9mm Mauser Rifle

[terry264]

My brother recently bought a 9mm Mauser bolt action rifle. Bore looks excellent but can't find bullets to reload with. Know I'll have to use probably 8mmx57 cases and blow them out to .356" but no bullets. The old rifle has what looks like a sporterized stock on it with double triggers, and like I said, a very good to excellent bore. It came with 100 rds. of Kynoch 245 gr. bullets and are not made any more. The cartridges it came with are probably worth more than the rifle, lol........Any suggestions on what to do with this thing? Thought about rebarreling, but may not be worth it. Anyone interested in any of this? Also, we have not shot this rifle but it is a 9X57 Mauser for sure.

 

[Jim Watson]

At the risk of contributing to the delinquency of a handloader (apologies to Jeff Cooper), you could try seating a regular .358" bullet and see if it chambered freely. If it does and the case neck can expand to release the bullet, it will swage down to the barrel without difficulty, but you must avoid what Clark calls "pinch." An oversize bullet/case neck pushed into the chamber will do a lot more to run pressure up than a slightly large bullet moving with an easy start.

If it is tight in the chamber, I once read of a guy who took a batch of .358" bullets to a machine shop and had them centerless ground to .355" at no great cost and not much loss in jacket strength.

Other than those improvisations, Hawk makes proper 9mm rifle bullets. Not cheap, but correct.
http://www.hawkbullets.com/Pricelist.htm

 

[terry264]

Thanx Jim for the reply, may have to go that route if we ever try to reload for it. So far we have never shot it, may never shoot it. Did find an outfit that loads loaded cartridges for it but no prices. Superiorammo.com says they load for it and if they do, they are the only ones, already checked everywhere else. Thanx again, Terry.

 

[highlander 5]

if you have access to a lube sizer for lead bullets you might be able to size them down. Purchase a copy of Cartridges of the World they have sections with the various case dimensions bullet diameters. If the bore is .355 firing .357 diameter bullets shouldn't be much of a problem if you are going to handload reduce the
starting charge by 10%. IIRC Norma may still make 9x57 Mauser it's very close to the 358 Win in power

 

[mrmeval]

http://www.african-hunter.com/9x57_mauser.htm

The correct bullet diametre is .356", whereas American bullets are .358". However, American bullets can be swaged down (or put on a centreless grinder) and thus made to work. Before doing this, I would slug the bore of my particular rifle to find out the exact groove measurement, as a lot of these older rifles can vary considerably in their bore dimensions. You may well find that .358" bullets can be used as is.

If you get pretty serious about it you could get a swaging press.
http://www.corbins.com/index.htm

 

[terry264]

thanx mrmeval, those links really help, the one that shows the model A Mauser is like the one my bro. has. Thought it had been sporterized somewhere but I guess it was made that way. After further investigation, I have learned that (like Jim said) hawk bullets does make the right dia. bullet for it and customammo loads for it also. Had already checked norma, rws, kynoch, they don't load for it any more. I doubt we will invest in much for shooting this old 9mm, maybe if it was all we had, but it's not (lol). Thanx to all who replied, helped a lot.

 

[Onmilo]

These folks usually have some reloading items available for 9X57 and 9X62 Mausers.
http://www.buffaloarms.com
If you can't find them on the website, call and ask.HTH

 

[Clark]

P.O. Ackley 1966 "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders Vol 2" chapter 7
"additional pressure tests":

"..30 cal barrel pressure barrel was fitted to the test gun, but the
neck and throat was enlarged to accept the 8mm bullet, with the bore
remaining the standard 30 caliber. A Remington factory 30-06 cartridge
with the 150 gr bullet had been tested and previously gave 57,300 psi,
for a velocity of 3030 fps. The the bullets were pulled from two more
Remington 150 grain cartridges and were replaced with 8mm 150 grain
bullets. To everyone's surprise, although the velocity was rather
erratic, these loads averaged 2901 fps, with a pressure of 40,700 psi."

What does it all mean?
If the starting pressure is low enough so the bullet gets started and the extra pressure to swage the bullet down in a tight bore does not overlap with the peak pressure [when the bullet is 1" down the bore] then the peak pressure does not increase.

But, if the start pressure is higher because the bullet is jammed in the lands, or much worse, the bullet is pinched by the case neck which is pinched by the chamber neck, then the bullet start will be delayed, and the powder will be burned in an effectively smaller volume, and the peak pressure will go up.