Kimber of America swedish mauser question

pistolpete95 · Oct 5, 2010

I have a nice looking swedish mauser that was sporterized by Kimber of America. Built on a 1911 action with matching numbers. I had hoped to have a nice deer rifle but I'm finding it to be a very picky shooter. Tried Prvi Partisan and Federal ammo and have inconsistent grouping. I've handloaded the Prvi cases with 39grs IMR 4350 & Hornady 140gr bullets and have fair success. Shooting 3 rounds at a time I have 2 hits about 1in apart with 1 flyer about 6in away. Am I loading too light? Lighter bullet? Get rid of the rifle?

liliysdad · Oct 5, 2010

Have the chamber cast, and headspace checked. I have had a few Swedes, and each one likes a different OAL, even had some dies custom made for a couple.

pistolpete95 · Oct 5, 2010

Is chamber casting something a gunsmith should do?

MoBoost · Oct 5, 2010

Swedes are arguably the finest military rifles ever made. Unless it's damaged it should shoot VERY well with the load you described (go-to load is actually 37.0gn of 4350).

Check your basics - action screws, scope/sights, crown, loose nut behind the recoil pad?

Huckelberry75 · Oct 5, 2010

MoBoost said:
Swedes are arguably the finest military rifles ever made. Unless it's damaged it should shoot VERY well with the load you described (go-to load is actually 37.0gn of 4350).

Check your basics - action screws, scope/sights, crown, loose nut behind the recoil pad?

Just how far behind the recoil pad are you talking about? :saywhat:

Huckelberry75 · Oct 5, 2010

Now for a serious post. Try backign the seating die out past the max OAL. Take a sharpie and "paint" the bullet, then carefully chamber the round. Remove and look for the marks left by the lands. If you see marks, slowly screw the seater in, until the bullet no longer shows the marks. This will let you know how far out your throat is and your own personal max OAL. From here, start setting the bullets in a few thousands at a time until you see a depth that shows promise. From there, work around the most accurate powders & loads listed in the reloading manuals. You can then adjust the powder charge up/down in 0.5gn increments until you get one that shows promise. Then work the chargesin up/down in 0.2gn increments until you find the sweet spot. It is a long process, and can be frustrating, but once you get there everthing should be all good. Note: this is assuming that the action screws are tightend to the correct tension, crown is good, bbl is free floated etc etc. Good luck.

liliysdad · Oct 6, 2010

We had two, one was a Kimber rework, that had oddball chambers. We could not get them to shoot, no matter the COAL. Ended up having chambers on both cast, and neck dies for each made. They shot fantastically after that. Looking back, I assume they had some receiver stretch issues, but no sign of headpsace problems. I still have one of them in my closet.

MoBoost · Oct 6, 2010

Can you elaborate how did chamber casting helped with custom neck die, I thought custom dies were brass specific?

liliysdad · Oct 6, 2010

The dimensions of the chamber were different. The other option was fireforming brass, but due to chamber dimensions, were were destroying brass when fireforming.

MoBoost · Oct 6, 2010

Not buying it...

What do you mean "different" and how was brass "destroyed" and how did NECK die remedy any of that without fireforming?

The only way I can make any sense out of what you are saying - if your headspacing was way out and you used 30-06 case with a custom full length die, and still you would have to have a non-destroyed fired case to even have the dies made.

Kimber of America swedish mauser question

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