Any good suggestions for 8MM mauser cast loads?

[koger]

Anyone got any good bullet/load suggestions for 8mm mauser cast loads? I have 3 prime specimens laying around, a WWII bring home from my uncle, in mint condition, and a yugo and Turk, that was made in Germany, has all the right stamps. All have super clean bores, good shooters. I am thinking 170-200 grain?

[Hamish]

What powders do you have on hand?

[toooldtocare]

I have same question as koger. I have bullseye, greendot, 2400, aa#5, and aa#7

[TCLouis]

175 grain GB RNFP GC and 18.5 21.5 grains of Milsurp 4759shot good with 21.5 being best.

22.5 looked like it was shot with buckshot, may have come back with more powder.

The GB Boolit is real close to the Lee 8mm mold.


sized 0.325" by the way

[Moonie]

I use the Midsouth Lee Karibiner, about 225gr with 35gr of H4895 @1850fps. Seems to be a good shooting load out of my battle sighted '98.

[shredder]

I use the lee 170 gr RN and 13 grains of red dot. Nice easy shooter! I also have a big game hammer load using the 8mm Kar boolit from a lee mould at 237grains. Gas checked lubed and seated on top of 33 grains of h-4895. Not so gentle on the shoulder but sure to make an impressoin on the recieving end!

[1Shirt]

The 170 lee over 16 gr of 2400 shoots under 2" at 50 with my old eyes.
1Shirt!

[offshore44]

190 grn Saeco, gas checked and about 15 BHN, over 32.0 grns H4895. Shoots great out of a Yugo 24/47. I have shot a sub 1" group @ 100 yards off a bench occasionally with this load and rifle. The mold is beagled to 0.0015" over bore on the bore riding section and about 0.002" over groove on the rest. Shoots shotgun patterns out of the Yugo M48 with the worn bore.

[wellfedirishman]

I had pretty good results with Trailboss in a Gew 88 Commission rifle:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=141735

[Larry Gibson]

Try 28 gr - 32 of 4895 with a 3/4 gr dacron filler under the Lyman 323470, 323471, a Lee 170 gr. or the 190 gr GB mould if you can find one.

All shoot very well in numerous M98 8x57s. Here is a GC test I ran with shows the potential accracy is easy to obtain with that load. Note the cases are Turk pull down cases.

Larry Gibson

[MANGYCOYOTE]

Mr. Gibson,
what distance were you shooting? iron sights?
Thanks

[Larry Gibson]

Mr. Gibson,
what distance were you shooting? iron sights?
Thanks

100 yards, 6x scope. Note also the barrel was clean for each test. I fired 2 sighter/foulers and then 10 shots for the record group. The 2 sighter/foulers are marked with each group. and are only slightly out of the group......close enough for rocks in the desert:drinks:

I had about 600+ of the pull down, berdan primed cases I wanted to use. I also was just into making my own GCs and wanted to see how they worked compared to Hornady's GCs.

The bullets were cast in a 6 cavity GB Lee Mould. They were only visually inspected, sized at .325, lubed with Javelina and the GCs put on in a Lyman 450.....nothing special done.

The cases (turk '39, '43 and '47) were NS'd and a .32 Luman M die used to inside size and bell the case mouth. Obviously the primers were the original berdan primers.

I used 31 gr milsurp 4895 + the dacron filler because it was also a very good and proven load with WW cases and WLR primers. After the test I sized all the bullets and put my own GCs on them. All were loaded on a Dillon 550B.

I killed a lot of rocks out in the desert with those rounds over the last couple winters..........:-D

Larry Gibson

[MANGYCOYOTE]

Thanks for your info, really nice groups.
I will try some 8mm and similar loads for my old & ugly Turk-except with original sights.

[toooldtocare]

I shot mine today for the first time.36 bucks for a box of twenty. I have got to get some loads worked up.

[UBER7MM]

koger,

Welcome aboard!

For plinking, I'd recommend the Lyman 323470 and SR-4759. It a bulky powder and has a bit more recoil than the fast powder loads, but still managable. Get one of the Lyman cast reloading books and start from the minimum charge as your baseline.

You might also want to read the following stickies:

Cast Bullet Loads for Military Rifles - Article
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13425

10 Grs. Unique. The Universal Cast Boolit Rifle Load?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=39923

Good hunting/targeting/plinking,

[koger]

Thanks guys for all the info, been busy, hadnt had the time to get back.

[izzyjoe]

i'm there with everybody else, the Lee 170 and 28-32grs. of 4895 is very accurate, and fun to shoot. the karabiner with 32grs. is my go to deer load, these loads shoot well in all my 8mm. my K98 has a shorter throat, so i have to seat the boolit deeper with the Karaibiner's, but they still shoot good. i also have the Max boolit, but i've not had any luck with it. it's just to darn long.