Surplus 8mm Mauser Ammunition

Just did it. 4 x boxes of PPU picked up at Cabelas Spokane on my way through on vacation. $19.99 per box. There was another sticker for $17.99 but couldn't decipher the brand that was listed.

Unfortunately, or good depending on your view, I was only able to stop at one and they had 5 boxes. No hassle at the border whatsoever. Last time I travelled from the west coast to the east coast I went through the US and stopped at EVERY Cabelas between Washington state and Maine that straddled my route. I was by myself :) However, I never spotted a single box of 8mm mauser, not a one. That was 3 years ago.

There seemed to plenty of other types, and particularly lots of 22LR, but the prices were comparable with exchange etc. I have bought S&B 8mm SP ammo plenty in Halifax at Rons and his prices have steadily risen. $32 last look. So $19.99 isn't bad, maybe $26 with exchange. Considering availability I count myself lucky. I have learned with Mausers and reloading for them, get it while you can.
 
Be cautious. Russian capture ammo? If it is WWII vintage and was manufactured in Czechoslovakia you are welcome to it. If not, go for it. The workers in the German-run Czech ammunition factories were fearless and renowned for sabotaging some of the ammunition they were manufacturing for Germany. Everything from artillery duds to overcharged, undercharged or no-charged small arms ammo. Their clandestine work creating 88 mm duds saved very many Allied lives.
 
knotking said:
Just did it. 4 x boxes of PPU picked up at Cabelas Spokane on my way through on vacation. $19.99 per box. There was another sticker for $17.99 but couldn't decipher the brand that was listed.

Unfortunately, or good depending on your view, I was only able to stop at one and they had 5 boxes. No hassle at the border whatsoever. Last time I travelled from the west coast to the east coast I went through the US and stopped at EVERY Cabelas between Washington state and Maine that straddled my route. I was by myself :) However, I never spotted a single box of 8mm mauser, not a one. That was 3 years ago.

There seemed to plenty of other types, and particularly lots of 22LR, but the prices were comparable with exchange etc. I have bought S&B 8mm SP ammo plenty in Halifax at Rons and his prices have steadily risen. $32 last look. So $19.99 isn't bad, maybe $26 with exchange. Considering availability I count myself lucky. I have learned with Mausers and reloading for them, get it while you can.
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The Canadians don't care if you bring it in, the Americans care if you take it out.
 
the_tracker said:
Be cautious. Russian capture ammo? If it is WWII vintage and was manufactured in Czechoslovakia you are welcome to it. If not, go for it. The workers in the German-run Czech ammunition factories were fearless and renowned for sabotaging some of the ammunition they were manufacturing for Germany. Everything from artillery duds to overcharged, undercharged or no-charged small arms ammo. Their clandestine work creating 88 mm duds saved very many Allied lives.
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it is pre-war 38/39 from the case dates I have seen.
 
Canada Ammo said:
We can special order it for you if you want.
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You mean you can order surplus 7x57 or PPU 7x57? I'd be interested in surplus if that even exists (and if NC and priced roughly like the8x7) but the regular stuff I'll just randomly add a box or 3 when I make an order for other stuff.
 
Here is some info I ran across when looking at German Mil surp, modern German MG3 which is a MG42 re config to 7.62 nato,
Germany still uses the modern MG3 and they have a dual mount anti aircraft mount, that has 2 guns on the one mount and can
be fired both same time or single, what I found was that Germany still has in there inventory 8mm ammo and conversion back to MG42
the reason is the 8mm has longer range with a 198 gr bullet , and harder hitting , for anti aircraft role. rather than a 7.62 nato which we all know 147 gr.
Has any one looked into finding if Germany has any surp ammo, they sell often to small countries ammo and guns from there inventory,
Spain and Greece use the MG42 and mg3 and so does Portugal FNM made very nice ammo, the bullet for the 8mm is so sharp and pointed you can
use a round a weapon, it looks like a big SS109 556 bullet . can dealers still get FN ammo from sources, I can see it still for sale in the US.
 
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Are the Berden primers a common diameter? Or are they like most .303 and an odd size?

I am set up to re-load Berden and if primers can be easily found these might be even better deal.
 
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This stuff shows signs of high pressure. Flattened out primers, and cratered around the firing pin. Also hard to open the bolt, difficult extraction.
I decided to pull a few apart, and measure out the load. Based on the drawing I've provided, the load should be 44 grains for a brass cased round with the 197.5 grain S.S. (Schweres Spitzgeschoß) ("heavy spitzer") projectile. The powder looks identical to the stuff I've pulled out of German WW2 7.92x57 ammo with headtsamps, so I'm positive the powder was not changed. It did measure out to 44.7 grains for both rounds I pulled. The projectiles were 196.5 and 197.1.
Cartridge OAL is as it should be. I think the non corrosive primer is probably a bit hotter, and they put slightly more powder in than they took out when these were rebuilt.
I fired these out of a VZ-24, and the recoil was pretty stout. Tried to Chrony a few of them, but with all the snow on the ground, and it was getting close to dusk, i could not get one reading. Too bad i wasted 5 round on that.
I also measured the spent cased of length, compared to the unfired ones, and they stretched about 0.019.

I'm curious to see what experiences any of you have had with this ammo.
 
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