anyone use a 125 grain bullet out of the 8mm Mauser for deer ?

[bcraig]

I have a 8mm sporterised Mauser and have killed deer with the PrVI 196 grain soft factory load and a reload consisting of a Sierra 150 grain bullet and 47 grains of H4895 COL of 3 inches.
Both work very well on deer.
Just wondering if anyone has uses the Hornady 125 grain bullet for deer hunting?
thinking about an extreemly low recoil load for deer sized game out to about 150 yards or so.
I know that thr factory loads offered by Remington would be just fine but wondering about some reloads for this catridge.
Thinking along the lines of a 125 grain around 2500-2600 FPS.

[usherj]

I've never tried the 125g, but in my 8x57 I've been using the 200g accubond with 43.5g (starting charge) of Varget for 2300 fps. Very easy shooting, accurate and stable. Almost boring, no fuss. In a 7# HVA FN 98 sporter with no recoil pad it is quite pleasant to shoot. Hope this helps

[shot1]

The 125 Hornady should work OK on deer size game. That is if you can get it to shoot accurately. It has been in my experience that the 8X57 JS Mauser likes heavy 170 to 200 gr bullet best. I did some reading up on the 125 in the Hornady manual and they suggest faster burning powders for it. VIHT N-135 is what the suggest with a max load velocity 3100 fps but IMR & H 4198, RL7, H-322, IMR 3031, AA2520 and AA2495 are also listed in the load data as suitable and all will get 3000 fps. So your 2500 to 2600 fps will be a very mild load.

I use 125 Nos. Ballistic Tips in my 308 win at 3000 fps and it hammers deer. 

[kombi1976]

I'd like to know your source of 125gr Hornadys.
They went out of production about 2 years back, much to my dismay, and no one else seems to make anything like them.
They're probably fine for deer if you aren't a "spray and prey" sort of shooter.
You'll want to put them where they need to go and not use them on really big animals.
Personally I use a sporterised K98 with a stainless 26" bbl, Choate stock and Timney trigger.
I've got a 150gr SP load that clocks almost 2900fps although it's currently shooting 2" plus so I need to do some development with it.
Any deer that doesn't go down from that load is tough.
Last goat trip it took down 6 solid goats, 2 of them at 170m, and they don't die easily.

[bcraig]

I bought the bullets off another forum. Guy had a full box of 170 grain Speers and bout 80 150 grain Sierras and about 65 left in a box of the Hornady 125 grains.