8x57

[docmagnum357]

I am pretty familiar with reloading and bullet casting, but i have only tried one paper patching experiment.  i bought a lee mold for a 303 , and tried it in a 8X 57 mauser.  Bore, groove is .303, 31-312 for a .303.  8x 57 is a .323 bullet, or groove, and i am guessing about a 312-313 bore, right?  Shouldn't this work?
 I mostly used very light charges of red dot or green dot, and got very poor accuracy, about 4" groups at 50 '  .  I used quenched wheel weights, wrapped them twice wqith paper.  when they were drty, I used liquid alox, and ranthe lubed, patched bullet through a .323 szer when the alox dried.( it never really dries, but after it sort of dried.)  What could have been better?  Slower powder?  softer lead?  If i could get on the right track faster, i think i can adjust most of the other variables. Bullet is a 170 round nose gas check.  Bullets were never key holed, always looked good, a nice small round hole.  Those i recovered Did show rifling marks, but not like they had touched the bore. No little scratches, tool marks, etc, just a very clean, sharp edged impression of the rifling.  Tips, comments?

[Nobade]

You want to see what the bore of your rifle really is, and use bullets .003 or so above that. I suspect the bullet may be a little small. You can always open up the mold with a chucking reamer, or lap it bigger if needed. Once patched, size them in a push through sizer to .002 or so above groove diameter. See if they will chamber. If not, make them a little smaller. You want them to be able to chamber and extract, but be a snug fit into the rifling. Don't lube the patches with LLA, if they need significant sizing use car wax, otherwise use them dry. I like to dry my patches on a hot plate, it's quick and they really shrink tight on the bullets. Make sure the patches just butt together. Not too long or short. Patch them up well over the ogive, so no lead can touch the barrel.Strive to make every one the same as the others. Load them over book starting loads of rifle powder. They almost never shoot good with light loads. Use a M die to flare the case necks to avoid tearing the patches. There are lots more things to remember, but this will get you started. Keep at it, when I started with patched bullets I couldn't hit the berm twice in a row. Now I'm seeing pretty much jacketed bullet performance with my patched bullets, but it's been a long learning process. Good luck!