Quote Originally Posted by vintage hunter View Post
If these old mausers were never designed for nor shoot well with HPBT bullets
That is not what I wrote. I am very cautious about words like "never". I wrote "never designed for HPBTs", which may have been a trifle daring, but probably correct for rifles designed before WWI. I certainly did not write "never designed for nor shoot well with...". If you have a near-mint 1909 Argentine or 1908 Brazilian, then you are fortunate, and will get better results than I could with, for example, an 1891 Argentine (gift, regarded as useless) or 1908 Brazilean (offered as wallhanger) or Gew1891 (gift, regarded as useless). But I have made a speciality of shooting ancient rifles, so maybe my experience has just been a statistical freak.

I posited a "general rule" that has helped me to get several rifles regarded as hopeless cases into usable shooting condition again. As to the throat dimensions of military Mausers, please refer to the published CIP data, and remember that old, well-used service rifles are usually looser in their dimensions than the CIP figures indicate. You might also find it interesting to look at P.55 (in the 3rd Edition) of "Mauser Bolt Rifles" by Ludwig Olson.

And what is "shooting well". Accuracy on target or low wind drift and drop? They are not automatically bound together. The boat tail improves external ballistics, but the lowest wind drift and drop will be of little use if the bullet has been engraved on the skew in the throat - a problem of internal ballistics. And a boat tail allows far more blow-by as the bullet leaves the case neck than a flat base (round-nose or spitzer) and provides a poorer guidance to lead the bullet into the throat. Since the cartridge has some play in the chamber, it will anyway be lying on the bottom of the chamber space, so any freebore effect is going to encourage such skewing.

Furthermore, please do not overlook the fact that many of our old service rifles have chambers and throats that were generous to start off with, and now have a century or so of wear. The forums are full of discussions and recommendations on reloading with bullets that are often thicker than the standard ammo. Why, if not to improve the fit?


Patrick

---------- Post added at 01:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 AM ----------

Quote Originally Posted by vintage hunter View Post
why did nations like Germanyicon, Swedenicon, Argentinaicon and most of those using the 7x57mm choose to drop the old RN design in favor of the spitzer BT design?

I believe the reason was to achieve increased muzzle velocity with lighter bullets, i.e. more energy on target and more cartridges carried per infantryman. A desirable end from the military viewpoint. There was a kind of "velocity race" pre-WWI. I doubt it all had much effect on accuracy.