8x68s mag & 350 mashburn super mag

bronco_mudder

bronco_mudder

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Ok, so I've acuired a couple of boomers that I need start reloading for. If I ever plan on getting some use out of these I better get my but in gear and start working on some loads. I thought I'd see what my fellow gunnutz had for advice on these two chamberings, what your favorites loads are before I ordered any projectiles. Any advice on the above mentioned cartridges would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Arron:)
 
200 gr nosler, over 77 gr of VV N160, just under 3000 fps; in the 8x68S, quite accurate too. 95 gr of H4831 (the old, slightly slower stuff) in the 350, under a 250 gr bullet (Speer or Hornady when I did the load testing, wasn't a lot else available at the time, and didn't seem to make much difference in accuracy), good for 3080 fps. You could also use 358 STA STARTING loads, tread carefully here, as the STA has more case capacity then the 350 does, albeit not that much. FWIW - dan
 
Thanks for the reply Dan. As you suggested starting with the low end of the STA loads that's what I was thinking I'd do after doing a little research on both cartridges. I'm considering ordering some 280 grain Swift A frames for the 350, that'd be a major moose mashing round:D As for the 8x68, I wasn't really sure which way to go, but I was leaning toward one of the 200 grain offerings. I've got a lot of 4831 here so I think that would work out as a good combination.:cool:
 
Just passing this along for what it's worth.

The developer of the 358 STA Layne Simpson wrote this in an article introducing his new .358 STA creation (Shooting Times - Sept/92),

"Except for a slight difference in shoulder angle (30 versus 35 degrees), the 350 Mashburn Super Magnum and the .358 STA are basically the same."

The 1950s Speer's Reloading Manual For Wildcat Cartridges is suuposed to have load data for Art Mashburn's wildcat, according to Simpson.

Simpson extolls H4350, RL19, IMR4350, IMR4831 and calls AA3100 "outstanding" in his .358 STA. He claims H4350 as the most versatile of all of them using different bullet weights.

Hope this is of interest. I'd love to hear how your Mashburn performs when you get it going.
 
I'm really surprised, I would have thought the STA and Mashburn super mag would have done better with slower powder, but have yet to find a load for anything like H-1000.

And thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it.
 
From Ackely's manual. His loads tend to be hot, so work up with caution. :eek:





350.jpg
 
I load 220 grain sierra gamekings behind 67 grains of IMR 4350 for the 8x68S. This is a moderate flat shooting load with a lot of knockdown power and MOA accuracy in my rifle. Beware of 8mm bullets lighter than 185 grains - they are generally configured for the 8x57 mauser velocities and WILL NOT stand up to magnum velocities if they hit anything solid. I found this out the hard way on a big whitetail shot at 15 feet...got the deer but terminal performance was complete bullet failure. There are some new bullets out for the 325 WSM which would be suitable for your purposes as well, but the 220 grain sierra has a thickened jacket and will hold together on CXP3 game. Exceptional terminal performance on the two moose, one bear and one whitetail I have shot with this load. They are also economically priced. Save the light bullets for 300 yd plus shots ONLY or punching paper.
Hope this helps.
 
Something to think about is conserving brass for the 8x68S, which is very dear (about $2/case for RWS) and hard to get. Hirtenberger is cheaper. There is no question that you might be able to run hotter loads than the one in my previous post, but I get very good case life with the moderate load - about 6 firings per case.
 
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