French Gras Rifle experience - updated with pix (56K warning)

Update-Range report:

After some considerations I got myself a Christmas gift:





Action,fit of parts and general fit is just about perfect for over 100 years old rifle









I loaded 25 rds with 12 Gr of Red Dot and up 0.3 Gr every 5 rds.Case was toped with 165 Gr Lyman boolit.



Result is as follows:



This is a 100yrs target.2 groups 5 shot each above target are from Gras,one on the left is a group from M48A .I used battle sight marked 250 if I remember correctly and here is something I don't understand.Only 10 shots landed on paper,rest went above it into backstop ( some 40-50 ft mountain of dirt :) )
I shot one group with M48A loaded with same boolit ,but 13.8 Gr of Red Dot and sights have to be set for 500m ( again ,it might be 400m -I can't remember).
Is barrel length making really so much difference?Why is this rifle shooting so high?

Btw-those battle sights are absolutely the worst sights i have ever used.400m and up are very fine ,maybe too fine for war rifle but 250m are horrible.
 
If your Gras has an N stamped on the receiver or barrel it was approved for use with the Balle N ctg, 240 gr bullet @ 2300 fps.
 
desporterizer said:
Maybe the gras was sighted for the rnd nose lebel rnd? The 8X57 would be a much flatter shooting round than the old Lebel loading.
Click to expand...

I didn't think of that,thx.

As for N-no ,I don't see any N on the receiver anywhere.There is a lot of various proof,acceptance and other marks:





Letter L is very prominently stamped on pretty much all all the parts



There is however small letter F right behind rear sight,it can be seen when sight is raised





Other markings







On the underside ,behind trigger guard there is a name stamped- GURIAM A



And that's pretty much it.
 
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Balle D was the standard loading at the beginning of the Great War: 198-grain boat-tail solid bronze bullet, 1.625 inches in length and .327 diameter. Charge was 46.2 grains of nitrocellulose flake powder (Poudre B) and pressure was 17.75 Imperial Long Tons per square inch. Muzzle velocity was 2389 ft/sec and recoil in most French rifles was beyond polite description owing to the poor shape of the buttplates.

I will say that you do have the nicest consideration for yourself when buying Christmas presents for you! This is a beautiful old thing. Nice to see that she can group, too!
Lee makes a mould for the .329 bullet for the converted Austro-Hungarian Mannlichers. It is a 205-grain and you can add on a gas-check if you feel you want one. The mould is cheap, too and works very well. This bullet could be sized nicely to .327 for this old girl.

Hope some of this helps.
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