I'm about to run out of my stash of factory 8X57JR ammo, and I need to acquire some .318 bullets to load my own. I need 196 grain bullets to duplicate the S&B load and 231 grain bullets for my drilling that shoots 15 gram loads.

Also, does anyone know of a bullet swage that I can use in a conventional reloading press to swage .323 bullets to .318?

Oh goodness, someone else stuck with feeding an 8x60mm. I went thru that hate and discontent situation a few years ago, and found that the answer to my bullet problems was in three parts,
1. Watch every online market you can for 0.318 bullets, usually from Norma.
2. Special order Woodleigh bullets via your local dealer, and watch the online vendors for occasional offers.
3. Arrange with a friend traveling in Europe to purchase a supply of 0.318 bullets made by RWS or S&B, both readily available in Europe.

That's how I did it. Now I have a "lifetime supply of mainly RWS and S&B bullets, and I cannot tell the difference in performance between any of these bullets.

LLS

You can get a relatively inexpensive bullet reducing die from Lee to draw .323s down to .318 (or whatever your groove diameters happen to be) that works in any normal loading press. Give 'em a call.

Not exactly the weight you're looking for, but Midway has the Woodleigh in stock.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eprod...ct?saleitemid=530261

Hawk bullets also lists a .318 bullet.

http://www.hawkbullets.com/Pricelist.htm

Can't vouch for either of these personally as I still have my stash of Norma 196gr bullets.

What does a jacketed bullet look like after swaging? What sort of lube is needed?

Taking 3-5 thousandths off an 8mm bullet won't appreciably change its appearance. Standard case lube is plenty, if you even need that. I don't think I ever lubed the 225-250 grain .358" bullets I 'squoze' down to .352" for a particularly tight-bored 9mm rifle I once owned.

The reducing die is basically an appropriately sized hollow tube that threads into a standard press. Bullets are pushed through by the ram from below with surprisingly little effort

Not to be the wise a$$ but I'd just buy them from Buffalo Arms. They have four weights, 150 -200 gr at reasonable cost. Their web site is www.buffaloarms.com. they also have a good selection of odd sizes cases and dies, and are good folks to deal with.

quote:

Originally posted by Vol717:
I'm about to run out of my stash of factory 8X57JR ammo, and I need to acquire some .318 bullets to load my own. I need 196 grain bullets to duplicate the S&B load and 231 grain bullets for my drilling that shoots 15 gram loads.

Also, does anyone know of a bullet swage that I can use in a conventional reloading press to swage .323 bullets to .318?

Have you ever slugged the barrel of you drilling to determine it's actual groove diameter? A lot of the so called .318 Model 88 Commission rifles actually check about .320 to .321. If so you are not talking about swaging too much.
Lee will make you a custom swage for $25.

Thanks for all the information. The best setup for me is that CH4D sells a bullet resizer to squeeze jacketed .323 bullets to .318 for $65. Richard Corbin sells one for about $75. I can buy plain jane cup-and-core Speers for $24-30 per hundred and squeeze them down. This compares to $37-$51 per hundred for the specialty .318 bullets. The swage will pay for itself in about 300 bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:


Have you ever slugged the barrel of you drilling to determine it's actual groove diameter? A lot of the so called .318 Model 88 Commission rifles actually check about .320 to .321. If so you are not talking about swaging too much.
Lee will make you a custom swage for $25.

+1

This has been my experience as well, including 8x57J, 8x57JR, 8x58 Sauer, 8x72R and 8x57R/360 sporting rifles of various descriptions.

quote:

Have you ever slugged the barrel of you drilling to determine it's actual groove diameter? A lot of the so called .318 Model 88 Commission rifles actually check about .320 to .321.

This man is correct. As a matter of interest, IF YOUR FIRED CASES WILL LET A .323" BULLET DROP FREELY THROUGH THE MOUTH, you can actually shoot .323" bullets. They will swage down to .318", or whatever, before the peak pressure is reached. Ackley did this in an experiment, and discovered that "oversize bullets" can be fired safely as long as the bullet is freely released by the case mouth in the chamber neck section......some "I" bore service rifles were sometimes "converted" to use "S" ammo by reaming the chamber neck to a larger diameter with no other change.

The most extreme example I recall was of a person who fired .30/'06 ammo in a 6.5 Jap when all he did was rechamber the 6.5mm barrel to '06. No reboring wes done.

You might be able to get by w/ the cheap Lee sizer & Imperial wax. I use two Lee dies to go from .429"-.427"-.423" w/ 300gr 44mags to use in my 404jeffery for plinkers. The resulting bullets still print 1 1/2" @ 100yds, plenty accurate for my plinking needs & way cheaper than the Hawk or any other available bullets. You are only gong down 0.005" & one die may work fine. Going down 0.006" in one pass took quite a bit of force, hence the other die. Total cost was less than $50 or about one box of 50 bullets.

Three of my 8X57JR drillings have .318 to .3186 bores. One has a .3225 bore and I shoot .323s in that one.