Lapua 8mm Mauser ammo question

[xhare]

I recently purchased a Yugo M-48A Mauser and some Lapua 8mm Mauser ammo loaded with 200 grain round/flatnose bullets.  It will only feed this ammo if I load only 2 in the magazine.  If I load more than that, nothing feeds.  Not a big deal as I bought the ammo to shoot up and make some brass.  That said, the ammo is nicely accurate given the off-hand shooting I was doing. 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows what velocity this load is rated at.  Recoil was less than I was expecting so I am curious.  I looked on Lapua's website and could not find it.  It may have been discontinued. 

Thanks for the help. 

[Mikey]

xshare:  Lapua is known for its quality ammunition and their loadings should be commensurate with other current european loadings such as S&B and possibly, Norma - these later two are known for loading ammunition to its original specifications.  If the recoil on your ammo is noticeably less than with other ammo it may have been loaded for the American market, which is both 'old gun' and 'liability' crazy regarding hot (hotter than US ammo) in older rifles. 

You mentioned chambering difficulties or trouble loading from the magazine.  You also said 'round nose-flat point ammo' - just how large is the flat point compared to normal ball ammo???  If you stand a loaded mil-spec ball next to a loaded Lapua rnfp, is the oal the same?  If it is the bullet may be loaded too far out to properly feed in your 48A.  Remember that the 48/48A is an intermediate length action and the oal of a 57mm case may be the maximum length cartridge that action can handle (sort of like the 30-06 in mil-surp Mauser actions where you could only load 3 into the mag due to the oal of the 06 vs the oal of the 8mm.

My 48A just loves the S&B ammo, both ball and spce (soft point cutted edge - looks like a bit of a swc in jacketed soft point configuration) and just about any other 8mm ball.  The Lapua may be a bit long for your 48A.

This is something I will have to try and experiment with.  I started reloading the 8mm for my Swedish 98. I find that if I load 200 gn Nosler soft points so that they just touch the rifling, the oal is the same or longer than that of a loaded Winchester 180 gn soft point.  I haven't tried any of these loads in my 48A but I should to see if they are still within specs to strip them from the magazine. 

It may be the flat nose configuration that is hanging you up or it may be the cartridge oal.  I would try some S&B - it is loaded to original factory specs and it is quality ammo.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Mikey]

xshare:  I said "This is something I will have to try and experiment with.  I started reloading the 8mm for my Swedish 98. I find that if I load 200 gn Nosler soft points so that they just touch the rifling, the oal is the same or longer than that of a loaded Winchester 180 gn soft point.  I haven't tried any of these loads in my 48A but I should to see if they are still within specs to strip them from the magazine".  The 180 gn soft point I was referring to is the Winchester 30-06 180 gn soft point.  Sorry.  Mikey. 

[xhare]

If anything these loads are shorter than mil-spec stuff.  If I load 1 or 2 rounds, then the top round angles up a bit and it still feeds (although with 2 rounds it hangs up occasionally), once you load 3 or more the round tries to strip off more straight line and it hangs up.

I looked around and found an article on suplusrifles.com where they stated that M-48s are notorious for not feeding roundnose ammo very well.  Their explanation is that the feed ramps are not highly polished.  The bullet of this particular ammo is quite blunt, probably of Lapua's "Mega" line. 

As far as recoil goes I may have to update it a bit.  My cheek is a bit sore today, so the recoil was there.  I cant compare this load to the subloads offered by the Big 3 ammo makers as I have not shot any.  I was just expecting more thump than I got, especially given that this is a European load (totally subjective).

[Mikey]

I polished the ramp on my 48A just because it looked like a set of stairs and although spire point ball fed properly, the ramp still looked like squat, so I polished it.  That may help you too. 

You may not notice the recoil at first because your're shooting a 8-9 pound battle rifle, but after a while you know that you're behind a solid caliber.

Also, just make certain your magazine floorplate and the interior of your magazine well are free of burrs.  If the floorplate is not coming all the way to the top of the mag well, some of your rounds may nosedive and not chamber properly.

[Joel24]

I'm guessing the feed ramp too. Do ya have access to any FMJ milsurp ammo? If that feeds well, I would say it's the contour of the round not fitting the ramp very well.

As for velocity...2550 sound about right? Thats the specs on my Norma 196 grain anyhow...Never tried the Lapua.

[xhare]

I have not tried any other ammo yet.  I looked at my boxes of ammo, and Lapua actually lists ballistics on the inside of the box.  After converting metric to english, they list the 200 grain ammo at about 2440 fps. 

My plan is, after hunting season, to reload for this rifle and use spitzer bullets.  If I still have feed problems I will try polishing the ramp a bit.  In which case I will be returning for advice on this matter. 

[Joel24]

Best of luck!