Where to get 8mm 0.318 projectiles?

D

dagc

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Got a question for the collective wisdom here.

We picked up a Gew88 recently. Was from a dealer's personal collection. We ordered enblocs, so those are on the way.

The barrel is 0.318 caliber. Does anyone know a source in Canada for cast or jacketed projectiles?

I see a seller on CGN for some projectiles, I will contact him. But wondering if there is stocking dealer or cast maker?

We may experiment with Brit303 when the weather warms up (it's -20C this morning). Accuracy will likely be poor but for open sights at 50m it may work. We have some 303 Campro soft points plus a few cast bullets, so maybe they'll obturate. Or maybe not. Part of the fun, no?

We're located in Edmonton, AB.

TIA
 
I'd use the Hornady 321 FTX, the red tip would be a visual marker and a red cartridge box to keep them in, that these are loads for a specific rifle (assuming you have other 8x57's.)
 
I use .321” bullets (.32 special size). Slug your bore, I would put money on your gewehr 88 bore being.3215” diameter. Only a very small number that were rebarrelled in the Czechoslavakia will have a true .318” bore.
 
.005 inches is not much to worry about in that rifle.

I've shot a few thousand rounds of .323 diameter bullets out of GEW 88 rifles with .318 slugged bore diameters, without any issues.

The secret is to keep your pressures under 40K PSI.

For many years and maybe even now, most North American manufacturers of 8x57JS ammunition, keep the pressures under 40K PSI and load .323 inch diameter bullets. They keep the pressures down for these old rifles on purpose, because of the litigation issues in the US.

In Europe, both bullet diameters are relatively commonly available but it's UP TO THE PURCHASER KNOW WHAT THE LIMITATIONS OF THE FIREARM IS.

OP, Graf and PPU make .318 diameter bullets. Check out their sites. Some of the BANNER ADVERTISERS WHO PAY TO KEEP THIS SITE UP AND RUNNING, stock those bullets or can get them. Intersurplus is one.
 
I got some .318" bullets from Larch Valley Enterprise in Alberta some time ago - they were Woodleigh brand - I have no clue if he has any more in stock. Send email to rslepp@shaw.ca - or find their website on Internet and use that contact information.
 
bearhunter said:
.005 inches is not much to worry about in that rifle.

I've shot a few thousand rounds of .323 diameter bullets out of GEW 88 rifles with .318 slugged bore diameters, without any issues.

The secret is to keep your pressures under 40K PSI.

For many years and maybe even now, most North American manufacturers of 8x57JS ammunition, keep the pressures under 40K PSI and load .323 inch diameter bullets. They keep the pressures down for these old rifles on purpose, because of the litigation issues in the US.

In Europe, both bullet diameters are relatively commonly available but it's UP TO THE PURCHASER KNOW WHAT THE LIMITATIONS OF THE FIREARM IS.

OP, Graf and PPU make .318 diameter bullets. Check out their sites. Some of the BANNER ADVERTISERS WHO PAY TO KEEP THIS SITE UP AND RUNNING, stock those bullets or can get them. Intersurplus is one.
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A minor point - USA makers likely do NOT load "8x57JS" - is more typical they load SAAMI compliant "8mm Mauser" - the name for that cartridge was invented by SAAMI and not likely commonly heard of in Europe - although PRVI Partizan lists both 8x57JS and 8mm Mauser - very different loads - exactly same size as 8x57JS cartridge - 0.323" bullets and under 40,000 psi pressure. For use in both size bores - "J" and "S".

If shooter is using 196 grain 8mm Mauser, is NOT experiencing 196 grain 8x57JS
 
Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions, plus education on the nuances of 8mm MAU. Great and helpful advice, as always.

And yes our loads will be on the light side for pressure. Don't want to take any chances. The gun was made in 1890. At 133 years old this old girl was born 13 years before the Wright brothers took off in the Kitty Hawk.
 
dagc said:
Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions, plus education on the nuances of 8mm MAU. Great and helpful advice, as always.

And yes our loads will be on the light side for pressure. Don't want to take any chances. The gun was made in 1890. At 133 years old this old girl was born 13 years before the Wright brothers took off in the Kitty Hawk.
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I'm not too sure of it, but I think if you have a case head separation.. things get violently Western in a hurry with these old Mausers. The 1891s don't take it very well.. I think I've seen pictures of them exploded. Assuming the 88 is prior technology it probably doesn't have an venting system either?
I try to keep my 7.65x53 loads on the conservative side too.
 
tokguy said:
I'm not too sure of it, but I think if you have a case head separation.. things get violently Western in a hurry with these old Mausers. The 1891s don't take it very well.. I think I've seen pictures of them exploded. Assuming the 88 is prior technology it probably doesn't have an venting system either?
I try to keep my 7.65x53 loads on the conservative side too.
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Small point, just to help Mausers name. It's a Commission rifle, poor Mauser never got involved in those rifles much to his disappointment. Much like how 8mm Mauser isn't actually 8mm Mauser, as he had nothing to do with the cartridge, it just became associated with him thanks to the 98 Mauser series the Germans adopted.

As to gas venting on these rifles, they don't do so well. One of the first changes (much like many of the early smokeless designs) was to change the cocking piece to have a deflector shield instead of the standard round knurled end so when gas vented backwards it would hopefully be vented away from your eye. Funnily enough it is part of what allowed Mausers M98 design to be adopted as the Gewehr 98 as he was able to show off all the safety features that a decade of experimentation had created. So not being involved in the Gewehr 88 did work out for him in the end.
 
If you want first class 318 bullets for hunting, contact Barnes. They will make you bullets in that size.

I did all my plinking by loading 32 Spl bullets - .321" Worked just fine. cheap, too.

BTW, we shooters have a technical name for those "projectiles". We call them "bullets".
 
Ganderite said:
If you want first class 318 bullets for hunting, contact Barnes. They will make you bullets in that size.

I did all my plinking by loading 32 Spl bullets - .321" Worked just fine. cheap, too.

BTW, we shooters have a technical name for those "projectiles". We call them "bullets".
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Results

Bullets! Haha, got it! :) Well, tried out the Gew 88 this past weekend.

I sourced some 0.318 200gr Barnes spitzers from a nice CGN seller. Also had some 0.323 170gr round-nose at home. Loaded both types of "projectiles" with IMR4350 and IMR4895 for the 0.318, and IMR4895 for the 0.323. According to the manuals, pressure is in the 35-36k PSI range for these loads.

Loaded up 5 rounds of each at the lightest charge per the manual.

The 0.323 worked fine out of the gun and casings didn't show any signs of stress. Bolt could be opened without trouble.

Recoil was light for all 3 loads but was the lightest for the 0.323. All 3 loads had similar group size, about 2" at 50m over open sights, a couple of times had 2 shot groups that touched each other. Will stay at the lowest powder load and switch to 0.323 if we run out of 0.318. For plinking at the range this is good enough. There is no need to tempt Fate with a gun build in 1890.

Also brought a SMLE with me to shoot while the Gew88 was cooling down. That gun was printing wicked sub-0.5" groups at 50m, as long as I did my part!
 
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One thing to note. a lot of the GEW 88s have rather shallow rifling. A steady diet of .324's will burn through it eventually. My vote is for the lee sizers. I have a .318 an size 220gr 324's down without issues. Push them to the original velocity of around 2100fps using IMR 4895 without any trouble whatsoever. Accurate too!
 
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