Latest acquisition. 8x57JS

[oppy]

I found that my 98K's seem to like the heavier bullets which are consequently longer. For powder IMR-4064 or IMR-4895 provided acceptable results.

As for accuracy, I believe a lot depends on when the Mauser was made. Late-war production suffered from the quality of both materials and in some cased the lack of skilled machinists. I do recall reading that the sniper 98K's were just rifles that performed very well during the acceptance testing.

 

[jamesharrison]

Dave:

In my 3 Husqvarna M98 8x57's, I use PPU & nny brass (fired case capacity 65.7 gr. H2O across all 3 rifles, but they are all within 100 serial numbers of each other), CCI200 primers, RL15 (51.5 gr.) or WC852 (53.5) or x2924 (also 53.5) behind Norma 196 PPDC's (COAL 3.107"). For the old SAKO 196 RNSPBT's, I seat to 3.000". RL15 (51.0 gr.) or WC852 (53.0) or x2924 (also 53.0).

I tried the old nickel-plated WLR primers in the above, but accuracy was not quite equal to the CCI's in any of the loads, although certainly still quite usable.

(I'm saving my few remaining hoarded Alaskans and Oryx for when the moose come back).

The old Remington 185 grain PSPCL bullets (3.040" COAL) also worked well, at least for me, using 53.5 grains of WC852 (H380) or 52.0 gr. of RL15 and gave me a bit over 2,700 fps chronographed last summer. 57.0 grs. of W760 gave me an average of 2,756, but accuracy was not as good. Neither was any load I tried with x2924. Being built for the old 8mm Remington Magnum, these bullets hold up pretty well at steep 8x57 velocities; actually they act like a premium bullet, if the range to target is under ~100 yards.

I was never able to develop a satisfactory load using the Hornady 220 grain bullets, but I finally scored a few hundred Norma 227 grain bullets!

 

[mbogo3]

I have 150 of the 185gr Rem bullets........dam 2700fps is nothing to sneeze at if the groups are there.

 

[tony d]

I'm a big fan of CFe 223 and the 180 ballistic tip it is amazing in my Brno 21 h

 

[Eagleye]

I'm a big fan of CFe 223 and the 180 ballistic tip it is amazing in my Brno 21 h

I have never used CFE 223 in anything, but I see that, on the burn rate chart, it is close to W748, which I have
used a lot of over the years. Should be good with the 170-185 grain bullets.
I do favor the 195-220 grain bullets in the 8x57JS, so a bit slower numbers seem to do best there. Dave.

 

[kjohn]

I used good old 47SB under Sierra 150gr. in my ugly old 98, both when it was 8x57 and now that it is 8mm-06. Wicked in the boiler room of whitetail.

**Edit: now that I have a chrono, I should see what those Sierras are doing for fps.

 

[Eagleye]

I used good old 47SB under Sierra 150gr. in my ugly old 98, both when it was 8x57 and now that it is 8mm-06. Wicked in the boiler room of whitetail.

Did you ever chronograph any of those 47SB loads kjohn? That powder is a tad slower than W760/H414. I had a 8mm/06 for several
years. A very effective chambering also. Dave.

 

[Boomer686]

I've only tried 150, 170 & 196gr bullets in my K98 using H4895 & IMR4064 as that's all I had suitable for this rifle. I have recently lucked into some 170gr Hornady SST's that I will also try to work up a load with as well. Loving the 8mm: it's a toss up between this and my M1 Garand for favourite WWII era rifles!

 

[kjohn]

Did you ever chronograph any of those 47SB loads kjohn? That powder is a tad slower than W760/H414. I had a 8mm/06 for several
years. A very effective chambering also. Dave.

��. See my edit!

 

[Eagleye]

I am quite fond of that .323 diameter bullet as well. I have taken a fair number of animals with 8mm rifles,
[deer, Black Bear, Elk, Moose] and they work just great!!
Now the bullet selection has improved considerably, and decent choices are available, even for my 8mm Rem Mag.
Norma of Sweden has at least 3 very good 8mm bullets, Nosler makes 3, Swift makes 2, etc, etc. Dave.

 

[bearhunter]

I am quite fond of that .323 diameter bullet as well. I have taken a fair number of animals with 8mm rifles,
[deer, Black Bear, Elk, Moose] and they work just great!!
Now the bullet selection has improved considerably, and decent choices are available, even for my 8mm Rem Mag.
Norma of Sweden has at least 3 very good 8mm bullets, Nosler makes 3, Swift makes 2, etc, etc. Dave.

I like the 8mm cartridges as well.

I've built three different 8mm-06 rifles in the past.

There was a time when 8mm barrels were difficult to get but there were plenty of excellent take of 98, 8x57 barrels in the bins of gunsmiths all over Canada and very likely still are more than a few.

A standard 30-06 reamer and an 8mm neck/throat reamer opened up the chambers quite well.

RCBS sold the dies, which were only slightly more expensive than their off the shelf offerings. One pass with the expander ball was enough to open the necks, a quick trim and all was good to go.

There really was very little difference in the velocities that could be achieved with lighter 150-170 grain bullets in the 8mm-06, over the 8x57, however, when heavier 195-220 grain bullets are loaded the 8mm-06 really shines and will give 200+fps more velocity.

The reason for the 8mm-06 was first to get the flood of 8mm Mauser chambered rifles shooting, as cases were hard to come by.

It's a great cartridge, but the only practical advantage it has over the 8x57 is with heavy bullets.