Nominal 8mm Lebel Revolver bullet diameter?

762mm

762mm

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Hello,

Recently I got into casting and produced my first batch of beautiful bullets with my NEI bullet mould (out of melted down wheel weights). My success was largely thanks to the casting tips I received from you guys right here on CGN. My mould produced .330" diameter bullets which I then lubricated and, after drying, sized to .329" with a Lee sizer. The bullets are for the 8mm Lebel Revolver cartridge, which in Europe is said to have an 8.3 mm bullet.

The issue: after verifying various sources for cartridge data, it seems like the actual nominal bullet diameter varies depending on the source of info; some report bullet diameter as low as .323" while others stipulate that it's okay to use .330" FMJ's (Buffalo Arms being one of them, as they sell them)... To add to the confusion, some reloaders on other forums also say that even a .325 bullet would be way too small for accuracy in one of these guns. So, which is it?

I have not slugged the bore yet by the way, but I did fire some previously bought .328" cast bullets I got from Tallman Industries (before I got the mould) and they fired fine. I know that my new .329" bullets would most likely fire without any safety concerns, but I want to understand the bullet variations/discrepancies in this particular caliber, especially because that .007" seems to be a large gray zone. Any help would be greatly appreciated... and thanks in advance for your input.

:)
 
I've measured several of these military 1892 revolvers and the bore groove diameter has been between .3280" and .3285" on all of them, and the throats measured the same, so I think you should have good results with your projectiles (post your results!)

Edit: On the discrepancies I beilive a lot of it has to do with people being unable to find the proper size bullets and just using the closest thing that fits. We are lucky to be able to buy them from Tallman!
 
Last edited:
fiscus said:
I've measured several of these military 1892 revolvers and the bore groove diameter has been between .3280" and .3285" on all of them, and the throats measured the same, so I think you should have good results with your projectiles (post your results!)

Edit: On the discrepancies I beilive a lot of it has to do with people being unable to find the proper size bullets and just using the closest thing that fits. We are lucky to be able to buy them from Tallman!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply and yes, we are indeed lucky to have a source... but if we were in the States, we could also get the .330" jacketed ones for dirt cheap (from Buffalo Arms). It's just too bad that the recent com-block-like export restrictions on anything 'ammo' is preventing them from shipping up here (God Bless Obamabad!). The people who have it the worst are in Europe though.. as I've seen a French company selling a tiny reloading kit with a few cast bullets and a few shells for a ridiculous amount of money. All in all, I guess we could be worse off! :D

So, you say that you measured them at .328 to .3285, eh? I guess that's a bit reassuring then, at lest they're not at .323", lol! Would you know if a cast bullet allows for more tolerance than an FMJ though? I remember reading that under normal circumstances, a bullet should be .001 under groove diameter. Since mine is actually .001 to .0005 over grove diameter, would that make it unsafe somehow? Thanks again for your input!

:)
 
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