I recently acquired an MS M1908 in 8x56 in excellent condition including the bore. Accuracy with Nosler .323" Partitions was terrible. The bore was slugged and it is .3275" or about .004" oversize. Are oversize bores common in these rifles? Next step is to try the Prvi Partisan/PPU 196-gr RN bullet. Any suggestions on how to get this rifle to shoot?
Thanks.

get you some 329 diameter cast bullets.

Check Buffalo Arms Co, they carry 208 gr. .327 PRVI fmj's. They also have .329 softs that say they are for the 8x56 Hungarian, maybe Lee would make you a sizer die to swage them down or they might just work as is if you start out with mild loads.

I have slugged many 1908 M-S 8x56 barrels and they have all run between .326" and .328". This diameter most likely was inherited from the 8x50R Austrian military round. The French Lebel and Berthier rifles are also of that diameter.

Hawk makes .323", .329" and .330" bullets, and I'm surprised they don't offer .327" for Mannlichers and Lebels.

I've had pretty mediocre results trying to make .323" bullets work in 1908 M-S rifles.

Mine slugged at .3275 as well FWIW. I haven't gotten mine to shoot better than 3.5 inches at 100 yds so far. That was with 44.0g of Varget behind a 175g Sierra .323 bullet. I did try the .329 bullets from Buffalo Arms also. I ran them through a .327 bullet sizing die, but I don't think I really had to. About the same. I've seen some people say that they had good luck with 4064 and 3031 behind the lighter (175g) bullets. Didn't work for me. I've got a bullet mold for a 205g .329 bullet that I plan to try. Love the little rifle. Hope to make it shoot better.

It is possible that the bore is not the culprit. Check and double check the usual suspects. Bedding, scope mounts, scope, muzzle crown etc.

I sold another AR member my 1908 Mannlicher a few years ago. It was a fairly nice little rifle + quite accurate. It had the old claw mount QD rings + 4X scope from Germany. I never slugged the bore, but it shot just fine with factory 8 mm bullets.

Also, I don't have a scope on mine, so factor that into my accuracy results.

quote:

Originally posted by RogersGunWorks:
I recently acquired an MS M1908 in 8x56 in excellent condition including the bore. Accuracy with Nosler .323" Partitions was terrible. The bore was slugged and it is .3275" or about .004" oversize. Are oversize bores common in these rifles? Next step is to try the Prvi Partisan/PPU 196-gr RN bullet. Any suggestions on how to get this rifle to shoot?
Thanks.

Buffalo Arms Co. has the .329" bullets in stock. They were the only ones I know of that carried those bullets. My neighbor bought a rifle years ago when they were like $80 and had no idea what he had just bought. We researched it and found it has the oddball bore diameter like the 6.5 Carcano with it's .268 vs the .264 that every other 6.5 caliber has. He had the rifle for awhile and then sold it off.

What size groups did it shoot with irons should we ask first? I had an old pre 64 Win 20 with a throat slick as glass and riffling about as bad, shot 4 to 5 inch groups consistently. I killed more deer Avalina and antelope with it. I guess I just didn't know better in my early youth, and wiggled on instead of off. as I age it happens again off an on/