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Legacy Member
1918 T-Gewehr Bullets
Good Afternoon,
I am again toying with purchasing and then shooting the TG. Looks like cases and dies are available but the bullets are the issue. Anyone know a shop that can fabricate them or already has do such. Thanks, Randy
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01-22-2022 01:06 PM
# ADS
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Advisory Panel
Your chances of finding anything „off the shelf“ are slim, but I wish you luck!
Have you considered using hard-cast bullets? Getting a mould made to your specification would not be a problem. But buying jacketed bullets made to order will be a bank-breaker, as you would effectively have to order a lifetime‘s supply in one lot to bring down the unit cost and to ensure that you still have supplies in a couple of years time.
BTW, I once met a guy who uses home-made bullets for his BMG50 - also an expensive taste in ammo! He reforms cartridge cases (45-70, I seem to recall) and fills them with lead to create a bullet with a nearly-complete jacket but with a bare lead nose. If you have the time, that seems like an interesting possibility.
However you load it, if you do acquire a T-Gewehr, please tell us all about it!
Patrick
Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 01-23-2022 at 03:54 AM.
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Thank You to Patrick Chadwick For This Useful Post:
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Legacy Member
Good Morning Patrick,
Yes, this is going to be perhaps my greatest endeavor at a resurrection. The simplest, and perhaps the cheapest, answer seems to be a machinist who can turn brass rods into solid bullets. I have tried several shops and they were No-go. With the T-Gewehr at .525, I am trying to get those folks to just move up their 50BMG bullets just a bit to help me out.
While scanning the collector websites, I read references to folks discussing group buys for brass and bullets from Germany. When PMed they seem to be off line. Thanks, Randy
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Advisory Panel
I agree with Patrick and was thinking about it yesterday. I'd cast as well, after you get a mold cut it would last forever. Steel block of course...and make it about a three grease groove bullet. I wouldn't try to copy the boat tail of the original bullet though if I was casting. Make a size die as well and top punch...
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Advisory Panel
It's doable
An example of what would be feasible:
Over here in Mauserland, the Hensel company has in their online list a steel mold for a 700 grain bullet with diameter 0.515". The T-Gewehr bullet was about 800 gn with diameter 13.2mm 0.520". Hensel make their molds with CNC cutting equipment So cutting the 0.515" to 0.520-0.521" (maybe add a thou for an unjacketed lead bullet?) just means dialling in a slightly different dimension in the CNC file.
I have no connection with Hensel, other than as a very satisfied user - when I bought my Pedersoli Gibbs (nominal cal. 0.451") they cut a "451" mold to fit the actual bore with a bullet diameter of 0.4495" when using the specified 3% tin-lead alloy. A perfect "as-cast" fit! Yes, they will adjust the mold to allow for the shrinkage of your particular alloy. Define your alloy and slug the bore, and Hensel will make a mold to fit.
The extra diameter would increase the cast weight to about 715gn. Enough to get the T-Gewehr "feeling" in your shoulder, I think!
If you are a perfectionist and insist on the full 800gn, Hensel will surely do it, but there is likely to be a surcharge for the longer than standard mold blocks (i.e. a bit more material and a bit more twiddling of the CNC file).
There are surely specialists on your side of the pond who can do the same.
BTW, I hope you have the book by Wolfgang Kern "Das Tankgewehr Mauser M1918"**. If not, get it and read it before buying anything.
Good luck - and don't forget the photos if you do get a T-Gewehr!
Patrick
**ISBN 3-933481-06-6 - A dimensioned original Mauser drawing of the T-Gewehr cartridge is on P. 108
Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 01-24-2022 at 05:01 AM.
Reason: typo after typo after tpyo
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Advisory Panel
Note re. bullet diameter.
I see that you quoted the T-Gewehr bullet as 0.525" diameter. But the Mauser drawing gives it as 13.2mm (=0.5196mm). With a groove diameter of 13.28 = 0.5228".
In other words, the bullet was quite clearly smaller than the groove diameter Do not fall into the possibly disastrous trap of assuming that the bullet had groove diameter!
0.525" = 13.335mm. That would be seriously oversize for the T-Gewehr.
Be very, very careful converting between inches and mm.
Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 01-23-2022 at 05:04 PM.
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Legacy Member
I would recommend turning them as the best way for simplicity sake as well as cheapest considering how much you are likely going to shoot it, though getting a custom press die for copper jackets then casting lead into it and pressing it to size would also work. It all depends on what exactly your looking for.
Any shop with a CNC lathe could likely pump out some brass bullets quickly, the only thing being they might not like the idea of making bullets as to the potential liability of it (i.e. a couple thou can make a big difference in pressure). These bullets would also be lighter than the originals for the same length so that is also a factor.
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
rescuerandy2
With the T-Gewehr at .525
I have two cartridges here and one of them comes apart by hand. The bullet is exactly .524" no matter how many times you measure or where around it. Not oval or squeezed nor is it fired.
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Legacy Member
Good Evening All,
I have sent a request to a brass smith that I have used to make barrel bands for my older rifles/muskets. Not sure is he will take this project on as he is in CA and might have the same concerns stated by Eaglelord17. Attached are the dimensions I sent to him. There is an email out to a bookseller for Kern's "Das Tankgewehr Mauser M1918." Thanks, Randy
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Advisory Panel
Re. Bullet diameter: I can only repeat what appears on just about every second page of the Lyman manual - „Slug your bore and size accordingly“
On rifles that are more than a century old, one-time manufacturing dimensions must be treated as guidelines, not guarantees!
Last edited by Patrick Chadwick; 01-24-2022 at 05:09 AM.
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