Author Topic: 8mm Mauser (Read 679 times)

K.K · « **on:** May 15, 2006, 10:57:43 AM »

I am looking a custom Mauser 98 in 8mm Mauser. the stockwork is really nice and the action and bore are in great shape. I have absolutely no experience with this round. I'm sure that it will do for whitetails. What is it similar to in terms of ballistics? Anyone currently using one? I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

K.K

Lone Star · « **Reply #1 on:** May 15, 2006, 11:03:15 AM »

US factory ammo is very anemic, it does not do the cartridge justice. Handloaded to safe pressures for an M98 it will be close to or exceed a .308 WCF. A lot depends upon how hot you want to load, but the performance of the .308 on deer has been exemplary for decades and the larger 8mm bullet diameter can only be a plus. The 8x57 is a great deer cartridge!

Cheesehead · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2006, 12:27:37 PM »

Lone Star is right. The 8mm mauser is a great big game cartridge. It was my first deer rifle when I was 14 years old and I still have one. I have hand loaded it with 150-170-175-200 and 220 grain bullets usually over Reloader 15. I have mostly used 200 grain bullets with great success on whitetail. I believe the cartridge was originally designed for a 200 grain bullet. I bought a quantity of 220 grain bullets for dirt cheap and have loaded them for deer loads and they have worked well out to 200 yards totally penetrating large deer. The cartridge has less case capacity than the 30.06 but more than the 308 Winchester. I believe the larger bore gives it a slight advantage for big game. In my opinion this round is very adequate for deer, elk and moose with proper loads.

Cheese

K.K · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2006, 01:37:41 PM »

Gentlemen, Thanks for the advice. I love the idea of adding a true Mauser to the collection, and the price is right. I think that I'll go ahead and buy it. Sounds like I'll have to load for this one though. Thanks, again!

K.K

257 roberts · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2006, 02:47:17 PM »

Nice find, you will be happy!

Brithunter · « **Reply #5 on:** May 23, 2006, 10:28:17 AM »

Well if you don't want to handload or cannot due to space problems

then look for some S&B ammo. The S&B 196 grain SPCE is a properly loaded cartridge to the full specs of the CIP European standards, velocity is something like 2600fps, there is also Privi Partisen who also load soft points to CIP standards in 8x57 as do Hirtenberger and of course Norma and RWS. Factory loaded ammo is not that hard to find and even the Remington load is very effective on Deer and Elk. A friend in Colorado loaned his K98 sporter to a friends son who used to to take a Cow Elk cleanly with a single shot at about 220 yards. It might be slower than the CIP standards say it should but that Cow never noticed the difference :wink: .