8mm .323dia hunting bullets testing >Pic Heavy<

dgradinaru

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Decided to test some 8mm bullets in a stack of 2x8" pine wood stack about 2ft in length. Its my first time doing this so bear with my pictures and and info.

Most Bullets preformed well.

Caliber: 8mm mauser

velocities:

170-180: 2650ish upon impact
195-200gr 2450ish upon impact
220gr 2450ish upon impact

Bullet: 170GR Hornady SST
Retained: 117.4gr
Retention: 69%
Comments: Very Rapid expansion, good deer bullet. Penetration was about half way so about 1 foot.



Bullet: 170gr Speer Hot-Cor Semi spizter
Retained: 135gr.3
Retention: 80%
Comments: Penetrated a few inches better then the SST



Bullet: 175GR Serria Pro-hunter SP
Retained: 149.9Gr
Retention: 86%
Comments: Penetrated like the Speer 170gr




Bullet: 180Gr Hornady GMX
Retained: 178.1 GR
Retention: 98.9%
Comments: Great performance, penetration was about 3/4 thru the stack of wood. Not sure how reliable the expansion will be at 300Yards



Bullet: 195Gr Hornady Interlock SP
Retained: 160.6
Retention: 82%
Comments: Penetration was like the GMX



Bullet: 196GR Norma plastic Point
Retained: 123gr
Retention: 62%
Comments: core held intact and penetrated just as well as the GMX



Bullet: 200gr Woodleigh PP
Retained: 175.6gr
Retention: 88%
Comments: Penetration was excellent....exceeded the GMX by a few inches.



Bullet: 200Gr Nosler Accubond
Retained: 158gr
Retention: 79%
Comments: Penetration was like the GMX. Great looking mushroom



Bullet: 200Gr Nosler Partition
Retained: 175.8
Retention: 88%
Comments: Penetration was like the GMX. Good bullet.



Bullet: 200gr Speer Hot-cor sp
Retained: 177.5
Retention: 89%
Comments: Surprisingly retained the most weight from the 200gr class bullets and its only a cup and core bullet!! Penetration was like the GMX



Bullet: 220gr Serria GMK
Retained: 186.9
Retention: 85%
Comments: Great looking mushroom, penetration was similar to the GMX.




Im pretty impressed with the these bullets......the sst was pushed to hard. I think in the sst load it was a regular charge for an honest 2700fts upon impact, so im sure it will do better when reaches the 50-100 yard mark.
 
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Nice pictures & Interesting, but wondering what to do with the information. A " test" of one bullet is not a real test, it is an incident. I would be very curious about a test using a standardized medium and a sample size of 5-10 of each bullet, but realize that's not practical or cost effective for us hobbyist tinkerers. Thanks for sharing anyway.
 
Neat post. Thanks for sharing.

For years, I used a 98 sporter in 8x57 then rechambered to 8mm-06 and used 150 grain Sierra. Not sure which model, but they did a nasty job on a whitetail when put in the boiler room. The old rifle has a Fischer-Dietz 4 power that I paid the grand sum of $10 for. Never had to adjust the scope after initial sight in. I still have the rifle. When Spring comes, I will have to take the old girl out and crank off a few rounds. Gotta love those old rifles! :)
 
Neat post. Thanks for sharing.

For years, I used a 98 sporter in 8x57 then rechambered to 8mm-06 and used 150 grain Sierra. Not sure which model, but they did a nasty job on a whitetail when put in the boiler room. The old rifle has a Fischer-Dietz 4 power that I paid the grand sum of $10 for. Never had to adjust the scope after initial sight in. I still have the rifle. When Spring comes, I will have to take the old girl out and crank off a few rounds. Gotta love those old rifles! :)

For some reason the 150gr class bullets don't really attract me. When it comes to the 7mm bore it's more attractive....Better SD and Bc.....I usually stick to the 170gr+ in the 8mm makes more sense.
 
For some reason the 150gr class bullets don't really attract me. When it comes to the 7mm bore it's more attractive....Better SD and Bc.....I usually stick to the 170gr+ in the 8mm makes more sense.

I guess I just didn't know any better. Neither did the deer.
 
Great post.

I'm not surprised that the C&C bullets did just fine; moderate velocity cartridges are the bread and butter that C&C bullets were raised on.

I shoot Speer 170's and Sierra 220's in my rifles, BTW.
 
As much as some will note shooting wood isn't the greatest test medium, it still gives an indication of the bullets performance relative to each other. Thanks for sharing your test results. It's interesting to note most bullets would be fine hunting bullets, the lower velocity of the 8mm Mauser seems to launch the bullets at a speed that they aren't flying to pieces on impact.
 
I have had amazing performance with the 200 NAB out of my 325, large mushroom, deep penetration, and good ballistics. It's my goto bullet in 8mm now. 9 or 10 moose, 4 deer, 3 bears, 1 wolf and 1 coyote lol. Recovered two bullets from the moose, both hit large bone and stopped on the far side. Farthest shot was 300 yards +/- 25 yards. Closest was the coyote at 10 lol. Poor yote was instantly gutted :/
 
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