Let's talk about big 8mm's

Well I got to try the big 8 today. Cooper 52 in 8mm rem mag loads were 220 a-frame infront of 83 grains of reloader 25. Only recovered one that went in behind the shoulder and stopped against the hide after going through the off shoulder. The other just kept on trucking. Recovered bullet weighed 203.7 gr.




Local farmer had lost a pair of them and had been trying to track them down for two weeks. Stumbled onto them on Sunday out shooting gophers and got the go ahead from both the land owner and the owner of the Buffalo last night. Owner gave us the heads for European mounts and we get a 1/4 of the meat. Be firing up the bbq in a week or two. One more thing to cross off the bucket list. Oh and the real king (Holland & Hollands) did exactly what it does best. Bang flop a buff. Shot behind the shoulder with a 260 partition a little high and broke its spine. Bullet is still in the shoulder somewhere.
 
If you want a 8MM RM, no reason to not get one...It is a good enough cartridge and you can form brass if you need to. If you want something even more different and want to use a beltless case, there are lots of options these days, probably most common would be the Ruger or RUM case.

For a 338 bigger than a 338 WM, the RUM and Lapua and derivatives makes sense. Beltless and probably easier brass to get than 340 WBY.
 
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I had ATRS build a custom 8mm mag for me. It is awesome. Just landed a brand new, in the box, never fired Rem 700 Classic in 8mm mag. A gent I found in the US closed down his gun shop a decade ago and is just starting to sell off 30 year old brand new rifles. Can't wait to get it.

In my opinion the 8mm mag was ahead of its time. The powders were not as good as they are now and there are better constructed bullets. Though factory ammo has been impossible to find, Nosler has started making 8mm mag ammo. Long live the "Big 8", nearly forgotten, but I think will quietly reappear.
 
I have recently acquired an 8mm Rem Mag, and am itching to "wring" it out.

I have 200 Accubonds and Partitions, 220 Hornadys, 195 Hornadys, 200 Speers, 175 Sierras [plinking bullets, lol]
Plus a bunch of Norma Dual core 198 grainers.

I will be quite surprised if I cannot get 3100 with the 200 grain bullets with some of today's powders.

Regards, Dave.
 
The 8 Rem mag has a bullwhip like recoil for this reason I built an 8 gibbs back in the late 70's for moose kicked out a 200 partition at 2850 fps. The gibbs proved to be a good moose round without the unpleasant recoil. Today I would go with the 325 Win.
 
Who makes 8x68S brass other than RWS and perhaps S+B if you can find it? A fellow that hunts with a friend of mine up north had one and had the barrel set back and re-chambered to .338x8mm so he could at least get components for it.Harold
 
I've had a few 8mm RM in the past, the last one I rebarreled to 7mmSTW. My current favorite 8mm is the 325, although I wouldn't call it a big 8. The WSM is a totally different animal when compared to the Remington Mag, the 325 likes powders in the 4350 range for 200 grain bullets, where the bigger case of the RM liked MUCH slower powders. H1000 worked ok for me back when I loaded for it, but it's been many years now.
 
Eagleye said:
I have those to try, Andy. Also am going to give IMR 7977 and Ramshot Magnum a try. Dave.
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You've got quite the powder selection on hand! Those sounds like good ones too. They need to be more dense and slower than H1000 in my opinion if pure MV is what's being sought.
 
I've used an 8x68S on boar back in the Old Country. It worked well and I didn't find recoil bad at all. The rifle was a Mauser 66.
 
Personally I went the 300 RUM route and shoot a 200gr sierra boat tail at 3175 fps, I thought about the 8mm rem mag just to be different, It would do everything my RUM does, Wish there was a better selection of bullets for the 8mms
 
HA HA HA HA ...............I'm hoarding over 200 rounds of brand new RWS 8X68 brass....................so many ideas !!!!!!!!!

Oh, and quarterman..........the 8 mag ain't even close to the 300 RUM, nor as we all know the 340 Wby.

Dave you may well be right, with all the new powders in the right burn range, the 8 mag may well shine now...........I will be awaiting for your results with bated breath.............
 
Might be time to pull out the 8 mag once again and try it with the new powders...IMHO, this cartridge really needs a 250+ grain, boattail, spitzer bullet to make it shine.
 
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c-fbmi said:
HA HA HA HA ...............I'm hoarding over 200 rounds of brand new RWS 8X68 brass....................so many ideas !!!!!!!!!

Oh, and quarterman..........the 8 mag ain't even close to the 300 RUM, nor as we all know the 340 Wby.

Dave you may well be right, with all the new powders in the right burn range, the 8 mag may well shine now...........I will be awaiting for your results with bated breath.............
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You are right its not.
 
I have a BRNO ZKK 602 in 8x68 I bought 30yrs ago. Fantastic calibre. Very accurate with all bullet weights. Basically you have a .338WM without the ouch. You will find the 8x68 is vastly popular in Europe. Would be a superior plains game round with heavier bullets. Good for all North American game. Too bad it isn't more popular in North America.
 
mbogo3 said:
Who makes 8x68S brass other than RWS and perhaps S+B if you can find it? A fellow that hunts with a friend of mine up north had one and had the barrel set back and re-chambered to .338x8mm so he could at least get components for it.Harold
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Norma. Prophet River has some 8x68 Norma brass
 
I keep hearing "Lack of bullet selection" for 8mm. That's complete b.s.. If you want to shoot 194g or less bullets choose a different gun. If you want to shoot 195+ grain bullets there is a fine selection of bulliets available for 8mm.

Been eyeing up a 8mm Rem Mag for a while. If you stick to solids your golden.
 
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