boy am i disappointed. i went to the famous "page8a" in complete confidence that i would find reloading data for the 8x50R Lebel and guess what.........no data. what's the deal, Steve...??????????? data for the 8.2x53R Finnish, but no Lebel data...????????

there's only one thing left to do........."i guess i'll just sit here and drink"...to quote another Okie.

Yup. you are absolutely correct. I have no data for that firearm. But tell you what I'll do. You send me the firearm, 8 pounds each of 20 different powders, 5,000 each of all the primers that fit (Remember they are Berdan of both sizes), 2,000 cases (new) and I will start working up a load for your 8mm as soons as the ground thaws and dries. Should be somewhere around June.

Ya know, I don't ever remember saying I had data for that cratridge. Did I?

nah.....you never said you had data for this one. i'm just jerkin your chain. plus i wanted a reason to sit here and drink....

on a little more serious side though.....do you know of a good source of data for this one? i found one, but it is very limited. i think the data i found came from a page called Ken's Reloading Bench, or something like that.

anyway, thanks for having a sense of humor and if you can help, i'd appreciate it.

I'm sure there are at least a few loads in "Cartridges of the World." I can look when I get home, if you don't have it.

BTW, I've noted that all these new "Super Short Magnums" and such look an awful lot like that old Lebel.

yes they do. this is really the only source i have found other than the one i mentioned above. a few loads, but not many. thanks for the help.

I don't have it yet myself, but Quik-Load can be a very useful resource in a situation like this. Given the case capacity, bullet specs and maximum allowable pressure level you can come up with some pretty good load recommendations.

You may have seen some of the threads where I've mentioned the surplus IMR 7383 I'm using in .30-06 and .22-250. Due to its relatively slow burning rate (seems to be close to 4350 in these cartridges) and low density, I haven't been able to get enough in the cases to get anywhere near normal full power velocities in them and the pressure's quite mild. I have a friend who's used this in several odd European military cartridges for which not much data's available and has noted that a capacity load of this powder with middle weight bullets usually works out well. Since I've got a bunch of that powder on hand and have had similar experiences, I'd probably try it, but of course I've never loaded for a Lebel.

BTW, have you thought of cast bullets? Lots of folks on the cast bullet boards love to shoot old milsurp rifles. You might ask around on them; somebody's bound to be shooting a Lebel.