8x57 Ammo

[HardMaple72]

I thought I read somewhere a couple of months ago that the older German-made Mausers are capable of safely firing heavier loads than the American ammo manufacturer's produce. I don't know where I read that, so I'm checking what you guys know about it. And if true, what companies do you get your ammo from?

[rr2241tx]

8x57 ammo is affected by GHWBush's import restrictions and consequently has become obscenely expensive. Samco has plenty of it, but you will pay. There are a few smaller outfits that sell on Gunbroker that have some and you will pay. Other than the surplus stuff, all US market 8x57 is SAAMI-spec. Norma, Wolf Gold and S&B are new production and claim to be non-corrosive, but is SAAMI-spec and you will pay. The surplus ammo is about half or less compared to the price of commercial. The big difference between Euro commercial and US commercial is Euro brands use 196/198 gr bullets and US commercial is mostly 170/175 gr.

[Hawkeye sniper]

I use S&B 196gr. The specs on it are slightly better than 30-06. Cabela's has it if you want to buy it in bulk.

[toolman]

The early 8x57's (aka:commission rifles)had a .318(J) bore while the later models (after 1903) used .323 (JS)dia. bores. The U.S. mfgr's were worried about someone stuffing a .323 JS load in a .318 J bore and blowing themselves up, so they made all commercial loads with soft lead cores and ballistics just barely over .30-.30 Win. specs. There are a few good commercial loads out there including S&B (same as Win.), Wolf Gold (same as Prvi Partizan), Hornady, Norma (expensive), and Lapua (expensive).

[HardMaple72]

So then I either need J (.318) or JS (.323), but definetly not JR or JRS? And mine is stamped 1916, so likely JS? (I currently use Remington Express Core-Lokt 8mm Mauser, and know German snipers didn't become famous with these ballistics.)

[toolman]

The "R" stands for rimmed, so they will not work in your gun. I'm not really sure why there is actually rimmed 8x57 ammo being sold in the U.S. as the guns so chambered are pretty scarce over here. As a general rule, you can shoot any 8x57 ammo as long as it's not rimmed in your post 1903 Mauser. I reload for mine, but I really like the S&B 196 SPCE load for general usage. It's not cost prohibitive like Norma or Lapua and the brass is reloadable. You can also get Win. brand but it's nothing more than re-boxed S&B with the price jacked up. Cabelas usually carries S&B and Wolf Gold for around $14-15\box.

[2008]

Personnally I like the performance of Hornady 195 gr (8229) but expensive. Also I was told,like Toolman does:if you reload you can have a decent ammo at a decent price.

[rfc357]

Have your rifle checked by a gunsmith. If it's in good shape, it should be OK with any of the currently available 8x57 surplus ammo. For hunting, reloading is really the only way to go. Acquiring good commercial hunting ammunition is not easy, and it's expensive. I bought 100 rounds of Remington ammo to get the brass. This stuff was very much underloaded. But with good brass and good bullets, the 8x57 is every bit as good a hunting round as the .30-06. The 8mm has heavier bullets available also.

A friend pulls the FMJ bullets from milsurp and just seats a softpoint on the same case and powder charge. No problems so far, but the ammo is still corrosive.

[wunhunglo]

On the reloading side, 30-06 brass can easily be reformed into 8x57. just anneal the case mouth/shoulder area, form through a 8mm die and trim off the excess. You don't need to waste money buying expensive commercial ammo just for the cases!

[2008]

On the subject of reloading,Remington sells 8mm Mauser rifle brass (RC8MSR) and 8mm 185 grain PSP core-lock rifle bullets (RB3231). About commercial ammo:HIGHLAND AMMUNITION-AX , 8X57 175GR PSP BT (2762 FPS) $30.50 This is new to me ;someone has a comment?