I wanted to ask about the 9x56? Anyone here load for it? I read that the 56MM part was measured from the front of the rim to the mouth of the neck. I didn't measure in the usual manner yet. Curious if anyone has some personal loads other than those I got from Norman Conquest??? TIA Packy

From the 9.5MS loads I shared with you, one could drop down 3 grains and play.

I suspect that you would need relatively fast powder for low pressure and say 2400 fps with 220 gr bullets.

I would use 358 Win data and load down for starting loads. 4198, H322, Re7 would be my guess.

I am only guessing here & already having fun

What bullets are you using?

Good luck.

Packy,hope you're enjoying it.There is loading data in Donnally's Book Of Cartridge Conversions as well as in C.O.W. 2nd edition.

One of my favorite cartridges; I took my first elk with a 1905 carbine in the Bob Marshal in the 80s.

I'll see if I can dig up some of my old loads. I mostly used the now unavailable 250 gr Winchester Silvertip made for the .358 Win and it was a peach. These days I'd probably use a Hawk bullet in the size that most nearly matched the groove diameter. Of the several 9x56 and 9x57 rifles I've had, one was as small as .354", most were around .356". I had a draw die made for the small one and as I recall the throats of the others would accommodate standard .358" bullets fine.

I made cases from Winchester 8x57 Mauser brass. It's just enough smaller than other brands to (usually) fit the slightly smaller M-S chamber diameter. Dies for 9x57 Mauser have worked fine to load with as there's basically no difference between the two. I have an old (very) box of Remington factory ammo that's labeled as being usable in both the Mauser and M-S rifles.

The July-August 1994 issue of "Handloader", number 170, has a "Pet Loads" article on the 9x56 M-S. There's even a picture of one of those old boxes of Rem ammo! Ken Waters goes through a lot of steps making brass that I never found necessary, at least starting with unfired Winchester 8x57 brass. I have a copy of that issue.

There are a few loads in the German manual "Wiederladen" for 9x57 Mauser, which shows the max 'standard' pressure of the round to be only 2800 bar - compare to .30-30 at 3200 bar, .30-06 at 4050 bar and the .270 at 4300 bar to get an idea of just how low 2800 is. Anyway, that manual shows 46 grs of IMR 4064 with a 250 grain bullet as giving 675 M/s (2225 fps) at only 2386 bar.

In my old un-scoped carbine, maybe 5-1/2 lbs loaded, that was about all the recoil I could take anyway. It was incredibly effective on game.

Thanks for the load info BPESTEVE. I appreciate all info I can get. I agree about the weight of the gun makes you think about loads/recoil. The 245 gr RN hits with authority. The round/flat transfers energy quite well. I may have to get a WFN mold for a dead soft 250 gr. Should be effective on all but the largest thick skinned stuff. I have 350 Rem Mag and larger for that. Thanks again to all you guys that have helped, Norman Conquest and Nakihunter from the beginning. Be Well. Packy

I have some cast bullets and some Hawk 245 gr jacketed RN. The Hawk bullets look good. Like a 30-30 RN or the 35 Remington RN. Probably put a wallop on anything you shoot. I suppose you would leave out thick skinned game. Packy

Revisited this thread and wondered if anyone else had some information or data I hadn't seen yet. Always trolling for data as I get a chance. Might dig up some more coins for a 9.5 or 10.75 Steyr M/S. God Bless. Packy

Packy; missed your post first time around.

A few years back I picked up an old (pre-WWI) M1905 carbine with the 50cm barrel, fitted with scope mounts for a 1" scope with no front bell (now fitted with an old 1.75-5x20 variable). Bore slugged 0.356". It came with a set of CH4D dies, a box and a bit of 0.356" Hawk 250 gr. RNSP bullets, and a number of boxes of old Czech factory loads (headstamped PS) with 249 gr. RNSPs. I subsequently picked up several more boxes of this PS ammo at gun shows.

To put it politely, the old PS ammo is not very good. About half the cases had cracked necks, and those that didn't exhibited erratic velocities (1800 - 1925 fps), and dirty burning. Transferring the bullets and powder from the cracked neck rounds to reformed new W-W 8x57 brass with a WLR primer did nothing to improve the situation (5-shot accuracy ran 2 - 5 MoA), but did give me some fireformed brass to work with. FYI, I was also able to pick up a box of KYNOCH 245 gr. RNSPs. Much better stuff. Mean velocity for the 10 rds was 1975 fps, with a standard deviation of 33, and the 2 5-shot groups were nice and round and 2.25 and 2.5 MoA.

Now, to my reloading so far: somewhere I picked up photocopies of pages 142-143 of the Lyman #42 Handbook, which lists loads with Hi-Vel, 4895, 3031, 4064, and 4320. I had decided that I had 2 goals: 1) to approximate the results obtained with the KYNOCH ammo; and 2) to develop a low recoil load using .357`pistol bullets (the rifle came with a broken stock that had been professionally repaired). For powder I selected H4895, as I had already played with that in the .358 Win.

1) For goal 1 I decided to work with the bullets pulled from the PS cases with the cracked necks. The Lyman manual recommended a starting load of 38.0 gr. and a max. load 43.0 gr. for a 250 gr. bullet. I used the same o.a.l. as the factory loads (3.05"), the fireformed W-W 8x57 brass, and F210 primers. Accuracy was not significantly improved over the factory loads (I`m guessing due to the bullets), but velocities were much more consistent (except for the starting load), though significantly slower than suggested by the manual (1590 fps for the starting load, vs. 1795 fps per the manual). Each additional grain of powder increased velocity by an average 77.5 fps. So far, I've worked up to 42.0 gr. H4895, for 1900 fps, so the old max. load should meet my goal of 1975 fps. Unfortunately, between work and bad weather, I have`t been able to confirm that yet, nor try loads with the Hawk and Hornady 250 gr. RNSPs.

2) For goal 2 I selected the Hornady 180 gr. XTP-HP. The Lyman manual suggested 40.0 - 45.0 gr. of 4895 with a 200 gr. bullet. Since I was using a bullet 20 gr. lighter I started at 41.0 gr., and have worked up to 45.0 gr. I wasn`t expecting stellar accuracy, so these loads were fired at 50 yds. The starting load grouped about 3 MoA, but after that groups were just a bit over 2 MoA. The 45.0 gr. load gave 2195 fps, and normal pressure signs. Again, velocities were consist, except for the starting load. On average, velocity increased 86 fps per additional grain of powder.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

Looks good to me. I appreciate all the data I can get. A variety can find me where I want to be, with safe effective loads. Be Well. Packy

Packy, If you want a model 1910 in 9.5x56 just to play with, O.K. Anything new is always fun. If you want performance, stay clear. It is fun to load + shoot (you can cast a Lyman 375 bullet) but the end results as to its usage are anaemic at best. When H+H brought out their new calibre (still the best IMO) 3 years later they shot the Germans out of the water concerning African cartridges per se performance. Please don't let this deter you; all older calibres are a great source of pleasure to load for; just recognize the performance potential.

That being said, I save all my loading data in a big ledger. I will be happy to pass on my 9.5x56 data if you like. Be well.R.

I was looking at 9.5 data for another person. He had PMed me for that data. I am happy with the 9X56 M/S. I do have a 358 Winchester BLR coming that just sort of happened. It will make a brother to the 308 BLR I have. My safe is a haven for lost medium bores. Be Well R. Packy

I'm back at this from July. Wondering if someone else has experience or loads? Thanks for your time. Be Well, Packy

Tried to PM you some data I had from an older manual but was told you aren't accepting PM's from me.

I don't know what happened but will see if I can fix it. Be Well, Packy Don't remember how that happened but I think it is fixed now, Sorry.

PM sent. Hope the data is useful.

That data is quite welcome. I will see about powders this week. I mainly want to load 245 to 250 gr bullets. Thanks and Be Well, Packy.

FWIW, I shoot several 9x57's and use RL15 in them. I don't recall the charge weight(s) off the top of my head.