I was just out today, testing my newest load. It worked great @75yds, maybe 3 inches high. 10 shots fit under palm of hand. 40gr Ramshot Hunter, 2" trimmed cases, under 208gr fmj. I'm using a custom RCBS die set. Good crimp required.
Using the PPU .329 projectile? Does yours have a decent bore by chance? I have one, and it has rifling but the bore is rough. Very rough. Most of these I've seen have had rough bores. I saw you mentioned needing a good crimp with the Ramshot Hunter, which makes sense as it is slow burning. How are you crimping yours? I have an RCBS 8x50 die set.
@@texascastblast5011 Also, not that the ammo I do find is almost always corroded, and 90+ years old, so I'd have to clean them and replace the powder for safety.
Wanted to come back and give some feedback on reloading the 8x50. I've been loading it specifically for the 88/90. Four more powders that have ended up working ok with this have been IMR 3031, Vihtavouri N135, Vihtavouri N140, and Accurate 2495. I tried each of these with 200gr flat based bullets. I also tried Ramshot X-Terminator. Which is similar to IMR 3031 in burn rate. I do NOT recommend it at all. Wildly inconsistent ignition and one round blew a lot of gas in my face. It slightly injured my eye and gave me a terrible headache for days. I'm not a big fan of ball/spherical powders because they don't reduce well and are hard to ignite. I think any load of Ramshot X-Terminator that would ignite reliably would be too much pressure for the 88/90. I think IMR 4064 and Hodgdon Varget would also be good candidates. Likely Vihtavouri N150 as well. From my limited experience with this cartridge, Accurate 2495, Vihtavouri N135 and N140 performed best. The first two can be loaded similar to IMR 4895. N140 is a little slower. Between 4064 and 4350.
@@texascastblast5011 That gas is no joke. This cartridge has a similar capacity to 30-40 Krag, and 303 British but I've noticed that load data for either of those doesn't extrapolate to 8x50 at all. Loads that would be serviceable in those (while being modest pressure) are very underpowered and inconsistent in 8x50. Likewise max loads for 303 British would be pushing it for 8x50. A lot of 30-40 data seems very inconsistent in results across various powder manufacturers. I really wish there were modern data for 8x50 available.
@@texascastblast5011 BTW, the Accurate 2495 load was 37gr and chronographed at 1730fps with 200gr bullet. The N135 was 35gr at 1520fps and then bumped to 37gr for 1700fps. I believe both of those could go up to about 39gr-41gr. Both had consistent if ignition and fire formed well. Definitely seem to be two very viable powders for this.
Hate to keep asking you questions, but ran into a conundrum yesterday. I shot my 88/90 using some 200gr .323 flat base and some .329 150gr. Of course after firing the neck is expanded to where it can swallow any of the above projectiles and needs to be at least neck sized. I have RCBS 8x50 dies and Lee 8x56 dies. I cannot get the Lee dies to neck size the brass for proper tension with the .329 bullets and trying to seat them through .323 sized necks is too much stretching. Plus I run the risk of deforming my brass running too far into the 8x56 dies. Are you running your 8x50 brass fully into the Lebel dies or using some other method to shape the neck for the .329-.330 bullets? I used a lyman M die to open the necks on some of my unfired brass to get the .329 bullets in there but they still didn't really fit properly. The rounds fired and hit the target ok but of course afterwards the necks were too wide and all I could do was resize them to .323 in my 8x50 dies. It seems like I'm missing something here. I'd really appreciate it, if you could offer some advice on sizing the necks for the .329 bullets. I can seat them without issue with my 8x56 die set. The wider bullets stick in my 8x50 die set.
So I first trim down the 7.62X54R to 50.35mm -50.40mm then use a 8X50 lebel die to size the neck down to .323 then I run the case through the 8X56 without the sizing rod. It makes it easier when then running it through the die that has the neck expander which expands it to .329. I seat the bullet with the 8X50 Lebel die, it keeps it pretty tight. I have yet any problems with it
I have been using black powder and I found the 8x50r dyes 😅 $185 for them…. I like my Steyr M95 carbine but the 7.62x54r shells I have been fire forming. 😅 is it safe to use smokeless since the shells are fire formed?
Good to see some "younger blood" join the C&R shooting/reloading community! Let me add a little more information I can share about reloading the 8x50R. Firstly, in any discussion of reloading you need to be specific about the bullet weight, bullet diameter, case used, type and weight of powder, and potentially even the primer. These are the most important variables in making sure you are staying within safe pressure ranges. You said you were disassembling Privi Partisan 8x56R ammunition to reuse its bullets and powder for your 8x50R reloads, which according to Privi's web page the bullets should have been 208 grains. Also, you are correct that the 8x56R Hungarian and 8x50R Austrian cartridges use 0.329"/0.330" diameter bullets, and these are NOT the standard "8mm" bullets the more commonly encountered 8x57JS Mauser cartridge uses. The 8x57JS round uses 0.323" bullets, which are safe to use in your M95s (being smaller than the groove diameter), but do not try to load/fire the 0.329" bullets in an 8mm Mauser chambered rifle. This is an important general safety issue for all new reloaders to consider: the general "caliber" name of a cartridge may not correctly tell you what the correct bullet diameter should be. For example, the 7.65x53 Mauser, 0.303 British, 7.7 Arisaka, and 7.62x54R cartridges all use 0.311" bullets. If you intend to reload the first thing you should invest in is a good reloading manual which contains the appropriate bullet information for the caliber you intend to reload. While probably harder to find than they were just a few years ago, Privi does sell 0.330" 208 grain bullets which you should stock up on when they become available. Of note, the 8mm Lebel dies you are using (made by Lee) are designed to size the neck to hold 0.323" bullets (appropriate for the older 8mm Lebel Balle D round, but undersized for the final Balle N round's 0.329" bullet). This means when you use the Lee Lebel die to reform the case neck it will be smaller in diameter than what is needed for a 0.329" bullet. You may have to use more force to get a 0.329" bullet to seat and you will stretch the brass at the neck more than needed and have greater "neck tension" (i.e. the squeezing force the brass exerts on the bullet) than normal. This neck stretching will, over just a few reloading, quickly work-harden the brass in the neck and the neck will split on reloading or on firing. Excessive neck tension can also raise chamber pressures because the bullet isn't "let go" as quickly by the expanding brass case during firing. Lee sells affordable 8x56R Hungarian die sets which will size the neck for a 0.329" bullet and I think this may be a better solution (short of spending the money to get a proper 8x50R Austrian die set with a 0.329" expander). The 8x56R dies won't size the neck all the way to the 8x50R's shoulder, but it should do enough to give you adequate neck tension for reloads. Using the 8mm Lebel dies does offer you the possibility of using the easier to find and with substantially greater bullet weight selection of "standard" 0.323" bullets. They will be a little undersized for the M95's bore, but they will engage the rifling. They may not get you the best accuracy, but for a less-than pristine M95 they might do well enough that you cannot tell the difference. You should try reloading some 0.323" bullets in your 8x50R Austrian rounds to see how they perform. This is the real advantage of reloading anyway, with just a little experimentation you can find what combination of bullets and powders work in any particular rifle. A point about using 7.62x54R Russian brass, it is smaller in body diameter than the Austrian round, but not by much. The cases will generally still feed from the M95's en-bloc clip, too. Note that the internal volume of any cartridge case depends on who made it. For example military cases tend to be a little thicker walled than commercial ammo of the same caliber and thus the same amount of powder in a military case will make more pressure than in a commercial case! Applying this to your circumstance, an unfired (or resized) 7.62x54R case's initial internal volume will be smaller than a normal 8x50R case would be (owing to diameter differences). But AFTER you have fired the 7.62x54R case in an 8x50R chamber the brass will "fire-form" to be just smaller than the internal diameter of the larger chamber and it will have MORE internal volume than a standard 8x50R case because case walls have had to thin out to stretch to the new diameter. It won't be much of a difference, but it may become important if you are trying to find what the maximum safe load can be- it won't be the same in different parent cases! And finally some points about IMR 4895. It is NOT a "fast burning" powder. IMR 4895 is considered a medium rate burning powder. IMR 4895 was designed for military rifles of the early smokeless era and if you are going to only have one powder on your bench to reload ALL your mil-surplus rifles it is an excellent choice. The powder's density makes it pretty much impossible to accidentally double charge a case, and most military rifle cases will not exceed their pressure limits even if you fill them to capacity. it is a reliable safe choice for mil-surplus reloads. Also it's medium burn rate is correct for the American M1-Garand rifle, which needs a burn rate in that range to safely operate its gas system. So if you want to reload for your M1 Garand, IMR 4895 is still a good choice.
@@texascastblast5011 Southern California has a pretty good market for C&R rifles. I did most of my collecting in Los Angeles from 1995-2019. I can recommend some shops if you are interested.
@@texascastblast5011you can buy 8x50 Austrian Mannlicher die sets from R&D tool and die. The dies are made to load the .323" bullet (projectile)thats used in the 8mm Mauser. I guess R&D is now CH4D.
@@texascastblast5011 Forgot to ask as well, do you fireform your brass as a blank before using a regular load or do you just shoot the full load with projectile on the first go? Finally getting out to shoot this tomorrow
@@ok_android9776 I run a regular load, however for first time shooting I use less powder around 38gr of 4895 of 43gr of 4350, that’s awesome hope it shoots good
@@ok_android9776 How did it go? I have an 1888/90 as well and have been looking for reliable load data. So far I've only fired it with reduced loads of unique. 40grs of 4895 seems a bit hot (at least to me) for the 88/90, but then again I also see people suggesting 38-41gr of IMR3031 which definitely alarmed me.
@@texascastblast5011 Thanks. I just ordered some of the 200gr and 150gr. I couldn't find any of the 208gr in stock. Are you crimping these rounds? If so, what are you using? My RCBS 8x50 die set does not crimp. Also I believe it will only expand the neck to .323.
I was just out today, testing my newest load. It worked great @75yds, maybe 3 inches high. 10 shots fit under palm of hand. 40gr Ramshot Hunter, 2" trimmed cases, under 208gr fmj. I'm using a custom RCBS die set. Good crimp required.
Using the PPU .329 projectile? Does yours have a decent bore by chance? I have one, and it has rifling but the bore is rough. Very rough. Most of these I've seen have had rough bores. I saw you mentioned needing a good crimp with the Ramshot Hunter, which makes sense as it is slow burning. How are you crimping yours? I have an RCBS 8x50 die set.
I have an original WW1 Mannlicher chambered in 8x50R. I can almost never find ammo for it, and when I do, it is usually $45/5 rounds.
I could never find actual ammo, so that’s why I got to reloading
@@texascastblast5011 Also, not that the ammo I do find is almost always corroded, and 90+ years old, so I'd have to clean them and replace the powder for safety.
@@ImNotCreativeEnoughToMakeUser I’d rather suggest, to make fresh ammo, it’s cheaper and you and still keep the old ammo for for historical purposes
Wanted to come back and give some feedback on reloading the 8x50. I've been loading it specifically for the 88/90. Four more powders that have ended up working ok with this have been IMR 3031, Vihtavouri N135, Vihtavouri N140, and Accurate 2495. I tried each of these with 200gr flat based bullets. I also tried Ramshot X-Terminator. Which is similar to IMR 3031 in burn rate. I do NOT recommend it at all. Wildly inconsistent ignition and one round blew a lot of gas in my face. It slightly injured my eye and gave me a terrible headache for days. I'm not a big fan of ball/spherical powders because they don't reduce well and are hard to ignite. I think any load of Ramshot X-Terminator that would ignite reliably would be too much pressure for the 88/90. I think IMR 4064 and Hodgdon Varget would also be good candidates. Likely Vihtavouri N150 as well. From my limited experience with this cartridge, Accurate 2495, Vihtavouri N135 and N140 performed best. The first two can be loaded similar to IMR 4895. N140 is a little slower. Between 4064 and 4350.
Great to hear you got some good data, but also be careful with that blow back I also had that happen with my 88/95 with a load of 4350
@@texascastblast5011 That gas is no joke. This cartridge has a similar capacity to 30-40 Krag, and 303 British but I've noticed that load data for either of those doesn't extrapolate to 8x50 at all. Loads that would be serviceable in those (while being modest pressure) are very underpowered and inconsistent in 8x50. Likewise max loads for 303 British would be pushing it for 8x50. A lot of 30-40 data seems very inconsistent in results across various powder manufacturers. I really wish there were modern data for 8x50 available.
@@fishcars8078 same but that’s why are testing ourselves
@@texascastblast5011 BTW, the Accurate 2495 load was 37gr and chronographed at 1730fps with 200gr bullet. The N135 was 35gr at 1520fps and then bumped to 37gr for 1700fps. I believe both of those could go up to about 39gr-41gr. Both had consistent if ignition and fire formed well. Definitely seem to be two very viable powders for this.
Thank you for this great information!
Thanks for the video, man. I was just thinking about reloading for my m1888/95 and m1895 carbine.
No problem, glad you liked it
Hate to keep asking you questions, but ran into a conundrum yesterday. I shot my 88/90 using some 200gr .323 flat base and some .329 150gr. Of course after firing the neck is expanded to where it can swallow any of the above projectiles and needs to be at least neck sized. I have RCBS 8x50 dies and Lee 8x56 dies. I cannot get the Lee dies to neck size the brass for proper tension with the .329 bullets and trying to seat them through .323 sized necks is too much stretching. Plus I run the risk of deforming my brass running too far into the 8x56 dies. Are you running your 8x50 brass fully into the Lebel dies or using some other method to shape the neck for the .329-.330 bullets? I used a lyman M die to open the necks on some of my unfired brass to get the .329 bullets in there but they still didn't really fit properly. The rounds fired and hit the target ok but of course afterwards the necks were too wide and all I could do was resize them to .323 in my 8x50 dies. It seems like I'm missing something here. I'd really appreciate it, if you could offer some advice on sizing the necks for the .329 bullets. I can seat them without issue with my 8x56 die set. The wider bullets stick in my 8x50 die set.
So I first trim down the 7.62X54R to 50.35mm -50.40mm then use a 8X50 lebel die to size the neck down to .323 then I run the case through the 8X56 without the sizing rod. It makes it easier when then running it through the die that has the neck expander which expands it to .329. I seat the bullet with the 8X50 Lebel die, it keeps it pretty tight. I have yet any problems with it
Thank so much for sharing. Great job keep it up. Happy New year. If you get time maybe you could show it in a step by step process. Thank you 🙏
Happy you liked it, yeah when I get the time I will
I have been using black powder and I found the 8x50r dyes 😅 $185 for them…. I like my Steyr M95 carbine but the 7.62x54r shells I have been fire forming. 😅 is it safe to use smokeless since the shells are fire formed?
Yes, the M95 locking system is very strong that’s why in the 30s the cartridge was upgraded to the 8x56
Did you turn down the rim on the brass? My M95 seems to hate ppu 7.62x54r brass
I did not, only trim the neck
Good to see some "younger blood" join the C&R shooting/reloading community! Let me add a little more information I can share about reloading the 8x50R. Firstly, in any discussion of reloading you need to be specific about the bullet weight, bullet diameter, case used, type and weight of powder, and potentially even the primer. These are the most important variables in making sure you are staying within safe pressure ranges. You said you were disassembling Privi Partisan 8x56R ammunition to reuse its bullets and powder for your 8x50R reloads, which according to Privi's web page the bullets should have been 208 grains. Also, you are correct that the 8x56R Hungarian and 8x50R Austrian cartridges use 0.329"/0.330" diameter bullets, and these are NOT the standard "8mm" bullets the more commonly encountered 8x57JS Mauser cartridge uses. The 8x57JS round uses 0.323" bullets, which are safe to use in your M95s (being smaller than the groove diameter), but do not try to load/fire the 0.329" bullets in an 8mm Mauser chambered rifle. This is an important general safety issue for all new reloaders to consider: the general "caliber" name of a cartridge may not correctly tell you what the correct bullet diameter should be. For example, the 7.65x53 Mauser, 0.303 British, 7.7 Arisaka, and 7.62x54R cartridges all use 0.311" bullets. If you intend to reload the first thing you should invest in is a good reloading manual which contains the appropriate bullet information for the caliber you intend to reload.
While probably harder to find than they were just a few years ago, Privi does sell 0.330" 208 grain bullets which you should stock up on when they become available. Of note, the 8mm Lebel dies you are using (made by Lee) are designed to size the neck to hold 0.323" bullets (appropriate for the older 8mm Lebel Balle D round, but undersized for the final Balle N round's 0.329" bullet). This means when you use the Lee Lebel die to reform the case neck it will be smaller in diameter than what is needed for a 0.329" bullet. You may have to use more force to get a 0.329" bullet to seat and you will stretch the brass at the neck more than needed and have greater "neck tension" (i.e. the squeezing force the brass exerts on the bullet) than normal. This neck stretching will, over just a few reloading, quickly work-harden the brass in the neck and the neck will split on reloading or on firing. Excessive neck tension can also raise chamber pressures because the bullet isn't "let go" as quickly by the expanding brass case during firing. Lee sells affordable 8x56R Hungarian die sets which will size the neck for a 0.329" bullet and I think this may be a better solution (short of spending the money to get a proper 8x50R Austrian die set with a 0.329" expander). The 8x56R dies won't size the neck all the way to the 8x50R's shoulder, but it should do enough to give you adequate neck tension for reloads.
Using the 8mm Lebel dies does offer you the possibility of using the easier to find and with substantially greater bullet weight selection of "standard" 0.323" bullets. They will be a little undersized for the M95's bore, but they will engage the rifling. They may not get you the best accuracy, but for a less-than pristine M95 they might do well enough that you cannot tell the difference. You should try reloading some 0.323" bullets in your 8x50R Austrian rounds to see how they perform. This is the real advantage of reloading anyway, with just a little experimentation you can find what combination of bullets and powders work in any particular rifle.
A point about using 7.62x54R Russian brass, it is smaller in body diameter than the Austrian round, but not by much. The cases will generally still feed from the M95's en-bloc clip, too. Note that the internal volume of any cartridge case depends on who made it. For example military cases tend to be a little thicker walled than commercial ammo of the same caliber and thus the same amount of powder in a military case will make more pressure than in a commercial case! Applying this to your circumstance, an unfired (or resized) 7.62x54R case's initial internal volume will be smaller than a normal 8x50R case would be (owing to diameter differences). But AFTER you have fired the 7.62x54R case in an 8x50R chamber the brass will "fire-form" to be just smaller than the internal diameter of the larger chamber and it will have MORE internal volume than a standard 8x50R case because case walls have had to thin out to stretch to the new diameter. It won't be much of a difference, but it may become important if you are trying to find what the maximum safe load can be- it won't be the same in different parent cases!
And finally some points about IMR 4895. It is NOT a "fast burning" powder. IMR 4895 is considered a medium rate burning powder. IMR 4895 was designed for military rifles of the early smokeless era and if you are going to only have one powder on your bench to reload ALL your mil-surplus rifles it is an excellent choice. The powder's density makes it pretty much impossible to accidentally double charge a case, and most military rifle cases will not exceed their pressure limits even if you fill them to capacity. it is a reliable safe choice for mil-surplus reloads. Also it's medium burn rate is correct for the American M1-Garand rifle, which needs a burn rate in that range to safely operate its gas system. So if you want to reload for your M1 Garand, IMR 4895 is still a good choice.
Thank you so much for all this info, it shocked at first to see such a large comment thank you again
@@texascastblast5011 No problem. Where in Texas are you located? I'm in the north Dallas area.
@@kibbeystovall7546 I'm from the Austin area, but I'm currently stationed in California
@@texascastblast5011 Southern California has a pretty good market for C&R rifles. I did most of my collecting in Los Angeles from 1995-2019. I can recommend some shops if you are interested.
@@kibbeystovall7546 that would be great!!!
CH4D Custom dies in Ohio, good service and pricing, nice gentleman from Graf & Sons put me on to them
How much? I know they did custom dies, it got the 10.4 Vetterli die set but it was expensive as hell
How do you expand the 7.62x54R brass to 8mm?
I expect the neck through the Lebel die and fire form the rest
They fire form 7.62 Russian by firing it in an 8x50 Mannlicher rifle.
@@texascastblast5011you can buy 8x50 Austrian Mannlicher die sets from R&D tool and die. The dies are made to load the .323" bullet (projectile)thats used in the 8mm Mauser. I guess R&D is now CH4D.
I'm subbing for sure
Thanks, really appreciate the support
Where can you find bullet molds?
I unfortunately do not cast my own bullets, but I do Lee does a .329 bullet mold
Do you have different loads for your 1888/90’s? Looking to reload for mine but know the action is much weaker than the M95
For the the 88/90 I use 40gr of 4895 which gets me around 1800-1950 or also 47gr of 4350 gets me 1750-1850
@@texascastblast5011 Awesome, thanks!!
@@texascastblast5011 Forgot to ask as well, do you fireform your brass as a blank before using a regular load or do you just shoot the full load with projectile on the first go? Finally getting out to shoot this tomorrow
@@ok_android9776 I run a regular load, however for first time shooting I use less powder around 38gr of 4895 of 43gr of 4350, that’s awesome hope it shoots good
@@ok_android9776
How did it go? I have an 1888/90 as well and have been looking for reliable load data. So far I've only fired it with reduced loads of unique. 40grs of 4895 seems a bit hot (at least to me) for the 88/90, but then again I also see people suggesting 38-41gr of IMR3031 which definitely alarmed me.
Are you mostly using the .329 to .330 jacketed projectiles from PPU for the 8x56?
Yes as well .329 200gr Soft point
@@texascastblast5011 Thanks. I just ordered some of the 200gr and 150gr. I couldn't find any of the 208gr in stock. Are you crimping these rounds? If so, what are you using? My RCBS 8x50 die set does not crimp. Also I believe it will only expand the neck to .323.
Awesome video