........BruceB, I was just reading about the CZ's in 22 Hornet, .222, .223, and 7.62 Short. Fine rifles each one. I like my CZ 22RF too :-). I'll go along with ole Jumptrap as to what his Ruger will do. And 1.5" at 100 yards is just fine for 99% of us users.

BUT! You can create your own should you like, very simply. The one I have breaks down thusly:

1) Action (1894 Brazilian, FN) $70.
2) Barrel from GPC $99. Chambered, threaded, contoured and crowned, with feed kit.
3) Stock. From Boyds 98% inletted $65
4) Williams rear sight $36
5) Front sight $0, out of the junk box.

So that comes in at about $280. Plus I had the enjoyment of putting it together. I screwed the barrel on and it headspaced so tight I had to stone off the face of the left locking lug as it would rub the breechface.

Surely somewhere around Northern Nevada there MUST be a small ring Mauser that needs a new home or a facelift for a reasonable fee? GPC also offers the barrel and feed kit for the M98, but that seems a bit of overkill for the little cartridge.

For me, the process of making or creating something usefull provides the major portion of the overall enjoyment. Especially when it turns out as well as this combination did. SOmething to think about, and you can accumilate the parts over time, and still keep your Steenking Peestol too. A win, win, win deal it'd seem.

........Buckshot

The small ring 7.62x39:

Buckshot, is your 1894 Brazilian the same quality as the 94 Swedes?

........Lar45, the 1894 Brazililan small ring Mauser actions I have are made by 2 contract providers. FN, or Loewe. I believe they were produced to 'spec' in their material use and heat treat. They don't carry the stigma that Spanish 93's can.

The small ring Swedes may be another issue. I've read that the Swedish steel used was of very high quality in that as it was mined it contained other valuable trace elements. I do know that the Swedes provided Mauser with the steel used by them for their production contract.

........Buckshot

If any one needs a testimonial, that gun is a beauty and a SHOOTER! [the caster formerly known as MT Gianni.]

Yo, Buck....wheat?

Sorry for the delay in answering.

I was also smitten with yer cute Mauser here in WMCA. WHY DO YOU THINK I NOW HAVE THIS DAMNED 7.62x39 MONKEY ON MY BACK????

Being a ong-term seeker of instant gratification, and having a distinct feeling of time growing short, I wanna have a Rooski I can shoot NOW, not after spending a lot of time building one. This Ruger just came struttin' down the avenue at a weak point in my resolve, that's all. Still, the deal's not done yet, so a CZ may well lie in wait. What about that Chas Daly one,as well?

It will be a rare occasion, getting a Rooski Short....NO waiting for a mould, NO waiting for sizer dies, NO waiting for brass, NO waiting for loading dies (in stock in Winnemucca stores), NO waiting for ANYTHING! Just load 'er up and head for the range! Everything is at hand, and that makes for a nice situation indeed.

In the absence of the Archives, where would you start with loads for, say, the Lee 130RN and Lyman 311466 (circa 150 grains)? I have sizers in .309, .311 and .314.

I'm at work, looking at a pile of almost 1000 freshly-cast (like, still hot) RCBS 38-150 SWCs.....they are BEAUTIFUL. I love RCBS moulds.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)

........Mt Gianni, Thanks. I just screwed all the parts together :-). I still have that 50 yard target Duke shot. 5 rounds in 1.1" but 4 in .341".

.......BruceB, asking me about load data for the 7.62x39 could be a bit boring :-) After I stumbled onto 28.0grs of surp 4895 and the Lee C312155R most everything paled to insignificance. Good speed (1975 fps), power (155gr bullet), and accuracy (see above), most everything else seemed pointless.

Load density is 100% with the slug sitting on the powder charge. The bullet engraves, but not enough to de-bullet on extraction. Finally, recoil isn't enough to keep it from being shot accurately offhand.

I did go get the book and will list some interesting loads I've shot through it:

Lyman 311252, 77gr RNPB (32 ACP bullet) @ .309"
5.0 W231 = 1320 fps
7.0 Red Dot = 1780 fps

Lee C309113F, 115gr FNGC @ .309"
7.0 Red Dot = 1540 fps
7.0 SR7625 = 1415 fps
23.0 AA2200 = 1989 fps
26.0 AA2200 = 2241 fps ..... 1" all touching
15.0 H4227 = 1785 fps
13.0 WC820 = 1760

NEI 110gr RNGC (HP) @.309"
29.0 WC846 = 2222

Lyman 311359, 125gr RNGC @.309"
29.0 WC846 = 2294 fps

Lyman 311410, 130gr RNPB
7.0 Red Dot = 1426 fps
12.0 2400 = 1630 fps

Lyman 150gr FNGC (discontinued mould)
24.0 AA2200 = 2011 fps
26.0 AA2200 = 2175 fps

Lee C309160R, 157gr RNGC @ .309"
25.0 WC846 = 1950 fps
26.0 WC846 = 2000 fps
26.0 IMR3031 = 2125 fps

Lyman 311284, 218gr RNGC
20.0 WC852 (slow) = 1175 fps (superb accuracy!)

All these loads provided good accuracy. None of the bullets were ever scaled and all charges thrown. All were 5 shot groups at 50 yards. For the most part they'd stay about an inch or so. Naturally on occasion there'd be 4 close and one out, or a nice round group going 1.5".

No followup work was done like sizing differently, altering the shown charges, testing crimp vs no crimp, etc. All these loads could be considered initial, without backup or further refinement. I just found or extrapolated data, loaded and fired, experimenting. With such a wide spread in burn rates and bullet weights, I consider the overall performance as noteworthy, since they were all so consistant.

........Buckshot

Good evening Bruce, What a dilema you have put before us. I had one of the S&W 25-2 models back in the early 80s, the shallow rifling that you describe was there. That and the long bullet jump to the rifling made cast boolit shooting a bit iffy. Having had a lot of bad luck with Ruger products, usually I would never consider a trade as you describe, but if you could convince the owner to a little range trial it might be a good trade. Another thing, one of my shooting pals here in Reno just bought one of the CZ rifles in the Rusky .30 short caliber. We are going for a shoot sometime this weekend, if I can get it togethor in time I could load a few cast boolit rounds and give you a report by Monday. I have dies and the favorite Lee 113, and also a RCBS pointy mold for that caliber, around 125 gr. but too pointy for high velocity. Much like the Lyman number 308113. I was also smitten by Buckshot's little Mauser in that caliber and would like to get one too, but the list of want things is long around here.

Regards from duke..

MT Gianni, Curmudgeon and I were in Missoula about a week ago, and we wanted to call you but neither one of us could remember your real name. Geezers on the loose on long road trips are dangerous, the unreliable memory banks cutting in and out like oil fouled spark plugs. Our apologies are hereby offered. We both REALLY liked Montana and are talking about making this trip the first of an annual event. Can you email me an address? My new email address is:
cdukatz@sbcglobal.net. I remember you saying that you had a lot of social and family obligations this year, I hope that all went well.

Best regards from duke.

Sorry you had to see the country on fire,Hope that wasn't what brought you. If you come armed and with notice, our club has one of the best 1000 yd ranges in the US, 2 facilities, and a 300yd course, a 200 yd and a2 100 yds as well as pistol ranges free to the member, family and one time for a guest. The 1000 yd ranges need to be set up in advance as most hunting zeroes will not allow you to see the target in the field of view of your scope and an aim at the top of the target barely in the bottom of your scope will impact at the 700 yrd line [where the spotters usually are].
My Daughter graduated from High School, Recieved top Honors on her vocal duet at State,[ the same weekend as WMCA shoot] recieved a small scholarship, as is attending Weber State in Ogden UT with a major in Musical Theater, [singing and dance]. When you send your kids out of state you feel like an ATM machine, but her grandmother is 30 min away and she is 7 hrs all of which make my wife very happy, John

I done went and did the evil deed.

On a straight-across swap, the Model S&W 25-2 has a new home, and I have a brand-new Ruger 77 MkII stainless, pencil-barreled, SYNTHETIC-stocked 7.62x39. It comes equipped with a new Leupold VX-II 3-9x40 scope. The scope has not been used at all, and the rifle fired about fifty rounds, he sez.

Moneywise, it is a saw-off as to value, or maybe even a little in my favor. Esthetically, that stock has to go! Anyone have a decent Mk II short-action WOOD stock which is surplus to needs???

I wuz wrong (happens on rare occasions) about 7.62 dies being available here, and the previous owner doesn't have 'em either. What to do??? Duke, you feel like picking up a set and sending them out, along with some more boolit lube???? BIG favor, I know....e-mail me if you can, please.

I have a feeling this little gun (only weighs about 6.5 pounds scoped, I swear) will be considerable fun. Probly squirm like an eel on the bags, though. I'll let y'all know how it works out. The CARTRIDGE should offer an efficient-size receptacle for cast boolits. The rifle....???

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)

You stole that rifle!!! The Leopold, as Carpetman would be glad to tell you (if he wasn't constantly busy on the Small Game Forum; since when are cats game animals?), is easily worth $250, the rifle $400. I like Model 25s but nobody is likely to pay more than $450 for it. Check GunsAmerica if you want to buy one. And there is a set of RCBS dies in 7.62x39 on ebay that can be had for under $20.

........BruceB, check Lee dies. I believe they come with a neck expander for .308" and .311" bullets. I don't know about the Ruger boltgun, but I sure hope they didn't pull the same deal they did with their Mini-30. That is, put in a LONG leade in the .300x.308" bbl to accomodate surplus or factory 7.62x39 stuff with .311" bullets.

Might as well go ahead and check out the various places for your dies, as you'll need brass too. Don't buy a whole bunch at first as they go on sale occasionally. Midway had some K-P (Kaltron-Pettibone) headstamped stuff (made by Lapua) on sale a few months back @ $9 something per hundred. Superb stuff! While you're at it, if you don't have it you'll need the Lee C312155R bullet mould.

Something interesting, but of dubious worth was the Heavy Bullet experimenting I was doing with the 30 Rooski Shortski. You can see in the attached photo that it engraves pretty well! The loaded round on the right is with the Lee C312155R. It's about a perfect fit in my Mauser. You can see that about 1/8" of the nose is engraved. A real good 'snuggle' fit in the leade :-)




I was using surp WC852 (slow) and had it up to almost 1200 fps showing no pressure. The slugs started out pretty wobbly looking through the paper at 50 yards :-). Yet the way they straightened up and the holes started drawing closer and closer together was encouraging. At a bit over 1000 fps they were producing honest 1" 3 shot groups. I guess the GC hanging so far down in the case doesn't hurt it any. Just another one of those de-railed projects.

.........Buckshot

Buckshot:

Projectile on the left in your pic is 311284 ... ?

Resp'y,
Bob S.