Reload or Buy 8mm?

M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
Having a bit of a conflict of decisions here, Im unsure whether to A) Buy A Spam Can of Romanian 8mm Mauser Surplus on Clips or B) Reload from .30-06 Cases and (maybe) anneal the necks. I'd work up a load and then load about 2-300 Rounds. My Only concern with the reloads is them being unreliable (as the surplus will be sure fire). If I crimped the necks and sealed the primer with something (I've heard of using fingernail polish in place of lacquer). And then storing it in a new Ammo Can in boxes of 20 (loose in boxes). I want it to be sure firing and accurate. So, which would be the better route? I can reload for cheaper than I can buy surplus, not factoring in dies, of course.

Thanks for any input.

Regards,

-Mo.
 
If you look around a bit, you can find new 8x57 brass. Graf's had (probably still does) some Prvi 175 8 mm bullets cheap. I bought some, and they're not bad at all. Your reloads will be as reliable as any commercial ammo, unless you make obvious errors. No need for special sealant. IMR-4064, my go to for the old Mauser, is available at several sites now, and I bought a lb at a LGS just last week. Load 'em up and have fun.
 
I picked up used dies for $15 at my LGS. I sized 100 30-06 cases for a friend but he happened to have seven empties so I loaded them too. Unless you look at the headstamp you can not tell the difference.
 
There's absolutely no reason to think your hand loads won't be 100% reliable. Assuming you load 'em correctly. No lacquers or nail polish is required.
The Romanian 8mm Mauser is '70's vintage and corrosively primed too. Not a big deal, but does add the extra cleaning step.
 
If you can handload for less ...what are you waiting for?

Surplus is far from a "safe bet". (An oxymoron in itself.)

I fired many types of 8x57mm surplus when I had an 8mm, and none of the ammunition was what I would consider reliable.
Add to that the fact that it's all corrosive, the cases tend to crack, split, or rupture due to age, and you're dealing with steel jacketed or steel core bullets ...and it doesn't sound like much fun to me.


.30-06 brass works, but 8x57mm brass is available. Usually, it's the same price as .30-06. (At one time, I was getting it for 15% less than .30-06.)

Handload, and don't store the ammo in your shower. It'll be just fine....
 
There is boxer primer brass on the market but it is not cheap but if you are reloading and work up a load good load and only neck size from the second firing the the brass will last several re-loads.

Now that said as long as there is reasonably priced milsurp ammo to be had; buy it cheap and stack it deep.

I am not a fan of the 30-06 conversion. Yes it will work but not to my satisfaction.
 
well romanian 8mm is about 55 cents a round before shipping which on a spam can is not cheap so you're probably looking at closer to 65 or 70 cents a round by the time it's all said and done unless you have an amazing local gun store that has that stuff in stock right now. it is berdan primed so you can't reload once you're done with it and could possibly be corrosive, even if you pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and loaded your own, it would still be corrosive due to the primers and still would be a one time use and would cost even more due to the fact that you still paid 65 to 70 cents for that piece of brass.

on the other hand. you could buy PRVI ammunition for about 75 cents a round and load your own without having to form and anneal your own brass. but spendier. or for 58 cents apiece you could buy PRVI 8mm brass, personally given the minute price difference i would go with the PRVI ammo, and shoot because it would be extremely difficult to load ammo for less than the 17 cent difference in price.

as for 30-06 brass, unless you have a lot on hand I probably would not use it as it's a lot of work and a slight messup in the annealing process could ruin the whole batch and lead to casing failures.
 
1. Is your purpose to have a large supply of ammo on hand for a SHTF situation, or just to have ammo on hand to shot and enjoy your rifle.
If the former, the spam cans are sealed, and ment for long term storage.

2. Do you already have the necessary reloading equipment other than dies?
You will have to factor in the press, powder measure, scale, champers tool, in addition to the dies if you don't already reload.

3. An additional advantage that reloading has is you can taylor your loads to your gun, style of shooting, and purpose.

4. To me, and many others, reloading, and building up loads is an enjoyable hobby of it's own.
 
I'm probably going to just buy some ammo as I go along, as tahunua suggested, as I already have a box of the stuff.

Thanks for the help, guys!
 
CowTowner....that ammo you posted the link to is corosive.

Mosin.....Get yourreloading stuff and if you think that forming cases for 8mm. Mauser is to much of a hassle I can do it for you for my cost. You just have to let me know so can keep my eye open for 30 -06 brass.
 
First off, most nail polish is lacquer...

Military ammo is sealed much more than any civilian ammo needs to be. In some cases, military ammo is stored under water!

I've got handloads I made up in the late 70s that still fire just fine. Done right they will probably outlast you. And no sealant was used.

Buying new 06 to turn into 8mm is foolish. 8mm is out there, as new brass. And if you hit the gun shows, odds are good you can find "once fired" for not too much (but beware, some people think it's gold, not brass) Look for estate sales, too. Lots of older folks passing, their stuff being sold for not too much.

If you find a bunch of someone else's 8mm handloads, (cheap) grab them, and pull them down for the cases (and maybe the bullets) toss the powder, even if you THINK you know what it is, toss it, anyway. Simply not worth the risk.

You CAN anneal anytime you want, but just to form 06 into 8mm Mauser, I wouldn't bother.

The only plus (besides the price) to the European spam can is you get the stripper clips. The down side, corrosive priming and berdan cases (so even if its brass, its scrap metal once fired. And it might be steel cases...)

Don't overlook US made, ammo, Remington, in particular. (I haven't seen Winchester 8mm in ages, but one still sees Rem Core-lokt 8mm Mauser. The bullets are good, the brass is as good as it gets. The load is mild, a few hundred fps below what European ammo is loaded too. Always been as accurate as anything in the stock Mausers I have shot it through. Not dirt cheap, but buy a box, here, another there, next month, or what ever, save your brass and soon you'll have a bunch...;)

I'd only form 8mm brass as a last resort. I formed 7.7Jap, until I got some commercial brass, its a bit more scarce than 8mm Mauser.
 
If you look around long enough you can find good deals on surplus 8mm. I have always had good luck with Yugoslavian, Romanian, and Turkish surplus. Greek 8mm is also good. Stay away from the Iranian stuff. I have been able to score a bunch Romanian and Turkish 8mm for about 40ish cents around on stripper clips in sealed cans. But to find good deals you have to really search the shows and forums.
 
Thankfully I can get some PPU locally, for about 17.95 + Tax. Not a smoking deal but better than anything I could find online (:p). I can probably talk him down to letting me buy it for around $16 Maybe. Anyway, I plan to group some of these PPU soft points I have tomorrow, so hopefully they shoot well at a hundred yards, as I want to use them for game. Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciate all the help!

Regards,

-Mo.
 
Don't overlook US made, ammo, Remington, in particular. (...) The bullets are good, the brass is as good as it gets. The load is mild, a few hundred fps below what European ammo is loaded too. Always been as accurate as anything in the stock Mausers I have shot it through. Not dirt cheap, but buy a box, here, another there, next month, or what ever, save your brass and soon you'll have a bunch...
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While I won't argue that it's decent ammo, and the Core-Lokt bullets are generally (almost universally) a great bullet for the price...
I wasn't very impressed with the box or two that I tried in my Yugo. That Yugo was amazing. It shot everything well. ...Except Core-Lokts. They weren't bad - but not great, either.

I ended up measuring some of the bullets in that ammunition, and they came out at 0.3205" to 0.321". ...A compromise between 0.318" barrels and 0.323" barrels. :rolleyes:

The "identical" component bullets that I handloaded were 0.323" diameter, but the factory ammo was stuffed with a smaller diameter. ...Even though it has the big 'For .323" bores only' warning on the box.


Thankfully I can get some PPU locally, for about 17.95 + Tax. Not a smoking deal but better than anything I could find online (). I can probably talk him down to letting me buy it for around $16 Maybe. Anyway, I plan to group some of these PPU soft points I have tomorrow, so hopefully they shoot well at a hundred yards, as I want to use them for game. Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciate all the help!
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If you're going to try to haggle, don't forget to tell them that you'll be buying more in the future - if the ammunition works for you.
When you can add potential future sales (at a good price) to the deal, it sometimes makes a difference.
 
Reloading to me is a function of how much I'm going to shoot that particular caliber, as well as cost, the level of accuracy of the rifle(s), and whether handloading is going to have an appreciable effect on accuracy.

If it's not significantly less expensive to handload- and in the case of the Mausers, which aren't even minute of angle rifles, it doesn't make sense.

We have a couple of 8mm Mausers- but don't shoot them all that much.

Yugo M75 sniper ammo is extremely accurate- and at $.57/round cost is comparable to handloading. No reason for me to spend my time handloading for them.
 
CowTowner....that ammo you posted the link to is corosive.
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I'm aware of what it is. I got an email blast from Wideners and posted the link for the OP's information.
I was not expecting to get hammered for pointing out a possible supply of 8mm ammo.
Sheesh
 
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