OK, did this spur of the minute. Was in a store and they had some military rifles. Bought a Steyr M95 carbine in 8x56R for $89. I fell in love with the "straight" bolt action. Call it a cheap Blazer.

NOW--what do I do for ammo. I love reloading. Are dies & brass available without spending a million dollars. Anyone got an extra set laying around?? Anyway to make brass from another round??

Did I buy a "pig in the poke"?

Tell me what to do with this thing--maybe is just an expensive "wall hanger"??

Thanks for any help

Brass can be formed from 7.62x54R (Russian). Brass will be a littel short, but that's OK. Dies are available from Lee now, so that's not a biggie either. Only problem is the bullets - 0.329" diameter. I have used 0.323 bullets, but accuracy is poor.

I found die and brass availability--now where does a guy find those .329" bullets. I figured 8mm was 8mm??

Don't EVER assume that "8mm is 8mm"!! This is one size that can actually vary from .318" to close to .330"!! The only way to be safe with an 8mm is to slug the bore to determine its' EXACT groove diameter before you buy any bullets. The Austro-Hungarian M95 Mannlicher straight-pull rifle you bought is nominally .329" in groove diameter, but it is possible yours could be a little less or a little more than that!! I am not aware of anyone now making .329" bullets, but I believe heard that there is some custom maker who still does. Otherwise, you may have to use cast bullets.

I looked at the same rifle at Big-5 a while back and when I learned that they didn't carry ammo I passed it up. 7.62x54R Russian brass is hard to find at a decent price as well. Perhaps one could make a bullet swedge out of a reloading die blank?

OK--grafs has reasonable brass--I think about $30/100. Lee makes dies--reasonable.
Now what about bullets?? In using google to research this a guy said he paper patched regualar 8mm bullets. I also found a making cast bullets but they were 230 grain round nose.

If possible I would like to use this for deer hunting. MANY thanks to anyone who can keep helping me on this.

I DID BUY A PIG IN THE POKE!!

Midway sells several .330 bullets for the westly richards.

They also stock a Lee Mold in .329.

I know a local guy that casts .330 from an NEI mold. He's real reasonable. Let me know if you want his info. He charged me $5.00 fro 100 .30 cal 140 grainers and $7.00 for 100 30 cal gas checked. All cast from Linotype. Very good pricing.

He's gonna do my casting when the Grafs brass arrives.

Soem people have used the Lee push through sizing die in .329 to size down .338 bullets. They have reported good results.

-M

if you love the strait pull sell that steyr and get a k31 swiss, it shoots a standard .308 bullet the guy at big 5 also told me that the steyrs are hard to load without some sort of clip/stripper clip

But the Steyr is so much better looking and handier than that ugly Swiss K-31.

Go to "Cartridge Collecting" on this forum and see the post entitled 8x56R by Coues.

The 8x56 round should be suitable for taking deer, the problem, as cummings cowboy pointed out, is the fact that the 1895 steyr (like the italian carcano and french berthier) operates on the mannlicher magazine system. Which means, you need a special stripper clip in order to use the rifle as a repeater. The clip holds 5 rounds i believe, and falls out of the slot in the bottom of the magazine after the last round is fired and ejected. If you can get your hands on a few boxes of corrosive WWII ammo, you'll have enough clips for fooling around.

[ 03-06-2003, 06:41: Message edited by: Curtis_Lemay ]