8mm Why ? Should I have one?

c-fbmi

c-fbmi

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I was just sitting at my loading bench looking at my dies and realized that I haven't played with an 8mm for more than 25 years. I do not need one, with many 30 cals and a 340 in the rack, but there IS a hole in my caliber line up. I have never seen a need for an 8mm because the 30s cover all the bullet weights available in the 8mm and do it with better SDs and BCs and it has been my experience that the greater dia of the 8mms don't seem to increase velocities enough to over come the BC advantages of the 30 cal bullets. The 8mm doesn't even come close to the 340 Wby with bullets ranging from 150 to 300 gns and the Wby having a significant velocity edge in any given weight..............still there IS a hole.
If one were to decide to have an 8mm which case do you boys think should be behind it? I do have 200 RWS 8X68 S cases, which I thought might be interesting in an improved version, for which I happen to have a reamer. Possibly on a 300 Win Mag case for which I also have a reamer and about 600 W-W cases. Then there's the WSM, but no cases or reamers for that, and I don't think it is the best use of a 8mm bore. The 8mm Rem Mag, which I played with before my first trip to Africa, was a profound disappointment so I won't be going down that road again. The 8X57 holds no interest for me at all, nor an 8-06, and I don't think an 8mm on the Ultra Mag cases would be any different from my 300 RUM or my 7mm RUM.
Just kinda thinking out loud here, but if anyone wants to think out loud with me feel free..........
 
c-fbmi,

I've got three 8x57's, but that's just because I like the rifles that they were chambered in. They're good rifles, and I've got some good loads developed for them, and they can serve a hunter just fine.

However, I think your assessment of the 30 cal vs 8mm thing is correct.

A fellow with some 30 cals in his cabinet really has no practical use whatsoever for anything 8mm, unfortunately. :( And if that fellow also has something in .338 cal already, then that's kind of the last nail in the coffin for going out purposely looking for anything 8mm.
 
"...Should I have one?..." That's the wrong question to ask yourself. The right question is, "Do I want one?" "I want one." is a reason.
Like Northman999 says, when it comes to the 8mm it's about the rifle. Especially when thinking about hunting rifles. Hunting rifle are pretty much all the same. A full military K98 Mauser isn't the same thing as a, say, Rem M700.
 
You know NM999, that's an interesting thought...........make it more about the rifle than the caliber.........a nice little 19 1/4" barreled, short action 325 WSM in a full stock with shadow line cheekpiece..........HHHMMMMMMMM........... I thought I saw a Win featherweight in 325 once upon a time, am I dreaming or did Win do this?
 
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c-fbmi said:
You know NM999, that's an interesting thought...........make it more about the rifle than the caliber.........a nice little 20" barreled, short action 325 WSM in a full stock with shadow line cheekpiece..........HHHMMMMMMMM........... I thought I saw a Win featherweight in 325 once upon a time, am I dreaming or did Win do this?
Click to expand...

See this is fine logic as far as I am concerned. I don't know anyone who would be so foolish as to snub a nice little rifle as that!
 
Doug, I know you said you have no interest in the 8x57, but it is a very nicely balanced chambering if you are not looking
for a big "Thumper."

I have a 700 "Classic" so chambered, and it is quite a potent package, properly loaded.
I get 2800+ with the 180's, and 2650+ with the 200's quite easily.

2 moose and 3 Black Bear didn't like the way it worked, I'm sure. lol.
Your thoughts on the 325 WSM are spot on, though.

Regards, Dave.
 
Yes Doug the 325wsm with a full stock and short barrel a new version of the 8x68S ...

great idea ...

now the stock : wood, laminate or synthetic (yes MPI make full stock ...) ...

the more I talk about the more I think about one thank for that Doug ....

Phil.
 
medvedqc said:
Yes Doug the 325wsm with a full stock and short barrel a new version of the 8x68S ...

great idea ...

now the stock : wood, laminate or synthetic (yes MPI make full stock ...) ...

the more I talk about the more I think about one thank for that Doug ....

Phil.
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Phillipe...........synthetic full stock.....how positively Philistine, I gave you more credit than that...........to even suggest a synthetic full stock, OMG..........no it would be in a nicely figured piece of walnut, with nice straight grain full length of the forend and some figure in the butt with solid red recoil pad. Steel nose and grip cap, butter knife bolt handle, iron sights, Oberndorf steel bottom metal and quite likely on a new FN/Win short action. (magnum short action Rems are just too hard to find or modify)
I'm thinking of maybe doing it on the Ruger Compact Magnum case, to easily retain the 3 cartridge under capability and I can make them from 350 RM cases..................300 RCM reamer and then an 8mm N+T and voila a new cartridge.
 
I agree with Dave - the 8x57 is actually a nice chambering and I have owned a few - most notably a pair of Brno 21H's. I also used to have a couple of Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbines in 8x56 M-S, and they sure were sweet, although I never hunted with them. It is a classic choice and would make for a nostalgic African plains hunt - but I get the feeling that nostalgia may not be your thing!

I've hunted with the 8x68S but only shot boar with it so I can't say too much about that chambering other than it seemed to work well - I used factory RWS ammunition with H-Mantel bullets.

There are two other neat 8mm chamberings - the 8x60S and 8x64S, but they are both close to the 8mm-06.
 
c-fbmi said:
Phillipe...........synthetic full stock.....how positively Philistine, I gave you more credit than that...........to even suggest a synthetic full stock, OMG..........no it would be in a nicely figured piece of walnut, with nice straight grain full length of the forend and some figure in the butt with solid red recoil pad. Steel nose and grip cap, butter knife bolt handle, iron sights, Oberndorf steel bottom metal and quite likely on a new FN/Win short action. (magnum short action Rems are just too hard to find or modify)
I'm thinking of maybe doing it on the Ruger Compact Magnum case, to easily retain the 3 cartridge under capability and I can make them from 350 RM cases..................300 RCM reamer and then an 8mm N+T and voila a new cartridge.
Click to expand...

how the good bait it was Doug.....
 
I fell into shooting a 8mm by accident as my first rifle was a K98. So I just stuck with it over the years and became very fond of it. But, for someone like yourself who is already set up for .30 cals, I do not see the point.

Although, if your looking for a non-magnum round that excels at chucking heavy bullets with exceptional stopping power. The 8x57 reigns supreme.

One overlooked plus with the 8x57 is that it will not blow your ears of when fired.
 
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You could go to the 8 Rem mag. It uses essentially the same case as your 300/340 so it would be exactly half way between. Neither fish nor fowl? Or it could replace both. Realistically I would go to a model 7 chambered for a short mag and put a 20" barrel and full stock chambered for the 325. The only problem would be that you might like it so much that it replaces one of your 350s.
 
I think the 8mm shines in the rifles that it is chambered for. 8x57 was just meant to be fired out of a M98 action. I bought one of the Husqvarna 640 models from Trade-Ex and the light good handling characteristics of the rifle blend well with the 8x57 cartridge. Not much recoil either. My rifle came with 'express' style sights with folding leafs for 200 and 300 m. They are dead on with the 198/200 grain .323 bullets. I think that if you want to hunt with irons/peep sights, these M98 mausers with their low comb are perfect for 200m and within shots on game. Plenty accurate with enough oomph to put game down when loaded at European specs.
 
I would have to agree, in that having 30 cal and 338 covered you don't need a 8mm. The 8mm rem mag supplied a good case to create the 7mm STW, but was never popular, and remains a reloader only caliber, with factory ammo available almost nowhere. The 8 mauser while for all purposes the twin of the 30-06 will never make inroads in that calibers popularity here, plus it is a metric designation of a former enemy country.

Again it comes to need over wants. We are gun nutz after all. The way i justified my purchase of a sporter version of the 6.5 x 55sm was use as a brother in law gun. Hasn't anyone else borrowed a fine rifle to a brother in law for a afternoon, only to have it come back with more scratches and gouges than it would get in a lifetime in your use. Buy a already sporter version of a 8 mauser, put a forgotten scope on it, poof, instant brother in law gun. Scratch that one up i don' care.

Bryan
 
I do have 200 RWS 8X68 S cases, which I thought might be interesting in an improved version, for which I happen to have a reamer.
Click to expand...
Damn sure know what I'd be up to! ^.
Quick twist for the heavies, 'n load 'er to the tits.
22 inches on a FN M70.

"it would be in a nicely figured piece of walnut, with nice straight grain full length of the forend and some figure in the butt with solid red recoil pad. Steel nose and grip cap, butter knife bolt handle, iron sights, Oberndorf steel bottom metal"
Absolutely!.
 
c-fbmi said:
You know NM999, that's an interesting thought...........make it more about the rifle than the caliber.........a nice little 19 1/4" barreled, short action 325 WSM in a full stock with shadow line cheekpiece..........HHHMMMMMMMM........... I thought I saw a Win featherweight in 325 once upon a time, am I dreaming or did Win do this?
Click to expand...

Win did indeed do a featherweight in 325 WSM. The store I used to work at had one on the rack for two years before someone bought it. The stock on it was amazing for just a standard FTW.
 
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