Linstrum
07-24-2005, 07:44 AM
Next Saturday, on July 30, I will pick up my Yugo 24/47 8x57JS Mauser from my local Big 5. According to Allan’s Armory, the 24/47 is an honest-to-goodness high quality re-arsenaled large ring K98 variant. When I checked it out before plunking my money down, it looked like it had very little or no use after it was re-arsenaled. After pushing the greasy preservative out of the barrel with a few paper towel wads, the bore was shiny with sharp lands, and the bluing that I could see was 100% with no rust. But like all the other 24/47s I have seen, the wood is not pretty. It doesn’t have any cracks or rack dings, but it is a wire brushed-rough unfinished tan olive green color and the hand guard is quite a bit darker than the stock.
This is the first 8x57 I will have reloaded for. I have a Lee .324” 175-grain mould, full-length 8x57 dies, Lee collet crimp die, and 40 converted.30-06 cases for starter brass. I also have 200 rounds of non-corrosive Boxer-primed Austrian 198-grain Hirtenburger ammo that will also become reloadable soon. I have the Lyman 46th manual, which lists several shot shell/pistol powder loads for the 8x57. I also have the Accurate Arms manual, which lists several slow rifle powder loads including a compressed 54.5-grain case full of AA8700 for the 170-grain boolit load. AA8700 translates to WC870, which is what it actually is, and in this size cartridge WC860 and WC872 are sufficiently close to WC870 to use in place of it. I see over at Castpics that there are two loads listed using 56-grains WC860 with 1 and 2 grains H4198 for a booster that produce velocities right around 2000 fps. I have used similar boosted loads in .30-06, 7.62x54R, .308 Win, and 7.5 French for a few years as well. Since I don’t have the rifle yet, there is no point in loading up much of anything beyond maybe five test rounds each using 56-grains of WC860 with 2-grains of H4198, 19-grains of 2400, 13-grains Red Dot, and some 0.325” round ball loads with 4-grains of Green Dot or Unique. For other cartridges in this class I have made literally a hundred different load combinations that work pretty well and I don’t think I’ll have any problems working up any 8x57JS loads, but if anyone has some pet loads, I’m interested!
Also, according to Allan’s Armory, the big difference between the 24/47 K98 and the German K98k is that the bolt stroke is shorter and unable to accept.30-06 length cartridges. If they say so, I guess it is so, but according to my reloading books the difference in over-all- length between a loaded.30-06 cartridge and a loaded 8x57 cartridge is only 0.090”. That is less than the thickness of two dimes! It is about this distance here >< between these two points.
Every once in awhile there is some drama to keep my adrenaline stirred up and flowing. I almost didn’t get that rifle. The Big 5 kid “salesman” had handed me and then stood there watching me clean and examine several rifles from the display rack, and after I said that I had found one to my liking, he told me he would get one out of storage in the back for me to actually purchase. I asked why since the one I inspected and wanted was here. He said that it was store policy. I said that I had not just spent forty-five minutes getting all greasy and dirty cleaning rifles because I thought it was fun and that he shouldn’t have waited until I was done to tell me about the policy about customers not being allowed to purchase the particular rifle they wanted! I told him that I was not buying some socks, that used rifles vary in condition and the whole point of my cleaning and carefully examining each one was to get one I wanted! He totally ignored what I had just told him and said that I would have to accept the one he was going to get from the back, or I could go buy a gun somewhere else. I told him that I was glad that the store was doing such good business that they could afford to p!$$ me off and permanently lose me and my family as customers. The manager was sitting in the office out of sight but listening to this and he came out and told me I could have whatever I wanted. In front of the kid he explained to me that when they bring a gun out to replace one sold off the rack that they have to clean up the replacement and the kid was too lazy to do that and earn his paycheck. The manager took the paperwork from the kid to make sure that it was done right, which it wasn't. It was totally messed up and would have delayed picking up my purchase an additional eleven days if it had not been found. The manager gave me the Kalifornia mandatory trigger lock for free. A few days ago I drove by and the "HELP WANTED" sign was out front.
This is the first 8x57 I will have reloaded for. I have a Lee .324” 175-grain mould, full-length 8x57 dies, Lee collet crimp die, and 40 converted.30-06 cases for starter brass. I also have 200 rounds of non-corrosive Boxer-primed Austrian 198-grain Hirtenburger ammo that will also become reloadable soon. I have the Lyman 46th manual, which lists several shot shell/pistol powder loads for the 8x57. I also have the Accurate Arms manual, which lists several slow rifle powder loads including a compressed 54.5-grain case full of AA8700 for the 170-grain boolit load. AA8700 translates to WC870, which is what it actually is, and in this size cartridge WC860 and WC872 are sufficiently close to WC870 to use in place of it. I see over at Castpics that there are two loads listed using 56-grains WC860 with 1 and 2 grains H4198 for a booster that produce velocities right around 2000 fps. I have used similar boosted loads in .30-06, 7.62x54R, .308 Win, and 7.5 French for a few years as well. Since I don’t have the rifle yet, there is no point in loading up much of anything beyond maybe five test rounds each using 56-grains of WC860 with 2-grains of H4198, 19-grains of 2400, 13-grains Red Dot, and some 0.325” round ball loads with 4-grains of Green Dot or Unique. For other cartridges in this class I have made literally a hundred different load combinations that work pretty well and I don’t think I’ll have any problems working up any 8x57JS loads, but if anyone has some pet loads, I’m interested!
Also, according to Allan’s Armory, the big difference between the 24/47 K98 and the German K98k is that the bolt stroke is shorter and unable to accept.30-06 length cartridges. If they say so, I guess it is so, but according to my reloading books the difference in over-all- length between a loaded.30-06 cartridge and a loaded 8x57 cartridge is only 0.090”. That is less than the thickness of two dimes! It is about this distance here >< between these two points.
Every once in awhile there is some drama to keep my adrenaline stirred up and flowing. I almost didn’t get that rifle. The Big 5 kid “salesman” had handed me and then stood there watching me clean and examine several rifles from the display rack, and after I said that I had found one to my liking, he told me he would get one out of storage in the back for me to actually purchase. I asked why since the one I inspected and wanted was here. He said that it was store policy. I said that I had not just spent forty-five minutes getting all greasy and dirty cleaning rifles because I thought it was fun and that he shouldn’t have waited until I was done to tell me about the policy about customers not being allowed to purchase the particular rifle they wanted! I told him that I was not buying some socks, that used rifles vary in condition and the whole point of my cleaning and carefully examining each one was to get one I wanted! He totally ignored what I had just told him and said that I would have to accept the one he was going to get from the back, or I could go buy a gun somewhere else. I told him that I was glad that the store was doing such good business that they could afford to p!$$ me off and permanently lose me and my family as customers. The manager was sitting in the office out of sight but listening to this and he came out and told me I could have whatever I wanted. In front of the kid he explained to me that when they bring a gun out to replace one sold off the rack that they have to clean up the replacement and the kid was too lazy to do that and earn his paycheck. The manager took the paperwork from the kid to make sure that it was done right, which it wasn't. It was totally messed up and would have delayed picking up my purchase an additional eleven days if it had not been found. The manager gave me the Kalifornia mandatory trigger lock for free. A few days ago I drove by and the "HELP WANTED" sign was out front.