A very good find - 8x57JS

Eagleye

Eagleye

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Several months ago, I purchased a rifle on here. It is a Remington 700 BDL LA
with a McGowen barrel, chambered in 8x57JS.[24" medium sporter.]
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40 on top.

Did not have any time earlier, and the weather was not great, so I did not
shoot it till today. I loaded the following bullets: Remington 185 gr Cor-Lokts;
195 grain Hornady I.L.; 196 grain Norma Dual Core; 196 grain Norma Alaska;
200 grain Speer Hot-Cor; 200 grain Nosler Partitions; 220 grain Sierra G.K;
220 grain Hornady I.L.; 225 grain Barnes original.
Powders used were: 100V, IMR 4451, H4350, W760, VV N550, Reloder 17.

You can imagine how pleased I was to see this rifle shoot all the various loads
into less than 2½ inches at 100 yards. Three shots with the Norma 196 Alaska
went into 5/8 moa. The 195 Hornady was close, and the 200's both shot ¾ moa.

I believe I should keep and hunt with this one!! :) Dave.
 
medvedqc said:
in our hunting group a while ago someone got wonderful results with the alaskan bullets on red deer and wild boar. good finding.
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I have heard good things about them.....now to go and prove them out! I have about 140 of them, so should be good.

The Norma Dual-Cores should be OK at 8x57 speeds,[c.2650] but I know from experience that they are fairly explosive at 325 WSM velocities. [c.2950]
I shot a cow elk with the WSM, using the Norma 196 Oryx. Very effective, tough bullet, better suited to the 325WSM. Dave.
 
I like those bdl rifles , cool to have one in 8x57. Should be great for hunting.
I noticed the bedding is pretty rough on those older bdl rifles, bedding should tighten up the groups. I free floated the barrel on mine too.
 
That 8x57 black bear they had had me drooling all over my phone screen.

Wonder if the rem was created by a guy with a bunch of surplus on hand or by someone for pure gun nut reasons
 
conor_90 said:
Wonder if the rem was created by a guy with a bunch of surplus on hand or by someone for pure gun nut reasons
Click to expand...

Not sure, but whoever did the work, did a very nice job. Deep, dark bluing, Properly bedded, Limbsaver, Walker trigger breaks at a clean 2.75 lbs.
Chamber is quite tight, some of my factory [new] PPU brass needed to be FL sized to fit. New Norma brass was OK, as was Nosler.
If it had been fired before I got it, it's hard to say for sure, but if so, very few rounds.
I have a lot of 8mm bullets, so will "tweak" 2 or 3 loads to use in the field. I am going to look for a Black Bear soon. Dave.
 
Dave,
Could you please tell us more about this caliber, compared to others? Where does it fit and what would you be using it for? Tx.
 
It is the European equivalent to our 30-06. It's case capacity sits squarely between the 308 Winchester & the 30-06.

Bullet diameter is slightly larger: [.323 vs .308] The larger base area allows it to reach '06 velocities with similar weight
bullets. For example, 180 grain bullets in the 8x57JS can be driven to 2800 in a modern, strong action in a 24" barrel.

Very effective for all North American game animals, and can handle bullets heavier than 220 grains if necessary.

A couple of my favorite bullets for game so far have been the 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, the 200 grain Partition,
and the 196 grain Norma Dual Core PP. I am loading some Norma 196 grain Alaskas to try on Black Bear this spring.

Medium-slow powders seem to work the best in the 8x57JS - no surprise. Plenty of choices to work with.
All around, just a great chambering, IMHO. Dave.
 
Eagleye said:
It is the European equivalent to our 30-06. It's case capacity sits squarely between the 308 Winchester & the 30-06.

Bullet diameter is slightly larger: [.323 vs .308] The larger base area allows it to reach '06 velocities with similar weight
bullets. For example, 180 grain bullets in the 8x57JS can be driven to 2800 in a modern, strong action in a 24" barrel.

Very effective for all North American game animals, and can handle bullets heavier than 220 grains if necessary.

A couple of my favorite bullets for game so far have been the 180 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, the 200 grain Partition,
and the 196 grain Norma Dual Core PP. I am loading some Norma 196 grain Alaskas to try on Black Bear this spring.

Medium-slow powders seem to work the best in the 8x57JS - no surprise. Plenty of choices to work with.
All around, just a great chambering, IMHO. Dave.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir. I always learn something from you.
 
Nice find always good to have more ways to shoot the great 8 I don't know why but I simple love this cartridge I have used the 7 x57 extensively in the past but for some reason I definitely prefer the 8
Cheers Tony
 
To be aware that there are "two" so-called 8x57 being sold in Canada - as Eagleye pointed out above, his is the 8x57JS - so that is the European CIP designation. Commonly sold out here in Prairies as "8 mm Mauser" - that is SAAMI name for it - identical outside - perfect fit - but SAAMI sets pressure much, much lower than CIP - so like 200 fps or more difference. PPU makes and sells both versions - and labels then accordingly - 8x57 JS and 8mm Mauser - from their website, exactly the same .323" bullets used, but is typical for 200 to 250 fps less velocity with the SAAMI loading. So, if your experience with 8x57 is with North American 8mm Mauser factory cartridges, not going to be anything similar at all to what Eagleye is describing above with his 8x57JS - exact same chamber, however.

There was an even earlier version of 8x57 that used .318" bullets - in Europe is called 8x57J. I read on Internet that SAAMI lowered the pressure so much, so that North Americans could fire 8 mm Mauser in either bore, and rifle would not blow up. But that really does sacrifice what the cartridge is capable of with .323" bullets - I suspect much American gun writers wrote articles comparing the SAAMI 8mm Mauser loading to the USA 30-06, to show why the 30-06 was so much better - apparently unaware of, or ignored, the European CIP 8x57JS.
 
Thanks Potashminer for helping others on here get the "skinny" on the 8x57J vs 8x57JS.
North American ammunition suppliers have traditionally loaded their 8mm mauser offerings
very "soft", in deference to the .318" groove diameter rifles that may just show up from time
to time.

Interestingly, there are also rimmed versions of both 8x57's [8x57JR and 8x57JRS] I chronographed
some factory Federal 170 grain 8mm mauser ammunition, just out of curiosity. It went right
around 2350 fps.....just barely more than a 30-30!! This basically castrates a very fine round.

The Europeans understand the differences, so their CIP loadings capitalize on the potential of the
8x57JS. If you buy a box of Norma, Sako or other 8x57J or JR ammo loaded in Europe, it will always
have the proper diameter bullet [.318"] If you buy the offshore loading for the 8x57JS or JRS, it
will have the .323" bullet in it.

Personally, I have only ever seen one 8mm rifle with the smaller groove diameter, and it's owner
did not shoot it at all. He did have some original RWS ammo for it though. Regards, Dave.
 
I had thought that I was getting a .318" bore rifle, but turned out to be the .323" size, so I had accumulated some .318" bullets that I had no use for. Someone on CGN bought them in March this year. Can see the labels on the boxes - .318" - Woodleigh calls it the 8x57I - is fairly common to see the "J" exchanged for "I" - I have read various versions - I think it is about trying to translate a hand written German character into English alphabet - sometimes is "I", sometimes is "J". So adding to confusion, I guess - 8x57IS is the same thing as 8x57JS ...

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I = infanterie (infantry)

S= Spitzgeschoß (Spire point)

It’s my understanding the S revision indicates the switch to the .323 bore. Despite this sporting rifles were apparently produced in .3-8 till quite late especially in rimmed versions. The 8x51 Mauser on kurz actions was always .318 I believe.

The .318 patrone 88 cartridge was replaced in 1904 but 1909 Haenel sporters have .318 bores I believe.

Despite “I” being correct all the rimmed brass I have found is labelled “ JRS”
 
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conor_90 said:
I = infanterie (infantry)

S= Spitzgeschoß (Spire point)

It’s my understanding the S revision indicates the switch to the .323 bore. Despite this sporting rifles were apparently produced in .3-8 till quite late especially in rimmed versions. The 8x51 Mauser on kurz actions was always .318 I believe.

The .318 patrone 88 cartridge was replaced in 1904 but 1909 Haenel sporters have .318 bores I believe.

Despite “I” being correct all the rimmed brass I have found is labelled “ JRS”
Click to expand...

i ve seen some barrel written 8x57irs or 8x57jrs and i never understood from i to j maybe for a stamp reason.
 
I think it is an incorrect transcription of the type set used by the armouries to stamp their rifles

Not to mention the 7.92 vs 8mm labelling…
 
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