Hello! I've never shot a schützengewehr before but I managed to get my hands on one recently (well, it's in the mail at least). the seller said it was "7.7x46R". I'm assuming that just means that the barrel has 7.7 written but that it is really the 8.15x46R right?

I've already got .30-30 brass and 8.15x46R dies, trimmers, etc. I was thinking of starting with the COTW loads

also, I need to get it slugged right?

anything else i need to be aware of?

I had one for a while. That round takes a "stop ring" type cast lead bullet. I got mine from Buffalo Arms. I shot smokeless powder in mine but I can't remember the load data. I am sure others he will help you out. That is a pretty common round.


JMH

I had some original ammo I found and shot in my Aydt when I had it. I also slugged the bore and it was pretty tight at around .318" groove. I used some .32 caliber bullets I ran through my lubrisizer to make them .320" and they chambered and shot great without being stop ring type. I also ran some .32 Win. Spl. brass through my 8.15 dies and they worked great in it.
I let Glenn Fewless talk me out of it when he offered a neat Ballard to me in a trade.

Very nice rifle. 32-40 target loads should be fine. Aydt's are not the strongest rifles. I picked up one that had been overloaded. Barrel was bulged and receiver was cracked. Had the receiver cracks welded and rebarreled to 22. The barrel was cut back, rechambered to the original 8.15x46R and put on a 71 Mauser where it shot well. Here's the 71 "schuetzen".

I have two 8.15x46R rifles, one a very early Martini type, pre-1891 SN law, with a .308 bore and .314 groove, the other a 1912 era Haenel Aydt with a .316 groove dia.  They are totally different rifles.

The Martini only takes German-type 8.15 cases, with their smaller rims. Cases made from 32/40 will not chamber.  I abandoned stop-ring bullets.  Instead, breech-seat 311403 at the far end of that goofy throat, using a plugged case.  Excellent results with a light load of 4227.

The Aydt takes cases made from shortened 32/40 or other "30/30" type cases.  I've tried stop-ring bullets, but with less than marvelous results.   

Think about those throats and then think about everything we do with American rifles, chambers & throats to achieve accuracy.  Stop-ring throats and bullets are the exact opposite of proven American experience.  Find a bore-riding bullet with a fat base ring, breech-seat it ahead of the throat, and learn about loads & lubes.  No need to rechamber or do anything else to the rifle.  Our American approach will work better.

tim_s wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2025 at 8:39pm:

Yes, these are my targets that I used when working up a beech seated load at 100 yds, back in the late 80's and have used the 12.0 gr load ever since.

They are not easy to shoot off the bench. You need a high front rest and you need to set the rear bag at the back of the bench so, under recoil, the butt plate doesn't hit the bench.

You can't fight the butt stock, you have to learn to fit into it and get comfortable with it, weather it be on the bench or off hand.

Stop ring bullets can be shot with some accuracy (enough for OH matches, unless you can shoot above 200) but, the groups will be 2 to 3 times larger depending on the fit.

Mine has a common groove diameter of .316 so, what I did for the targets shown is get a over size 311413 (Squib) mold that cast .314 (most cast ~.313) and to took the GC off of it and enlarged it and the base band to .317.

For cases, I use 30/30, sized in a 32/40 die w/o the expander, shorten them to about 1/16, load with 10 gr Unique, fill with COW or corn meal, cap with grease and fire form.

I then trim the mouth until the base band of the bullet, just barely fits and that's my case length. For my rifle it 1.93 or 49mm.

The twist will be 14.17 or 360mm and that will stabilize bullets up to at least 1.12 long. I have shot spitzers up to 1.2 long.

A picture of my rifles.