotter load:
Here is a picture of the loaded rounds with the bullets:
I apologise for the size of this picture. The edit function in photobucket wants to cut the picture in half when I try to make it smaller. The left bullet is the Lee .338-220. The middle bullet is a 232gr FN from a custom mold, and the right one is a 253gr FN also from a custom mold. I got a good supply with the rifle, but don't have a lot left. These custom molds were made by Mountain Mold Co. I emailed the company to see about getting some duplicate molds made, but they don't save old designs. Very wierd concept there. I haven't tried other powders yet, only IMR4350, which is my favorite cast bullet powder for hotter loads. My goal is to get an accurate 2000fps cast load in this rifle, but the twist rate may not let me. I do have big fun with this little carbine. I can whack the 100 yard plates with every shot, and they jump real well. I need to save some of the FN bullets till hunting season. Might need em for squirrels and such.....