8mm Hunting Ammunition

D

David Ozlo

New member
Who makes good factory 8mm hunting ammunition ?
My friend asked me and I just laughed and said I reload and haven't bought ammunition in a decade.
What brand of soft point or hollow ammunition do you used. It's for a k98 mauser.
 
I am not sure who sells hunting ammo for 8MM Mauser
I load my own
Its a good deer load
But it is a heavy load
( have used it in-- M48 Yugo, VZ24 Chek. K98K )

150gr Sierra Pro Hunter
50.5gr IMR 4895
CCI # BR2 primer
Rem. case
coal 3.050

When I take the time to segregate cases and bullets by weight
at 100 it makes the hole bigger, at 200 all holes are touching
 
I shoot a Yugo refurb kar 98k, so I have researched hunting loads. PPU makes a soft point load that is supposed to shoot well, though it is loaded to the lower US spec.
Though I haven't shot any (yet), Sellior & Benoit loads theirs to full powered European standards.
 
Nosler loads 180 AccuBonds that should handle anything you should reasonably expect to hunt with an 8x57. I find the 180 BT handloaded to 30/06 equivalent are very accurate in run of the mill M-98 barrels.
 
When the 8X57 was introduced, it had a 0.318 bore, and was later changed to .323, and because of this, most of the ammo you can get in the US is crap.

US manufacturers were afraid some dimwit would try and shoot a full power .323 through their .318 bore Gewehr 88 and blow up the gun, and hurt themselves. Europeans figured if you don't know what ammo your gun can safely shoot, you are a moron and deserve whatever happens to you.

Regardless, there are two specifications for what we call 8mm Mauser, the US SAMMI spec "8MM Mauser", which has a max pressure of 35K psi, and the CIP "8x57 IS" which has a max pressure of ~56K psi. To further muddy the waters, "8x57 IS" is often written as "8x57 JS, evidently because the Germans used a Gothic script, and the I looked like a J.

Generally, what you can get in the US is "8MM Mauser", and it the anemic SAMMI spec.

Privi Partisan actually makes both, if you look at their online catalog, they have entries for both "8MM Mauser" and "8x57 IS", with the latter having a higher velocity for the same bullet. For example, the "8x57" IS 198 gr FMJ is 2425 FPS, (essentially the 1934+ military load), but the "8MM Mauser" 198 gr FMJ is only 2180 FPS. Naturally, they only sell the wimpy stuff in the US.

Wolf Gold is a decent hunting bullet made by Privi and loaded to 8x57 IS specs, 196 gr SP @ 2461 fps, but I haven't seen it around in a while.

Remington's and Winchester's only offerings is 170 gr @ 2360fps. Federal's only option is even wimpier 170gr @ 2250 FPS.

Hornady and Nosler seem to be the only US folks making "real" 8x57 ammo, Hornady has two options, a 195 hunting bullet and a 196 gr match, both @ 2500 FPS, which is pretty close to the original military load.

Nosler has a 200gr AccuBond or Partition at 2475 fps, and a 180gr Ballistic tip at 2600 FPS, but they are really proud of them, at about $2.50 per round.

Seller & Belot and Norma both make a few 196 loads at ~2600 FPS, but availability is spotty, and while the price on the S&B is decent, the Norma stuff is up in the $2.50/round neighborhood.

That being said, if it shoots OK in your rifle, even the wimpy stuff should be adequate for just about any game animal in North America.
 
"...I just laughed and said..." You need to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your rifle shoots best. The cost of said ammo means nothing.
8mm Mauser according to SAAMI means it has a .323" bullet. It's the 'JS' stuff. The 'S' suffix indicates the .318" bullet. Definitely not the 8 x 57 Rimmed that's the 'JRS') stuff with the .323" bullet either.
Most commercial ammo uses a 196 or 200 grain bullet. However, Federal loads a 170. Your buddy needs to try 'em all. And you get to laugh. snicker.
"...most of the ammo you can get in the US is crap..." Like commercial .45-70?
 
Who makes good factory 8mm hunting ammunition ?
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Depends on what you are hunting.

For deer, all of them work. Any soft point hunting ammo by any manufacturer is going to do the job provided it shoots well in your rifle. Even the sedate American 170gr loads are hotter than a 30-30, and the 30-30 does admirably on even the largest deer.

For elk, try S&B 196gr cutting edge, any of the Nosler Custom loads, Hornady Custom 195gr Interlock, or Norma 196gr Oryx. These are "full power" loads and sure 30 to 45 bucks a box of 20 rounds seems steep, but use half the box to get zeroed with that load and have 10 more for the entire hunting season.

Hope this is helpful.

Jimro
 
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The best bargain around are the powerhouse S&B 196 gr soft point cutting edge loads, which can be sub $20 per box of 20. These are real thumpers @ 2592 fps! No need to bother with the anemic PPU loads as long as S&B is around. Overkill for smaller whitetail, although at least you won't be lacking!

Next is the Hornady 195 gr SP Interlock @ 2500 fps, can be had at $27 per 20. Norma has similar Oryx or Vulcan loads, although they are over $40 per 20.

My personal favorites are Nosler 180 gr ballistic tips @ 2600 fps, although I just picked up some rather expensive Laupa 180 gr Naturalis SPs at 2690 fps just for fun and comparison. I only buy these expensive loads when on sale, but it's possible to get them for about $40-$45 per 20, so in the same class as premium level standard American loads like .30-06.

Even if I was a handloader, I probably wouldn't bother going below 165 gr in this caliber...I have some absolutely KILLER Norma 165 gr Vulcan hollow points at 2855 fps, so they are so rare and precious, they are basically collector's items at this point. I don't know when mine were made (70s? 80s?), but I haven't seen another box in person since I bought 60 at a gunshow almost 25 years ago! :eek: I call them Deer Venom, based on their deadly effect!
 
Yeah, I noticed that the mainstream American factory loads basically duplicate the 32 Winchester special. If it shoots accurately enough, you can hunt with it. Otherwise, it could be a good plan to just use it for off-hand practice at targets and save the brass to reload it how you really want it to be.
 
Lots of deer have fallen to the 32 Special, more than a few elk too. But I don't think it is a good choice for elk when the full power 8x57 loads are available which bump the power level up to a 30-06 range.

But if you plan on handloading, I don't recommend buying commercial ammo to save the brass, it just makes more sense to buy brass and go straight into rolling your own. I've got a really nice load built around the Rem 185gr Corelokt bullet, Rem brass, CCI 200 primers, and IMR 4064 that is pleasant to shoot and very accurate out of most old Mauser's that I've shot it through (1.5 to 2" groups). I know that I can load a tighter shooting load if I used better brass and better bullets, but I started using that load when I was "young and poor" and since it does the job I've never felt the need to drop money on more consistent bullets and brass.

Jimro
 
One thing to keep in mind when looking at bullets/ammo is that many/most of the "more modern" .323 bullets are designed to meet the needs of cartridges like the .325 WSM and 8mm Rem mag. These may not perform well at 8x57 velocities at extended ranges (or maybe even @ 200 yards). I found that the Remington 185 CoreLokt .323 bullets didn't seem to expand as well as I'd hoped for even at 100 yards @ moderate to heavy 8x57 handload velocities.
 
The 'S' suffix indicates the .318" bullet.
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Quite the opposite. The "S" designation is for the larger diameter spitzer bullet introduced ca. 1905.

The "J" substitutes for "I" which stands for Infantry, meaning the cartridge adopted in 1888 and used for a long time after, even though the barrel and bullet were changed. There are, or were, other 8mm cartridges, even other 8x57 cartridges, so the label had to show you were getting the military round.

So 8x57J is the .318" and 8x57JS is the .323."

The current mild SAAMI load originated in the 8mm Remington Special in the 1920s. There were enough 1888s and small 1898s and oddities like Haenels in use that Americans had to be protected from their lack of understanding of European ammo nomenclature. A soft core, thin jacketed .323" bullet will swage down into a .318" groove without much pressure gain, and when it is only starting at 37000 CUP, there is a good deal of safety margin.
 
One thing to keep in mind when looking at bullets/ammo is that many/most of the "more modern" .323 bullets are designed to meet the needs of cartridges like the .325 WSM and 8mm Rem mag. These may not perform well at 8x57 velocities at extended ranges (or maybe even @ 200 yards). I found that the Remington 185 CoreLokt .323 bullets didn't seem to expand as well as I'd hoped for even at 100 yards @ moderate to heavy 8x57 handload velocities.
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This is true, the 185gr 8mm Corelokt bullets were designed to withstand the impact of the big 8mm Rem Mag. However, expansion is the least vital component of lethality, the first being accuracy and the second being penetration. The 185gr corelokt expansion at 8x57 velocities doesn't concern me too much since the bullet already starts out larger than a 308, and expansion beyond that does happen, even if not as "spectacular" as other bullets.

The Hornady 150 Interlock or 170 SST bullets are every bit as good hunting bullets, and should give more expansion to anyone who wants more expansion from an 8x57.

Jimro
 
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