German Schuetzen Style Rifle - 8.15x46 Norm

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Norman1950 posted this 19 October 2020

New Member here from Idaho. Last week my father gifted me some old family guns. One of them happens to be a German Schuetzen style (from my research) chambered in 8.15x46 NORM. The gun is in excellent condition and looks like it has hardly been shot if at all. I was doing some cleaning on it and still had the cosmoline around the falling block and down the barrel. 

I was able to do a cerrosafe chamber cast on it yesterday. From what I could tell is the rifling is .316 after the cerrosafe has hardened. Would I be safe to say that it would want a .316 cast bullet to shoot? The head of the bullet is showing to be .498, the same as the 30-30 ammo I have. I still need to order reloading dies to form the 30-30 cases.

I am new to this style of rifle and have had fun researching what I can about the rifle. It has the "B" "U" "G" marks along with 8.11 / 263. Then vertical numbers 6476 on the barrel and on the receiver, i don't have a clue what those would be for. Also, there is an "R" above these stampings and 172,28 numbers stamped. I don't know how to tell who the manufacture of this rifle is. I have noticed that I am missing the front sight, any ideas of where to get a "period correct" sight?

It has been told by my family that my grandpa brought it home from WWII, but you know how family stories go...

Any insights that anyone has would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

 

 

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Fitzpatrick posted this 20 October 2020

I think with cerrosafe you have to take your measurement at 1 hour after casting the chamber then the alloy will continue to grow for a few thou.  I have a old Hock mould that is stamped 8.15 x 46 that cast a tapperd bullet measuring .316 at the nose and .320 at the base 

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 19 October 2020

welcome to the group ...

i can't offer much specifically, except that i bet you are going to have a lot of fun with that rifle ...   as they say, i suspect it has some good stories to tell ...

... and keep us up on your progress ...

ken

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Norman1950 posted this 19 October 2020

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RicinYakima posted this 19 October 2020

I wrote an article on this cartridge a few years ago and it was published in the club's magazine, The Fouling Shot.

At the end of WW2, every soldier was allowed to bring one firearm home. It could not have been made in the US nor full auto. When Hitler confiscated all firearms from civilians, they went into warehouses all over Germany. At the end of the war, the guys that didn't have battlefield pickups could go into the warehouses and pick one out. Thousands were brand new "stalking" or target rifles and I have one also that was never fired (but the aluminum butt plate was removed for making airplanes). Most of these were "guild" rifles with each piece made by a separate worker and then assembled and shipping to wholesalers.

If you search the internet for pre-WW2 German proof makings, you will find all the keys to the marks.

Beautiful rifle by the way!

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RicinYakima posted this 19 October 2020

Not really, they run between $800 and $1200 typically. It also depends if it was made by a famous company, and yours was not, if the name is not prominently engraved. Easy to load for; deprime and reprime. put in about 12-14 grains of IMR4227 and a 165 grain 32/40 bullet of soft lead. I don't even resize my cases, just finger seat them and shoot.

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JeffinNZ posted this 20 October 2020

I could have sworn I saw an article on the 8.15X46mm by Frank Marshall but iffin I did I can't be finding it.

Cheers from New Zealand

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mashburn posted this 20 October 2020

Hello Norman,

First, let me congratulate you for inheriting such a beautiful old single shot rifle. From the shape of the butt stock and forearm and also the rear sight, this is probably a stalking rifle instead of being made for Schuetzen competition, or at least that is my opinion. There were so many high quality single shot actions made in those days, that I presently cannot identify it. I haven't researched it yet but intend to. It resembles some high quality Swiss actions. The only thing that I can say for sure is, the only thing wrong is, it's not mine. Thanks for your pictures and post.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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RicinYakima posted this 20 October 2020

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Wheel Weights posted this 21 October 2020

Contact Tom Rowe books in VA. he has written/published several books on Schutzen rifles.

You can buy the correct 8.15x46 cases for your rifle from Huntington Die Specialities. Cases made from 30-30 and 32-40 generally have too thick rims.

NOE can probably suggest the right mold after you have done a chamber case and slugged the bore.

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Norman1950 posted this 19 October 2020

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Norman1950 posted this 19 October 2020

Thank you very much for that info! Would I be hurting the value if I shoot this gun? 

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Norman1950 posted this 20 October 2020

Question on bullet choice. I re-measured my Cerrosafe casting and I am coming up with .318 with the rifling grooves. Would I be safe to shoot .321 (32/40) lead bullets?

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Norman1950 posted this 20 October 2020

Thank you mashburn, I would have to agree with you on it being a stalking rifle, so much to learn about the lingo on these cool old rifles!

Now I need to track down a front sight

 

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Norman1950 posted this 22 October 2020

Thank you all very much for your help and insights. I am going to research more and more. Looks like this will be a fun winter project to play around with.

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86Indy posted this 28 August 2021

Norman,

I also have a German/Austrian 8.15x46R Rifle but its a tip up.  Mine is odd in that bullet it seems to be larger 321 at the chamber than at the 316 exit.  I found some reworked 8,15 x 45r brass and loaded one brass with a bit of trail boss and a 32-20 lead bullet removed from a factory load which the neck of the 8.15 brass held firm.

Test shot it into the sand twice and each time the neck of the 8.15 opened up some more. It finally got to the point where a .32-40 meister 321 would fit AND chamber w/out being pushed back into the brass. 

So  I loaded the 321 with a light load of T.B. and shot it.  Seemed to do just fine but I still cant quite figure why the muzzle seems to be 3.16 and the chamber is .321. Oh well, no bulge or stuck bullet so I guesss I'm okay.

Perhaps it is by design and meant for a bullet of similar dimensions?  Then I read that the Germans used a stop ring bullet. AND they tweaked each bore and chambering a bit so there was no standard bullet. In fact the old time suppliers used to sell small packets of this and that variation so you could see what worked best in your rifle but all were stop ring.

So, we are skrewed. Time to buy tools like an OAL Chamber gauge so we can get it jussst right which according to my readings would leave one's chambered bullet tip just inside of the bore a smidge barely touching the rifling. Supposedly that will give the bullet a nice square takeoff down the pipe.

Anyway Congratulations ! Your rifle is chambered in "8.15 x 46r the father of modern German schuetzen" caliber...this is the badly translated title of a book that just arrived jn my box from Germany.  I'm hoping to find much more information in it. 

Hope this helps. 

 

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John Alexander posted this 28 August 2021

Nothing wrong with a bit of choke in a rifle barrel. I have had several rifles (Savage) and a couple of high grade air rifles that slugged smaller at the muzzle than at the breech.  But never as much as you have found.

John

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