8mm Mauser

amber2010

amber2010

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Stouffville, Ontario
I just bought a K98. Now I have heard commercially loaded ammo, such as Remington Core Lokt and Federal 170g, are loaded to reduced pressures because the manufacturers don't want to have issues with older 8mm firearms that weren't designed for the more modern 8mm that came into being later on (WW2). I'm not into reloading right now but would the commercial ammo be good for hunting purposes? What can I expect as to accuracy and or bullet expansion on deer?
Thanks
 
You heard correctly. The reason the Americans underload thier ammo is because the 8mm comes in two different bore diameters. The original loading used a .318" diameter, 227 gr. round-nosed bullet. In 1905 the German army adopted a 154 gr. spitzer at 2700 fps, but for some reason also increased the bullet diameter to .323" To complicate things even further, many German gunmakers kept using the original .318" barrels for sporting rifles long after the army abandoned it. American ammo companies keep the pressures low because they don't expect thier customers to differentiate.

As for current sporting ammo, I would recommend either Norma or RWS. Performance is right on the heals of the .30-06. Finding it might be a little tricky. I would try Ellwood Epps or Williams Arms in Port Perry. The Sellier & Bellot stuff looks ok too, but I don't have any personal experience with it in this calibre.
 
the american 8mm ammo would be very much equal to the velocity and preformance of a 32 win special, now load that rifle with some euro ammo and that rifle comes right to life. it will out preform an 30-06 with bullets of roughly equal weight out to average hunting range any day of the week.
 
Norma 196 grain grain load. 30 bucks a box at epps last time I ordered em. Kill like the hammer of god, accurate and you get 20 bucks of brass and 20 bucks of bullets in each box. either the alaskan, vulcan or the oryx launch at 2550 fps which is perfect for 225 yard zero IIRC. they are all 2800 ft/lbs at the muzzle and the B.C on the SP bullets is about .350

You can expect dead deer and good blood letting. Accuracy wise if you can shoot as good as the Mauser and Norma ammo you should feel proud. If you need a bit more accuracy from the mauser get a timmney sporter trigger for 49 bucks from sinclair international. If you need a bit more accuracy drop a 10 dollar wolf blitzkrieg spring in the bolt and have the best hunting rifle out there.

The fact that Norma does not offer an "underwieght" bullet (i.e 150-170 grain) in thier hunting loads should tell you something.

Order 5-7 boxes to make shipping worth while and 2 years from now when they are gone you'll have 100 bucks worth of brass and a benchmark for performance.
 
I load my 8x57 with the 200 grain AB or Partition.
Using Vihtavuori N550, I can reach 2600+ fps without pressure issues.
It is a honking load!!

Shot 2 moose and a big black bear with it so far.
No recovered bullet as yet.

Animals all dead within 20 feet after the hit.

I regard my 8x57 much the same as my 30-06.

Regards, Eagleye.
 
david doyle said:
much the same but better right?
Click to expand...

My biggest beef with the 8mm, is the lack of bullet choices.

Let's put it this way - If I was heading out on a hunt to shoot
ursus horribilus, and I had 200 partitions up the spout of either
my 8x57 or my 30-06, it would not make one iota of difference
which one I chose.
As long as the ammo matched the rifle, lol.
Eagleye
 
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