8mm Max initial success in Turk

[dualsport]

Range report: I tried a test load with the big Midsouth 8mm Max in my issue Turk 8x57. Those sights are murder but in the first effort I got a 1 1/8" 5 shot group at 50 yds. My mold drops ACWW at .329 and weigh a solid 250 gr. For this test I used a gc, LLA dip, and pushed thru a Lee .325 die. Powder was 15 gr. A2400 with est. 1300 fps. velocity. Slight tipping. My hopes are to boost the speed and hopefully have a silhouette load for out to 500m that allows use of the issue sight.

[Ben]

Yes, you'll need another 200 - 300 fps to get the kind of stability you're looking for to eliminate the tipping. You may need to shift over to IMR 4895 to gain the needed speed you need and keep good accuracy.

[nekshot]

I love the looks of those big max boolits! Really give me a confident sort of feeling when I close the bolt on one of them! Glad to see its working for you.

[Maineboy]

I was looking at some old (2005, maybe earlier) notes from when I worked with that boolit in 2 different 8mm rifles. Of the 2 rifles, the max worked the best in my K98 "sporter" giving 1 inch groups at 50 yards with 48 grains of 5010 powder but only 3 1/2 inch groups in the Turk. At the same time I was also experimenting with another heavy 8mm boolit, Buckshot's design which weighed 241 grains and shot like a house-a-fire in my Turk using surplus CMR100 powder but did poorly in that K98. The sporter has since been reborn as a 35 Whelen and the Turk has not been fired since about that time.

[swheeler]

That 8mm Max is one big honkin boolit. I used one of them to take a 3 year old buffalo cow(bison) which was about 1100 pounds on the hoof, drt:)

[cbashooter]

the Ideal 323378 with 16g of 2400 will shoot well and sabalize in a non worn thoat turk.No bragging groups but 2 MOA or so with irons.