8mm Mauser load

Tinman204

Tinman204

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I was going to post this in the reloading forum but I thought that I may get better answers here. I'll be recieving my first Mauser next week so I went to cabela's to pick up reloading supplys. All I found was 220gr Sierra pro hunter bullets. Not what I was after, I was looking for something in the 150-180 gr weight but the only 8mm bullets in stock were the 220gr. My powder will be IMR 4895, there's loads for these components in my reloading book but I'm not sure what to expect.
My question is have any of you experimented with 220gr bullets in you mausers and if so have you had any success with these projectiles? I'm really just looking for accuracy and I know that every gun will like different bullets/loads but I figured before I go and load a whole whack of rounds I'd ask and see if anyone has used these bullets.
 
I'm having good luck with 170 gr Hornadys and 4350 powder. I get good accuracy and hunting energy with my Yugo M48.
 
Here are some, tried and true loads.
Sierra Pro Hunter 150 grain, CCI 200 or Win WLR primers, IMR4895 53.7 grains, COL = 3.000 = 3015 FPS, concider this max load
Speer Hot Cor 150 grain, cci 200, or win WLR primer, IMR4895 52.5 grains, COL 2.950 = 2995 FPS, concider this max load.
Speer Hot Cor 170 grain, same primers choice, IMR4895 51.0 grains, COL 2.950 = 2870 FPS, concider this max load.
Barnes triple shock 180 grain, same primers choice, IMR4895 49.2 grains, COL 3.100 = 2780 FPS, concider this max load.

MAX COL = 3.250
All speeds based on barrel length, so back off loads accordingly by about 10 % and work towards it and see what works out of your gun. I am still playing with mine to see what it will do. Hope this helps.
 
I was looking for lighter bullets but unfortunately it was buy the heavy 220 gr sierras or wait til I can get some lighter bullets. Oh well i'll wait for more responses, and see if maybe someone has loaded the heavier rounds.
 
the first one was a fluke - I have never been able to reproduce that.! [argh]

However, I'm going to try some 150G BTHP or BTFMJ as I have been reading [or read somewhere, not sure I have not followed up on this to confirm] that the longer ~ i.e. heavier bullets take longer to stabilize and need either a faster twist rate or longer barrel.



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Tinman204 said:
I'm guessing nobody loads these heavy bullets. I'll load 5 or so and try them out, hope my shoulder can take the abuse!;)
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The problem with loading 220 grain bullets in a cartridge case capacity such as 8mm mauser is not the recoil factor, but the fact that you've surpassed the peak performance and ballistic capabilities and are on the down slope side. There is a massive trade off in trajectory and energy in comparison when trying to spit out an extra 40 or 60 grains of projectile.
 
fiddler said:
The problem with loading 220 grain bullets in a cartridge case capacity such as 8mm mauser is not the recoil factor, but the fact that you've surpassed the peak performance and ballistic capabilities and are on the down slope side. There is a massive trade off in trajectory and energy in comparison when trying to spit out an extra 40 or 60 grains of projectile.
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What do you think about the 196s? - I'm not really a fan at this point.
 
fiddler said:
The problem with loading 220 grain bullets in a cartridge case capacity such as 8mm mauser is not the recoil factor, but the fact that you've surpassed the peak performance and ballistic capabilities and are on the down slope side. There is a massive trade off in trajectory and energy in comparison when trying to spit out an extra 40 or 60 grains of projectile.
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Thanks for the info. My loading book from lee shows many loads for a 220gr bullet in a 8x57 Mauser case. So I may be barking up the wrong tree. So correct me if I'm wrong but, these bullets will drop faster then a lighter bullet? I'm only plinking but really I grabbed them just so I could do some reloading and some cheaper shooting with my new Mauser.
 
sean69 said:
so lets see that mauser ;)
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I'd post pics but I'm still waiting for it to come in the mail. Should have it by Friday. I have a box of 174gr federal to shoot so I will do a pic post and then a range report. The nice thing is it could make for an interesting post if I shoot a group of 174gr factory and then another group or 2 of 220gr reloads. I'm more interested in learning the craft of reloading so if I bought to heavy of a bullet it will be a good learning experience seeing the difference and the learning from my errors. My lee book list like 10-12 loads for such a heavy round so I figured id try rather then leaving the store with nothing.
 
sean69 said:
What do you think about the 196s? - I'm not really a fan at this point.
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Its my opinion that when a lot of these bullet weights were designed during the war ages, there was an ideology that brute force triumphed over finesse. generally speaking; Machine guns and volley fire were common in many battles. Many of the heavy loads were often belted machine gun loads that had penetration abilities. Most likely the loading specs in a lot of books were duplicating surplus loads used during the war, and perhaps not so practical in the sportsman's world.

For under 100 yards, 220gr has a lot of energy, but exceeding that, the usable energy drops to the ground just as the trajectory. I'm not no knowledgeable as to what rounds were used in what rifles such as M48 or K98, but i'm sure other memebers could offer better information.


My choices for using 170gr are for hunting and ballistics. has energy to drop what i like to shoot at, and reasonable groups out to 200 yards. I'm still fine tuning my load, but the 170s are in the ball park for what I'm after with iron sight shooting.
 
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Tinman204 said:
Thanks for the info. My loading book from lee shows many loads for a 220gr bullet in a 8x57 Mauser case. So I may be barking up the wrong tree. So correct me if I'm wrong but, these bullets will drop faster then a lighter bullet? I'm only plinking but really I grabbed them just so I could do some reloading and some cheaper shooting with my new Mauser.
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If you are just plinking and not planning on actually killing anything get your LGS to order in some FMJ bullets for you, save some $$ and much less lead fouling [I find all my Mausers will usually nip a little bit of lead off those RN bullets and foul the bore. It's not supposed to happen, but it does... ] also the less lead vaporized - the less of it you are inhaling!

What type Mauser did you buy anyway? & welcome to the club - you're gonna wish you took up crack instead! :)
 
This why I love this forum! I'm a student of reloading and these will be my first reloads. I just got my first press and ordered dies for .303 but they haven arrived yet. I've already learnt that just because my reloading manual states something doesn't mean it's a good load for what I want to which is shoot @ 75-100 yards. I was thinking 220gr seemed heavy for an old Mauser but I was thinking that I know 8x57 is supposed to be a hard hitting round in it's day. I mostly shoot .303 and have been researching loads for that round but i guess it's going to end up that I will be reloading 8x57 first. Keep the info coming guys, I love to learn so if the 220's have to go on the backburner for now I chock it up to a good learning experience.
 
fiddler said:
I'm having good luck with 170 gr Hornadys and 4350 powder. I get good accuracy and hunting energy with my Yugo M48.
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Have a Yugo 48A and it also shoots the Hornady 170 gr very well. I use a not very stiff load of 48 grains of IMR4350. It is relatively inexpensive to load compared using higher priced projectiles. That being said, another load I like is the Nosler Ballisic tip 180 grain ( bullet# 32180) over 48 grains of IMR4064.
 
Nothing wrong with the 220 grainers. If the bore is a bit tired, the longer bearing surface may help you out. Unfortunately, the currently published reloading data is pretty anemic, and doesnt do justice to the original design intent of the cartridge. Its possible to get ~ 2400 fps with this bullet, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Do make a comparison between different bullet weights - your rifle will "tune" preferentially to a given weight.
 
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