8mm Mauser - 200Gn SMK data?
- Thread starter Bolivar
- Start date
SmK was AP: Armour-Piercing. The designation stood for "Stahl mit Kern", German always capitalising nouns. Steel with Core. Steel case, hardened-core bullet. "Kern" means 'kernel' or 'core', meaning, in this case, a HARDENED core. Black tip on original ammo.
They also had SmE loads: "Stahl mit Eisen": Steel with Iron, indicating a steel case and a bullet with a SOFT iron core. NO tip code: standard issue Ball, War Two type.
Bullet weight in both cases was 178 grains.
JsS, "Jnfanterie mit schwere Spitzgeschoss" or 'Infantry with fat Pointed Bullet" was the 196-grain BT loading which was brought out in late 1916/early 1917 for dedicated use by Machine-Gun Sections ONLY. It was the original Anti-TANK load and was not supposed to be run through rifles but everybody did it, anyway. It became the standard loading only in 1935 and was quickly supplanted as lead shortages manifested themselves.
The original WWI load used a 154-grain flatbase pointed bullet of .323" diameter running at 2880 ft/sec: almost 17% MORE power than the .30-'06 of the same period. This load was standardised in 1904. TEXT BOOK OF SMALL ARMS - 1909 shows it with a chamber pressure of 17.5 Imperial Long Tons per square inch: 39,200PSI.
The earlier load, the original Jnfanterie Patrone 88, used a 227-grain flatbase .318" RN bullet at 2093 ft/sec with 21 ILT pressure: 47,040 lbs/square inch, this data also from TBSA - 1909.
The older German ammo was loaded with square FLAKE powder much like the Belgian Cooppal which was loaded into .303 as late as 1950 and possibly later. You find this same powder in that corrosive-primed Turkish ammo, a perfect copy of the Great War loading with the 154. Used with fresh primers, this stuff is REALLY accurate; I have a SMALL supply and hoard it, reload a few into fresh-primed cases for tests.
Hope this helps.
They also had SmE loads: "Stahl mit Eisen": Steel with Iron, indicating a steel case and a bullet with a SOFT iron core. NO tip code: standard issue Ball, War Two type.
Bullet weight in both cases was 178 grains.
JsS, "Jnfanterie mit schwere Spitzgeschoss" or 'Infantry with fat Pointed Bullet" was the 196-grain BT loading which was brought out in late 1916/early 1917 for dedicated use by Machine-Gun Sections ONLY. It was the original Anti-TANK load and was not supposed to be run through rifles but everybody did it, anyway. It became the standard loading only in 1935 and was quickly supplanted as lead shortages manifested themselves.
The original WWI load used a 154-grain flatbase pointed bullet of .323" diameter running at 2880 ft/sec: almost 17% MORE power than the .30-'06 of the same period. This load was standardised in 1904. TEXT BOOK OF SMALL ARMS - 1909 shows it with a chamber pressure of 17.5 Imperial Long Tons per square inch: 39,200PSI.
The earlier load, the original Jnfanterie Patrone 88, used a 227-grain flatbase .318" RN bullet at 2093 ft/sec with 21 ILT pressure: 47,040 lbs/square inch, this data also from TBSA - 1909.
The older German ammo was loaded with square FLAKE powder much like the Belgian Cooppal which was loaded into .303 as late as 1950 and possibly later. You find this same powder in that corrosive-primed Turkish ammo, a perfect copy of the Great War loading with the 154. Used with fresh primers, this stuff is REALLY accurate; I have a SMALL supply and hoard it, reload a few into fresh-primed cases for tests.
Hope this helps.
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