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I always wondered about .318s in a .323 bore. A while back I got a good deal on some Woodleigh 200 gr RNSN .318s and some 196 RNSN .323 so I decided to test it.
Since I didn't have a lot of bullets, I took some shortcuts. I used new brass, went straight to near-max loads with IMR 4350 (about 2,500 fps), and only shot 5 shot groups. I sandbagged the rifles on the bench, and fired a shot every couple minutes to let the barrels cool a bit. Test guns were a K98k with iron sights, and a Remington 700 Classic (old Weaver T6 scope).
The K98k averaged about 2" with either bullet at 100 yards, the groups overlapped about 60%. The Remington 700 gave me separate groups, around 1" for the .323s and around 1.125" for the .318s.
I'd hunt with either of them in my 8x57.
The 9.3x57 Husky I had, had a normal bore diameter of .358", but had .370" groove diameter. I used .365" normal 9.3's in it as well as sized down .375's to .367" in 235gr.Speer SRN and 300gr.Hornady RN's. All bullets, whether 232" Norma, 270gr. Speer, 293gr. TUG's, or the sized down .375's all went into individual groups of 1" to 1 1/2" at 100 meters, spread over approximately 2" of vertical space on the target, with the 235gr. and .232gr. being the highest striking & 300's being the lowest. Currently, the ammo for that rifle is loaded with 286gr. Norma Alaskan RN's at 2,200fps.
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