What .323 bullet is suitable for swaging to .318?

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North of 58

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I'm hoping for some advice on swaging bullets for hunting. Which of the heavily constructed or bonded core bullets available suitable for moose would be most easily swaged to .318? I've had a hard time finding bullets for my 8x57 .318 bore Sauer. I tried to get Buffalo Arms and Midway to export .318 bullets but they said no. When I bought the rifle a .317 swaging die and some old Winchester Western 8mm .322 bullets came with it. I broke the handle attachment on a Lee single stage press trying to swage those bullets so I bought a RCBS Ammomaster 2 press. I swaged some flat nosed .321 bullets for plinking, then tried the .322, no problem. The .322 bullets seem very lightly constructed so I tried a .323 Nosler ballistic tip, bad idea since I had to pound it back out with a punch. It may have worked if I used a snipe on the handle, but I didn't want to break my bench or press.
I read somewhere that years ago Winchester came out with a jacketed bullet that was soft enough that it wouldn't cause high pressures even if it was fired in a .318 bore. I think these .322 bullets may be them. They were discontinued since they wouldn't hold together on game so I'd like to find something tougher.
A poster on the milsurp forum said that Barnes would supply their .323 X bullets in .318, does anyone know where to order those from? A PITA, but I love the rifle. Thanks.
 
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I think I would be tempted to try the 170 Speer Semi-spitzer or, possibly the Hornady 195 Spitzer interlock bullets. The Hornady is a decent bullet, and has a jacket that might go through that swaging die OK. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Jacketed bullets don't swage well. You're trying to remove 5 thou of bullet diameter. The core has to go some place. Usually out the back or point of an SP or non-solid base.
A Barnes bullet, being solid copper, could be turned down, but they obviously won't have the same weight. Hence, no accurate load data. You won't be swaging solid copper though.
You're best bet would be to cast your own. Seems to me there's a Woodleigh dealer somewhere in Canada. Don't remember who though.
Contact Epp's too. They tend to have stuff nobody else has.
 
The problem will be that most modern hunting bullets are built tough, with thick jackets and partition, etc.

If you do a google search you will uncover a couple bullet companies that ship to Canada.

YOu can also try Corlane sports, they import Woodleigh, who make 318 bullets.
 
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.308 - .318 paper patch

A few years ago, in Guns&Ammo, Ross Seyfreid wrote about using an old tech trick with jacketed bullets for odd sized bores. He mentioned the .318 mauser as one of the possibilities. I have an 8x57 that I have paper patched some cast .308 for, just to shoot it, before I bought any commercial bullets. You could use any of the premium .308 bullets paper patched to shoot out of your .318 mauser for hunting. I would buy some cheap .30 cal bullets in the weight you want to use and experiment with them first before using up a box of Nosler partitions. The instructions on how to paper patch, I found in my Lyman cast bullet book, but I am sure that any of the cast bullet shooting forums probably have detailed instructions including the proper type of paper to use, the angle of the cut for the ends and the proper method of roling the bullet.


270 totheend
 
270 totheend said:
A few years ago, in Guns&Ammo, Ross Seyfreid wrote about using an old tech trick with jacketed bullets for odd sized bores. He mentioned the .318 mauser as one of the possibilities. I have an 8x57 that I have paper patched some cast .308 for, just to shoot it, before I bought any commercial bullets. You could use any of the premium .308 bullets paper patched to shoot out of your .318 mauser for hunting. I would buy some cheap .30 cal bullets in the weight you want to use and experiment with them first before using up a box of Nosler partitions. The instructions on how to paper patch, I found in my Lyman cast bullet book, but I am sure that any of the cast bullet shooting forums probably have detailed instructions including the proper type of paper to use, the angle of the cut for the ends and the proper method of roling the bullet.


270 totheend
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That is actually a great idea. I would be very interested to try it with 303.
 
Paper patch or even easier..cast bullets, paper patch material can be almost any paper but the best is paper with some cotton content, I use some that is 25% cotton fibre. determine how much diameter you have to make up...say from .308 to .318'..that's 10 thou. divide by 4...that is the paper thickness you will need...in this case .0025". Make a template out of shim stock or some such, ends should be 60 degrees and you should make 2 wraps and have the ends come close to touching but not overlapping(one end will be hidden). Like in the good old days, saliva makes the best,wetting agent.
 
I've swaged down 338 bullets to 332 for use in a M95 Steyr.

I found that Speer Hot Cor worked well - lots of sizing lube and I sized them down in one pass through my Rockchucker.
 
Thanks for the options, guys. I don't think I want to get into casting or paper patching. I'll reinforce my reloading bench and try some of the other bullets mentioned. The 321 bullets were speer hot cores, and I'll give the 175 grain a try. I went through what came with the gun and if I pull some bullets I'll have 34 of the 196 grain 318 Norma round nose. Two out of seven cases partially separated when I fired some of the loaded ammo a few weeks ago, the brass was very thin 1/2" from the base. I bought some new brass and will use them.
 
I've gone from .430 to .427. I lubed the bullets with Lee sizing lube in an old margarine tub, and ran them through a standard Lee press mounted sizing die.
The bullets were not deformed much, and shot very well.
These were not however very tough bullets, they were handgun bullets.
Resizing hard lead requires much more effort than these did.
 
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North of 58, you do use lube on the bullets when your are swaging don't you? I have resized a bunch of old .312" bullets for the .303 to .308" dia. and it was very easy with some lube. I suggest round nose jacketed bullets will take the swaging better than pointed ones, more room for the extruded lead to flow into.
 
Longwalker, I'm using Royal Case and Die lube. I saw it mentioned as being the best for swaging bullets on some other threads. The bullets without the heavy solid base go through without much pressure, the ballistic tip goes fine until it hits the solid base then locks up. More pressure might push it through. The rifle is an original (except for being tapped for scope mounting) Sauer built on an Orberndorf mauser made in 1912. Half round, half octogon barrel with a matted rib and some engraving. I won't mess around with the bore, so I'll just have to deal with the problems.
 
Google Hawk Precision Bullets.

They sell .318" bullets in 180s and 220s. I checked last week about shipping (for another bullet size) and they do ship to Canada.



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I have a 8x60 double rifle with .318 barrels. For plinking I shoot 32 Spl. bullets (.321").

For a real hunting bullet I bought Barnes X. I tried all 3 weights and the 18o worked best in my rifle. barnes will swage any of theri bullets for you. I don't know if this is mentioned in their catalog.
 
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