I'm expecting my new (to me) M.1891 Mauser in 7.65 Argentine next week. It was customized in the 50's and sports a mannlicher style stock with a Lyman peep sight. I got in my brass, bullets (.311" Speer 180 gr. SP), dies today. Any suggetions beyond what's in the books for a favorite load? I'm only going to use it for short range hunting, say up to 100-120 yds so I'm going for heavy, slow and mild pressure.
Thanks,

Congrats on the new toy.... I have two of them and hunt with both on a semi regular basis. they are wicked on Texas whitetails, they dont run away from this old cartridge.
You are on the right track with regards to pressure...
Here is a nice load that shoots well in mine it is for the 150 Sierra...
150 grn Sierra
Norma brass
IMR 4895 - 47.0 grns
Primer - Fed 210

Like Mr.260 mine likes the 150 sierra game kings. the usual load is 43.5 grs of 4064, but a couple of months ago i decided to experiment with imr 4350, of which, the best load tended to contain 47.5 grains of powder.

You can load some good loads for that old gun. Mine is an Argentine "Engineer" carbine but my first was a sporterization gone bad that I corrected.

I have several loads that I like:

46 gr. H4350, Sierra 180 gr. SP, CCI 200, Hornady/Graf & Sons brass
43 gr. IMR 4064, Hornady 174 gr. RN, CCI 200, Norma brass
40 gr. H4831, Woodleigh 215 gr. RN, CCI 200, Norma brass

In the 1909 action it will exceed .308 and nearly equal .30-06 performance but in the 1891 you are limited by pressure limits to performance at the upper end of .300 Savage range. 2100-2200 with 215s, 2400-2500 with 180s, 2600 +/- with 150s. Depending on your eyesight, it should be good to 175-200 yards.

Good shooting!

Thanks guys, I printed these out and will start lower and work up. I am going to try 180's first then may go down to 150's if I can't get it to shoot well.

Hobie, the main reason I'm going to limit it to 100-120 yd.s is my eyes. My only problem is I can't see anything up close or far away. I'm hopeful that with the peep sight I can shoot 3" or so at 100 and that will be good enough. I had thought about maybe adding a scope but I'm going to try not too.

Thanks again,

I understand about the eyes. I shot peeps or open sights almost exclusively for over 30 years. Now, I've got scopes on almost all my Contender barrels.

As I've said, this cartridge can keep up with you and you'll enjoy it. To me, the only 2 bolt actions that are truly interesting are the 1891 and the Lee-Enfield.

Some of these have groove diameters up to .314" I bought a bunch of Arg. military ammo (FM), and it has 185-grain, .314" bullets!! But, in my 1909 with 29" barrel, I have had some very accurate results using .308" 200-grain Sierras!!

Yep, there can be lots of variation in bore diameters. If you're having problems with a particular bullet, the first thing you should do is slug the bore and get an accurate measurement to select the proper bullet. That said, I've yet to work with an 1891 that would not shoot the .312" bullets well.

To my mind, the worst problem is that chambers seem to vary even more than the bores. Ammo fired in some maximum sized chambers simply can't be resized to use in the minimum chambers (due to brass spring back). This is one case where, if you have more than one rifle, you might have to segregate the ammo in order for it to function.

Interestingly, I have some Argentine sporting ammo (150 gr. soft point) in clips (!) with bullets measuring .312". This was pretty accurate stuff AND it shot to point of aim at 100 yards in my military carbine. Supposedly, these still have the original sights for the 215 gr. load. There may still be some of this stuff out there, it comes in a green and white box, and it is good stuff. Unfortunately, it is Berdan primed (probably corrosive clean promptly).