"Mountain" 8x57 load

conor_90

conor_90

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I have an 8x57 JRS. I shoot 196 grain ppu soft points from it. They are "semi spitzer" nut basically round nose. Effective, I also have woodleighs but never used them. They drop like stones but seem effective from my small sample.

I want to make a lighter load that has a longer mpbr sighted in at 200 yards. Hoping to shoot out to 300 with holdover for mountain goats locally later in the summer.

I have tried 150 grain speer hot cores but the gun doesn't like them with the 2 powder options I have lots of.

Do I just use 200 grain accubonds instead of round noses? Lighter 8mm bullets aren't exactly ballistic rockstars. I'm open to suggestions, especially midway between 150-200 grains

Gun is a haenel jager 9 with an S&B 6x Klassik
 

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Lovely rifle!!! I have a Merkel K3 Stutzen in 308 Win.
I would load the Barnes 160grain TTSX. The light bullet won’t bite as bad in the light rifle and speedy copper is always a good option. Plus, I find Barnes will shoot pretty well in almost everything.
 
A flat based bullet in the 170 grain range may be the ticket for 300 y max distance. Also, reloading manuals tend to go light on their load recipes for 8 x 57. If you do some digging you can find some load data with 30-06 ish power.
 
tony d said:
I am a big fan of the 180 ballistic tip it is a lot tougher than the SST and shoots very nice no flies on it in the great 8
Click to expand...
I like the 180gr bt as well. If I was developing a load for 8x57, this would be one of the first bullets I'd try.

OP- I expect 300yd mpbr with a 170-180gr bullet is achievable. What powders do you have on hand?
 
3031, IMR 4350 a small amount of varget.

Gun has a ~24 inch barrel

I will have to check out the ballistic tip. Anyone want to trade for 150 grain Speers
Lol
 
The SST will hold up well on deer and goats. Has a nice BC of .445 and im sure 2700-2750 fps is safely doable in the rimmed version and a modern single like the one mentioned above.

Decently priced:

https://www.londerosports.com/en/hornady-8-mm-323-170-gr-sst-bullets

The ballistic tip does have the heavier jacket and could be used as an all around. Cost these days is pretty steep though.
 
Your rifle is very strong and can handle some very stiff loads.

You don't mention the velocities you were getting with the loads used for the 196ppu bullets.

I load for my 98, with double set triggers, with 196 grain Norma Oryx bullets to 2600fps, from a 23 inch bbl.

This is a very accurate load, under 1 moa, in my rifle

55.0 grains W760/H414, over CCI250 primer, under 196 grain Oryx bullets = 2600+ average velocity.

Bullet drop at 300yds, with a 200yd zero is 9 inches (19cm)

My 8mm JS bore rifles all shoot best with 170grain or heavier bullets. Of the three I shoot, only one of them will shoot boat tail bullets well enough to hunt with.
 
Many years ago, I started using Sierra .323 150gr SP, not sure what the Sierra name was. I used them in my ugly old "sporter" 98, then carried on using them after I had it rechambered to 8mm-06. Only ever shot whitetail with that rifle, so not a worldly wealth of stats. Most, if not all were loaded with 3031, and later with 47SB. I shot most within 100-150 yards, right behind the front leg. Heart and lungs were destroyed. Very little meat wasted.
 
I won't knock using the 150 grain bullet in the 8x57, and that Sierra 150 fbsp is still available. It was also quite accurate, but not always available when needed.

I found it to be to frangible at the pressures and velocities I was loading it to, if it hit bones. It was "explosive" on the shots Kjohn describes.

I took a medium size, 125 pound WT buck with that bullet, using a Portuguese Vergueiro chambered for the 8x57. I led him a to much from the blind I was shooting from, and hit his left shoulder at appx 60 yards. The bullet smashed the shoulder and the buck went down, but pushed along the ground another 50 yards on three legs, before coming up against a round hay bale and jamming itself in a position it couldn't get up from.

Lucky for me, because the river bank was only another 10 yards behind the hay bale and he could push himself along the ground faster than I could keep up.

He would have bled out, but not quickly and I dispatched him with another of those bullets.

That whole shoulder was jellied, the lungs were bruised but intact, as was the heart. The offside was fine but most of the neck and backstrap on the left side were blood shot.

If that Deer had been 100 yds or further, the damage would have been lighter.

If I had done my job, and not lead him so much, the shot would likely have been exactly as Kjohn described in his post.

It put me off though and I've never used those bullets again.

The bullet did its job almost to well. When a bullet takes out 3 inches of shoulder knuckle completely, it's a pretty good bullet.

My load was 47.0 grains of IMR3031, under the Sierra fbsp 150 grain, over LR standard primers = 2900fps.

This load develops around 50,000+ psi and is only suitable for strong actions, with JS, or .323 bores.
 
bear hunter: I agree that the bullet would potentially destroy meet, however I hunted to find a nice younger buck to eat, so I didn't do any fancy shooting, other than one, and I lucked on that one. I passed on the running shots and the long distance shots. The odd year, I got skunked because I was picky about the position of the deer, etc. Where I hunted, there were always deer to pick from.
 
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