Gentlemen,

I just bought a VERY nice 1924-vintage Westley Richards Mauser in .318 WR. Considering its age, it is in a wonderful condition and I cannot wait to introduce it to a blue wildebeest during the next hunting season!

It came with about 100 Kynoch factory loads, mainly 250-grain solids, all with corrosive primers (haven't figured out what to do with them yet, I don't really want to shoot them and pulling the bullets from original Kynoch ammo and reloading them seems sacrilegious), 80 Bertram cases and about 200 250-grain Woodleighs (Weldcore softs).

Has anybody out there used these before in the .318, and if so, what was your experience? I have used Weldcore's in my .375 for some time and have no cause to complain, so I suspect the .318's will work just as well.

Also, if anybody out there can let me have their reloading data (some of our powders here in SA are reasonably close to certain US propellants, so I will probably be able to figure something out) I would be very appreciative.

Would like to post a photo of the rifle, but haven't figured out how to do it yet.

Thanks!

Congratulation with your .318WR.

Ok..you shall be excused for not posting a picture...for this time...hahaha This forum here in particular LOVES pics of classics and customrifles...words ain`t enough

If you can e-mail me the pictures and I will post them for you.

e-mail: rigbymauser@yahoo.dk

For the sake of safety I'd pull those old Kynoch loads and shoot the bullets in modern cases. British brass that old sometimes splits at the neck...or worse! It would be a shame to find that your rifle had just shredded its woodwork.

Those old cases? Would make good dummy rounds with wooden or nylon false bullets. In theory any 30-06 loading would be a good starting point.

Here we go!!

I love the finish, and tone on that one! Nice rifle.

Was it WestleyRichards standard practice to cut away the right rear of the ring to facilitate loading or did they have another reason. My 318 is cut the same way (it is now a 375). Mine is a single square bridge with a slightly different bolt handle (original Mauser pattern) that is lightly engraved. Bolt handle knob is engraved not the action.

Zim,

As I understand it, the reason for the cutaways was to accommodate cartridges loaded with the longer "LT" or capped bullets. In my rifle, such a cartridge fits perfectly in terms of OAL.

Also, I have compared an LT-loaded cartridge with a standard Kynoch solid and it was quite a bit longer, so much so, in fact, that I doubt if an LT-loaded cartridge will cycle comfortably through a standard-length Mauser that was not altered in this way.

There may be another, more valid reason as well, but this is my understanding.

Thanks very much for the answer. I have been curious for years. Did not know of the longer bullet. As I said my action started life as a Westley Richards 318 accellerated express and is so marked. It's a single square bridge and the bottom metal is off an original 10.75 Mauser and is the lever style hinged floor plate. I lengthened the box to handle 375's. The barrel was done by David Miller and has an integral quarter rib and barrel band front swivel. I have installed one of the first batch of Rusty Marlins excellant cocking piece sights. Stock is a beautiful piece of AMERICAN walnut that David Miller let me have and Curt Crum turned for me. Actually wish it were the original 318 though. Made up into a nice rifle that I will probably never use.