Mauser 8mm Again

H

Hetzer

Inactive
Just joined. I'm still somewhat perplexed by the info on 7.92 Mauser FMJ ammo I've read here and at other sites.

I've had Mauser military rifles for many years and until the last few years never had an issues finding ammo. I hadn't looked much in the last years as I had lots of Yugo ammo and still have about 100 rds of 1950 or 60's Yugo brass FMJ.

Recently at an Atlanta gun show I bought a couple 20 rd boxes of Romanian that says 8x57 JS Mauser w/ Lacquered steel case, 170 grain. I specifically asked if it was useable in WW2 German military 7.92 weapons. Yes, I was told. I took it to my indoor range's rifle range and tried it in my Mauser 98k and K43.
In the 98K it would chamber but the bolt would not turn down. I tried 6 or 7 different rds. Then I tried my brass case old Yugo 7.92 and it loaded & fired perfectly. Next I loaded 5 rds of the Romanian in the semi-auto K43. The rds would in most cases not chamber from the mag. It seemed the rd's bullet would hit the top of the entry poiont into the chamber. Oddly after trying it with different loads in the 10 rd mag it did fire 1 rd and then jammed again, again and again. Is the issue the lacquered steel case ?

I guess my question is what 7.92 do I need to by online for FMJ ammo. That Romanian stuff is all over the internet. I do see some other, old Iranian and new Yugo or is it Serbian. I think "Partizan" or something like that. I just need to know for example that "Partizan" or some other is OK. I want FMJ. I can buy expensive hunting soft nose but don't want that for putting holes in paper !

Can anyone steer me right ?
 

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Frustration with surplus 8mm Mauser ammo is at least half the reason that I got into reloading in a big way. WHEN it fed through my Vz-24, it seemed powerful enough, but produced "Minute of Washtub" accuracy. Federal factory loads were tack-driving, but had the ballistics of a .30-40 Krag (no slouch, but not what I was after).

For enough money to buy a big case of 8mm surplus ammo, I think you could buy everything you'd need (PLUS some nice extras) to make your own, and not have to deal with the problems you are having. Brass can be made from nearly anything with the MAuser case head (.30-06, .270 Win, 7.7 Jap, 7x57Mauser, even 7.65x53, but NOT THE .308 WINCHESTER).

Do you have a caliper with which you can measure the Romanian ammo? I'd bet that the shoulder is either a little bit too big, or a bit too far forward. Since the cases are lacquered steel, I don't know if running the disassembled cases up into a 8x57Mauser reforming die would work, or be worth the effort.
Check the rounds' overall length. If it's greater than the norm, THAT might be a bit more fixable.
 
There are numerous reports of that romanian ammo not being in spec and not working properly in rifles.

PPU makes good ammo however the 8mm mauser ammo is downloaded to the wimpy american levels to idiots don't blow up their old mausers.

Sellier and Bellot are the only ones I know of who load the 8mm to full power levels, they have a FMJ and a Soft Point load. It's more expensive than the PPU but its not liek buying match ammo or anything.

I'm not sure what the availability for it is, I remember during the ammo shortage it was utterly impossible to find, don't know if it ever caught up.
 
Buy or borrow small lots of everything you can and try them all. With so many manufacturers/countries making 8x57 ammo it's understandable that there will be variations and quality may vary widely. Also bear in mind that much of is starting to get pretty old at this point. With age and poor storage cases can swell causing loading or feeding issues and the primers can become unreliable. I bought a large box of 7x57 a few years ago and 75% failed to fire. Appeared the primers were dead, maybe contaminated by oil.
 
"Partizan" or something is Prvi Partizan and it's not milsurp(neither is Sellier and Bellot). It's new made using a 198 grain FMJ. They load .318" 8mm too.
Lot less fuss to reload.
 
8x57JS is the correct commercial designation for the WWII German military ammo that they called the 7.9. If that ammo does not work, it is because it is out of spec. I don't know what kind of bullet that is, but it doesn't look right. The answer is not to buy any more of that ammo.

Since you have only a couple of boxes, keep it for a souvenir of what not to buy.

Jim
 
I bought 200-300 8x57 brass and several hundred bullets years ago. That's a lifetime of 8mm shooting at my current rate. Far better than finding decent quality factory loaded ammo. If you want to spend the $$, try some Nosler 8x57 ammo.
 
Rpmanian 8mm with Yugo 8mm in a stripper

Here is a picture of 5, 8mm rds in a stripper. 3 are 7.92mm Yugo brass rds and 2 are Romanian steel/lacquered rds (green).

It appears the cases are slightly different. Also,
I measured and they seem a tiny fraction shorter. I didn't have a caliper but used a 1/32 marked ruler.

I would've sent a full picture but it seems the file was too big.

I'll wait to the next gun show in Atlanta or near here and try and take it back.
 

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