8mm Mauser pet loads

[Laurie]

Regardless not fun to shoot those rounds, that steel butt plate punishes the shoulder when you bench that rifle. The cheek weld (for me anyway)when you pull the trigger is like, a little devil opens a hatch and punches you right in the cheek. Perhaps this is why this gun is a bit of a safe queen.

Yup, that's why I started loading 8X57 when I owned these things. Military spec PPU 7.92X57 sS was £8 / 100 in the period I'm thinking of, cheaper than you could handload 308 size cartridges in the UK at the time.

My local gun dealer got a large batch of mint surplus Portuguese Mauser-Vergueiro m/1904-39s in and was selling them at a very reasonable price. They were the originally long M1904 6,5X58mmP rifles manufactured by DWM and later shortened to K98 OAL, rebored and rerifled in the late 1930s after Portugal adopted 7.92 and started buying copies of the KAR98k from German manufacturers. A hybrid Mannlicher / Mauser action, this was my favourite 7.92 service rifle by far of the half-dozen long and short models I owned over the years. I wish I still had it in fact.

When I got it, I thought I had one cartridge / rifle at least that I didn't need to handload for given the excellent quality, cheap surplus 7.92 around in vast quantities and didn't bother buying dies, brass etc as I usually would when acquiring something in a new cartridge. After a single range session with surplus 198gn sS, I pulled some of this ammo and tried downloading it - didn't work, sooted-up brass, bolt and action and lousy groups, if you could call them 'groups'. So, back to buying yet another set of dies, brass, bullets to handload lighter bullets in mild loads.

 

[Canuckenstein]

Yup, that's why I started loading 8X57 when I owned these things. Military spec PPU 7.92X57 sS was £8 / 100 in the period I'm thinking of, cheaper than you could handload 308 size cartridges in the UK at the time.

My local gun dealer got a large batch of mint surplus Portuguese Mauser-Vergueiro m/1904-39s in and was selling them at a very reasonable price. They were the originally long M1904 6,5X58mmP rifles manufactured by DWM and later shortened to K98 OAL, rebored and rerifled in the late 1930s after Portugal adopted 7.92 and started buying copies of the KAR98k from German manufacturers. A hybrid Mannlicher / Mauser action, this was my favourite 7.92 service rifle by far of the half-dozen long and short models I owned over the years. I wish I still had it in fact.

When I got it, I thought I had one cartridge / rifle at least that I didn't need to handload for given the excellent quality, cheap surplus 7.92 around in vast quantities and didn't bother buying dies, brass etc as I usually would when acquiring something in a new cartridge. After a single range session with surplus 198gn sS, I pulled some of this ammo and tried downloading it - didn't work, sooted-up brass, bolt and action and lousy groups, if you could call them 'groups'. So, back to buying yet another set of dies, brass, bullets to handload lighter bullets in mild loads.

Eventually I want to take this rifle Deer/moose hunting lol. Barley corn sights, 200gr Nosler partitions and my finger on the trigger should get the job done.

 

[Clark]

[range report 1-31-2004]
[$50 Turkish Mauser from Big5]
[My 8 pound jugs of bulk IMR4895 measures like a 4895 at the grain size, but has density, pressure, and velocity that matches H322 in Quickload.
Bullet probably seated when chambered to ~ 3.33" OAL
My Turk has a 29" barrel, where my Sauer has a 24" barrel
QL: 59 kpsi
2730 fps 29" barrel
2640 fps 24" barrel]



I went to the range today and shot:
1) #1 1903 Turkish Mauser [I inspected the bores of 40 and bought 20].
This rifle has been modified:
a) drilled and tapped
b) Wheeler one piece Weaver scope mount
c) rear hump ground off trigger
d) trigger spring replaced with a wimpy higher index spring.
e) a piece of screw in the trigger spring cup that controls over travel
f) rear pillar pounded out and replaced with a larger brass pillar glued
with epoxy
g) receiver glass bedded with Devcon Steel Putty from end to end, and 6"
of barrel too
h) trigger guard / magazine assembly glass bedded
i) stock relieved for barrel clearance
j) bayonet mount relieved for barrel clearance
k) bolt bent
l) stock relieved for bolt
m) three layers of masking tape on large ring to shim scope mount to be
parallel with bolt.

I put the 6.5x20x40 boosted to 13x40x40 scope on it and bore sighted it
to within 1.5" at 50 m.
Win 8x57 brass, WLR primers, seated with RCBS, 47 gr. IMR4895 bulk all
loads were seated so long that unfired extraction resulted in spilled
powder:
n) 150 gr. Hornady,
o) 200 gr. Yugo pull bullets, turned necks [introduced .003" runout]
1.5 ~ 2" groups at 100 m
2575, 2606, 2611 fps
p) 200 gr. Sierra Match King, new brass, 3.625" with Sinclair 30 cal
nut, 1" 5 shot group at 100m [first 4 shots were 1/2" and I made the
whole range wait for my 5 Th. shot], flattened primers
2618, 2633, 2649, 2623, 2650, 2626, 2638 fp

 

[Canuckenstein]

[range report 1-31-2004]
[$50 Turkish Mauser from Big5]
[My 8 pound jugs of bulk IMR4895 measures like a 4895 at the grain size, but has density, pressure, and velocity that matches H322 in Quickload.
Bullet probably seated when chambered to ~ 3.33" OAL
My Turk has a 29" barrel, where my Sauer has a 24" barrel
QL: 59 kpsi
2730 fps 29" barrel
2640 fps 24" barrel]



I went to the range today and shot:
1) #1 1903 Turkish Mauser [I inspected the bores of 40 and bought 20].
This rifle has been modified:
a) drilled and tapped
b) Wheeler one piece Weaver scope mount
c) rear hump ground off trigger
d) trigger spring replaced with a wimpy higher index spring.
e) a piece of screw in the trigger spring cup that controls over travel
f) rear pillar pounded out and replaced with a larger brass pillar glued
with epoxy
g) receiver glass bedded with Devcon Steel Putty from end to end, and 6"
of barrel too
h) trigger guard / magazine assembly glass bedded
i) stock relieved for barrel clearance
j) bayonet mount relieved for barrel clearance
k) bolt bent
l) stock relieved for bolt
m) three layers of masking tape on large ring to shim scope mount to be
parallel with bolt.

I put the 6.5x20x40 boosted to 13x40x40 scope on it and bore sighted it
to within 1.5" at 50 m.
Win 8x57 brass, WLR primers, seated with RCBS, 47 gr. IMR4895 bulk all
loads were seated so long that unfired extraction resulted in spilled
powder:
n) 150 gr. Hornady,
o) 200 gr. Yugo pull bullets, turned necks [introduced .003" runout]
1.5 ~ 2" groups at 100 m
2575, 2606, 2611 fps
p) 200 gr. Sierra Match King, new brass, 3.625" with Sinclair 30 cal
nut, 1" 5 shot group at 100m [first 4 shots were 1/2" and I made the
whole range wait for my 5 Th. shot], flattened primers
2618, 2633, 2649, 2623, 2650, 2626, 2638 fp

Went to the range today took my new magnetospeed only read one round. Had 4 number 2 errors . But that one round with 50.8gr h4350 200SMK read 2435. Loading some more tonight. Gonna head back soon. See if I can get 760m/s or 2493fps (or there about).

Hopefully it will jive with the factory sights.

 

[karrarararararar]

Went to the range today took my new magnetospeed only read one round. Had 4 number 2 errors . But that one round with 50.8gr h4350 200SMK read 2435. Loading some more tonight. Gonna head back soon. See if I can get 760m/s or 2493fps (or there about).

Hopefully it will jive with the factory sights.

You may need to adjust your sensitivity setting. My magnetospeed would miss shots all the time when I got it. After changing the sensitivity setting, it has been flawless.

 

[mauser284]

51gr IMR4350 gave me 2675 out of a 26" Shaw barrel. 45gr Varget gave me 2555. Both with the 200gr Sierra. I shot the IMR load past 1K yds and did very well. But this was a purpose built LR Mauser. It was a 1.125" at breech to a 0.90" muzzle.

It would shoot a 0.20" 7 shot group almost every time you took it out at 100. A bad day was a 0.50".

Surplus Turkish ammo went over 3K fps. Only shot a few in this as it was corrosive. I just wanted to see what it would go. In a Yugo M48 the Turk would do 2950.

View attachment 1138988

I agree. I have gotten 2700fps out of 8x57 with 52gr. of IMR4350 with 196gr. soft points. PRVI bullets in their cases and others with CCI 200 Primers and Russian Military Primers.

Turkish Surplus ammo I have seen 3 rifles with the exact same bandolier of ammo shoot 3040, 3100, and 3200+ same day same chronograph etc....

Trying to compare velocities between different rifles especialy old military surplus rifles with old military barrels vs post war civilian made custom barrels and different chrono's under different conditions is like comparing how tasty one apple pie is versus another just by looking at a picture online! So functionally fruitless!

I have 4 brand new NOS Mil-Surp 8X57 barrels and am in the process of building a new 8x57 rifle. I need a new chrono but maybe I can find someone with one that can check the new rifle versus 2 well worn fully stock M98's with their originally barrels.

I know this is an old thread but since I am in the process of re-barreling a Mauser with a genuine military barrel. Not doing any blue printing mostly due to cost versus how I plan to use this rifle. In addition since I have 2 old well used not at all pristine 8x57 rifles one is M98 the other VZ24 as representative of the species!

 

[Doug Casner]

My great uncle got shot with a K-98 in europe in ww2 . I dont think it was a reload. He still limped though. Loved his M-1. Doug