The "common" 8mm Mauser, is also referred to as the 8x57 Mauser. The German military designation is the 7.92mm, and you'll see that stamped on the barrels of Gew98 and Kar98 Mauser rifles chambered for the 8x57. I don't know for sure, but it's probably stamped somewhere on the other German military arms of the period that were likewise chambered, to include the MG-34, MG-42, Maxim, FG-42 (What I wouldn't give for one of those!), G-41, and G/K-43. Other military guns chambered for the 8mm Mauser included the British Besa MG, Czech VZ-24 Brno (98 Mauser), Czech ZB-29, Czech Brno LMG, Yugoslavian M-48 (98 Mauser), Belgian (Egyptian contract)SAFN-49, the Belgian 98 Mausers, the Portuguese Model 1904 Mauser-Verguiero, some late-war Italian Carcanos, and I've seen at least two Israeli M1 Garands chambered in 8mm Mauser. I probably missed a whole bunch of guns chambered for that round, but at least I gave it a good try. Maybe a FN Model D and some export 1917 Browning machine guns?
The older brother of the 8mm (7.92) Mauser is the 7mm Mauser. The 7x57 Mauser is a different round, and is indeed that, a 7mm. The 7mm Mauser was the round that caused Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders so much grief at the hands of the Spanish at San Juan Hill in Cuba. The earlier Small Ring Mausers were chambered for 7mm, to include the 93, and 95 Mausers. There were some Large Ring 98 Mausers chambered for it, notably the Argentinian Mausers, and I believe the Mexican Model 1910 (which was an intermediate-length Large Ring).
Now, you're eventually going to run into a nomenclature roadblock when discussing the 8mm Mauser, because prior to world War 1, essentially beginning when Germany adopted the Commission rifle of 1888 (Gewehr88)and it's new smokeless cartridge, the bore size of the rifles was .318". This was the standard 8mm bore dimension until after the adoption of the improved 98 Mauser (Gewehr98), when bore size was increased to .323" and a lighter, pointed spitzer bullet was adopted, bringing the 8mm Mauser cartridge into the performance realm of similar cartridges like the US .30-06. (I really slaughtered the timeline here, but it was for the sake of brevity)
Fast forward to post-WWII America. There are supposedly lots of those 88 Commission rifles still in use, (yeah, right), and for liability purposes, to prevent somebody from hand-grenading themselves by stuffing .323" ammo into a .318" bore 88 Commission rifle, all the commercial US ammo manufactures severely download their 8mm Mauser ammo, such that it is actually closer to .30-40 Krag, and even .30-30 Winchester power levels, as compared to European 8mm Mauser. This was intended to allow even the silliest of folks to fire the current .323" bullet 8mm Mauser ammo in their old .318" bore 88 Commission rifles and walk away in one piece.
Now, I mentioned this not to confuse you, but to give you an idea what's gonna happen when you go out and buy a box of Winchester, Remington, Federal, or PMC 8mm Mauser ammo, and think it's pretty smooth-firing stuff. Then you go and get some of the reloadable Sellier & Bellot, or surplus non-reloadable Yugo, or Egyptian, or Persian 8mm Mauser, and wonder why the stuff has so much more wallop. It's something to think about when and if you reload for your 8mm rifle, too. Accurate Arms has actually included a second load listing for the 8mm Mauser, loaded to European specs, bless their hearts.
For surplus ammo, I'd try AIM surplus, Ammoman, SOG, Century, Dennis Kroh of Empire Arms, and I'm sure a whole slew of other distributors. And even if they tell you it isn't, treat the ammo as if it's corrosive, meaning hot, soapy water through the bore immediately after you're done shooting for the day. Better safe than sorry.
Whew, that was probably way more than you wanted to know. But it'll ease us into the coming response from Jim Keenan, right?
(Just playing with you Jim!)
[Edited by Gewehr98 on 12-26-2000 at 12:39 AM]