Midsouth 8mm Karabiner

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  • Last Post 02 January 2016
tturner53 posted this 06 January 2015

I ordered the Midsouth 'special order' mold known as the 8mm Karabiner. Already have the heavier version, the '8mm Max.'. What the heck? $21 seems like a deal to me. I've read it's a good hunting bullet and seen it referred to as a “.32 Whelen” when loaded up in a good 8mm Mauser. I like the sound of that. Load info from the web shows it scooting along pretty good and exceeds my beloved .35 Remington when both are taken to their upper ends. I can even see it being loaded down sub-sonic. The German 8x57 is common as dirt here but seems neglected. I think I'll buck that trend and see if I can cook up a good silhouette load. I have several 8mms, including a looong Turk with a nice Lyman 48 (?) receiver sight on it. I know this mold design is old news but I'm wondering if anybody still uses it?                                                                                                  FYI Midsouth has several of their 'special order' molds from Lee in stock. Just not the 6 cavity .452 mold I want.

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Millelacs posted this 07 January 2015

I ordered a mold from Sage Outdoors for military 6.5mm Swede.  Being I was there I ordered the 8mm Karbiner.

Then I asked my wife if she's like to give me a couple of molds for Christmas, and I could order them for her to make sure I got the correct molds.  Better than another tie for Christmas.

She said yes.

Now I just need some good weather to do some casting.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they work.

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tturner53 posted this 07 January 2015

Sounds like she's a Keeper. Midsouth has a few special order molds available, several in 6 cavity for $35. Not a bad deal. There's one called the 'Cruise Missile' for the 6.5x55. Very heavy and long for caliber.

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gnoahhh posted this 08 January 2015

I like the Karabiner, but I had to make a special sizing die to get it to work in my rifle. It is designed “fat” so as to work in shot out old milsurps with sloppy throats and worn lands. As such it was way too tight to even begin to chamber in my minty-bored 1943 BRNO M98. I turned a die with a two stepped inner diameter that reduces nose diameter to a neat bore ride and base diameter to .0005” under throat diameter at the same time. Voilá, cast bullet nirvana.

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tturner53 posted this 11 January 2015

My 8mm Karabiner mold from Midsouth arrived. I prepped it and went right to it making up some samples. It casts great and has no problems. The Karbiner weighs 242 gr. RTL compared to the 8mm Max at 253 gr. RTL. Both are dropping at .328 with .320 noses. The Karbiner has a much bigger meplat than the Max but I think either one would be effective for hunting. Now the bad news; my 8mm Gator Cheks fit the Max just fine but are too small for the Karbiner gas check shank. Bummer. I know there's work arounds but who wants to deal with all that? I'm wondering if any body knows if Hornady 8mm checks might be a tad bigger inside? Besides that it looks like the Karbiner is a pretty good fit in my Preduzece 98/44.

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Noffsinger posted this 01 January 2016

If you carefully open the gas check shank just a tiny bit, it will work with all gas checks.

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gpidaho posted this 02 January 2016

Tim: I paid up and bought the Hornady 32cal 8mm gas checks for my Lee 8mm mould the C324-175-1R and I can get them on but it's a fight even flaring them. Gp

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