Pulling surplus 8 mm Mauser bullets for reduced loads

[crashguy]

Looking for input - insight opinion.

I have recently found the pleasure of reduced rifle loads in 30-06. So, I have interest in doing the same with my Yugo 24/47. My thought was to pull the FMJ bullets from some surplus 1950s Yugo 8mm (that I really do not want to use do to it's corrosive nature and associated cleaning hassle), remove the powder, replace with Red Dot and reseat the FMJ..... OR.....as an option due to the high percentage of fail to fire with this ammo ...just pull the fmj and use my 30-06 re formed to 8mm brass ....scrapping the surplus brass, primer and powder altogether.

However ..before I undertake either endeavor... a question ..Is the powder the corrosive component in this surplus , the primer or both?

Ed

[petroid]

It is the primer that is corrosive. You are best of scrapping the primed cases after firing the primers and loading the bullets in new brass. Some use the old powder but I don't know how effective it would be in a reduced load

[Uncle Grinch]

yep... the primers are the cause of the corrosive salts.

The powder should be OK, assuming it's not clumpy or jelled up. You can dump the powder and weigh it to have a starting place for your low power loads, just don't go too low with jacketed bullets.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I have done this with 8mm Turk ammo in the past. A friend and I bought several cases back when it was about $60 per case, and we'd pull the bullet, salvage the powder, and reload into R-P cases. Eventually we had three 2lb. coffee cans full of Turk brass. We soaked it in oil hoping to kill the primers, and then dumped into the local range's scrap bin. Later on, when the big ammo shortage of a few years ago hit, I got to regretting having gotten rid of the brass, as a corrosive primer is better than no primer at all. Since then I've done a couple of hundred more and I tumble the Turk empties and store them away for reloading components just in case hard times come around again. Two things of possible interest. First, we found that the powder charges in the Turk ammo varied from extremes of 42 gr. to 51 gr., so we settled on using a measured 46 gr. for our reloads. The powder was from the early 1940s, but still worked well. Second, the 155 gr. bullets weren't seated very deeply. At first we used a collet to pull them, but soon realized that one only had to hold the cartridge in one hand and get a purchase on the bullet with a pair of non-marring parallel jaw pliers and bend the bullet a bit one way and then back the other and it would come right out. I don't know how this would work with Yugo ammo, as if it's 180 gr. it is probably seated more deeply. This did distort the case mouths, but they straightened right out again in a FL die before tumbling preparatory to storing them, and we lost very few.

[crashguy]

Thanks .. good info ...I loath the thought of cleaning after using that corrosive ammo and would rather do the work to pull and reuse what I can.

[straphanger]

Thanks .. good info ...I loath the thought of cleaning after using that corrosive ammo and would rather do the work to pull and reuse what I can.

OK, I have shot a lot of 8mm Yugo full auto through German MG34s and Brownings over the last 15 years. Never had a significant problem with failures to fire and I have never had a hangfire, but Yugo can have deep seated primers and will act like a ftf if your firing pin is worn. You must have full firing pin protrusion. Most of the ammo I shot was out of sealed cases dated from 1951-1956. Curious what the headstamp of your ammo is and how much you have. It is indeed corrosive primed, but cleaning with hot soapy water (or the old GI bore cleaner) will do the trick. Cleaning isn't really that bad ( have done that a lot, too!)

I have also pulled lots of 8mm bullets from 8mm ammo that really had dead primers and didn't fire or hung fire. Like another poster said Turk is easy. Steel cased Czech and Bulgarian are a real pain in the butt! I had 5 plus cases that was garbage. To get those out I had to clamp the bullet in a collet bullet puller and smack the side of the case with a soft face hammer to loosen the bullet, then I put the case into the shell holder and pulled it with the collet. I eventually cracked an RCBS puller body because I had to clamp the bullets so tight to break them loose. Neck tension in the Yugo brass case and steel cased Romanian that I have pulled were often almost as difficult. FWIW I always reloaded the powder and the bullet into boxer primed cases and reduced the charge by about 4 grains. Never had a problem. It chatters right through the gun. Years ago when it was cheap ($185 a case!), I bought a 1000 rd case of NC FNM boxer primed ammo just to get the brass for that purpose. BTW FNM (Portugese) is terrific ammo, as is Igman "IK" (Bosnian) and PPU (Serbian).

PS Yugo is SS or "heavy pointed ball", 198 grain lead core bullets. Turk and Romanian are the earlier WW1 pattern S ball, 150 grain. Czech and Bulgarian are steel core around 174 grains.

Semper Fi and good luck with your project.

[crashguy]

straphanger --Yes indeed.....Semper Fi... here is a link to a site that depicts the ammo I have (it's the top picture), also has other good info as well ... http://www.turkmauser.com/ammo/milsurp2.aspx The site notes hard primer as a reason for FTF... all your troubleshooting ideas are valid and in truth..I've never checked the firing pin and most 2nd hits fired the rounds... I'm also not against gun cleaning ... I just don't like the "did I get all the corrosive stuff or not " question hanging over my head.... this whole undertaking is really just an exercise in being able to use ammo that I have relegated to moving around my ammo container cause I have no interest in using it as is.

Der Gebirgsjager - LOL I don't throw too much away... rest assured I will use the powder.... I do have some Romanian ammo ...from my shooting buddy .. he says it's "sniper ammo" .... maybe it is ..maybe not ... but the weird thing in the case is stone cold as it comes out of the gun... just a weird thing I wanted to share.

[bcp477]

If memory serves, about 41 grains was the standard powder charge in the Yugo military 8mm Mauser ammo. I used to pull down lots of this ammo....save the bullets and powder and discard the cases. The powder, even from 1950's vintage ammo, was good stuff and quite consistent.

I loaded the Yugo powder with several different bullets, in addition to the Yugo military ones. The powder is rather fast in burn speed, so pressure builds rapidly - so I would strongly recommend staying below 41 grains with ANY bullet. I remember that I got excessive pressure signs with a 170 grain jacketed bullet, modern commercial brass and primers and 42.0 grains of the Yugo powder. So, I tended to load somewhere in the mid - 30's with most any bullet. I used the Yugo powder for basic target loads and it did well with somewhat reduced charges.

I cannot find my notes from those years, so I cannot recommend a specific load. But, I do recall that finding a load that worked well with the Yugo powder was not difficult. If using the Yugo powder in commercial brass with the original 198 grain military bullets, I'd recommend starting at say, 34 grains or so and working up. Do stay below 41 grains, as I said. You'll find a good load - as I also said, it was not difficult to do so.

Hope this helps.

[nicholst55]

I had to pull down a bunch of Bulgarian 7.62X54R ammo, and got tired of the time it took with a second-hand Forster collet puller that I had. I ended up inserting the bullet tip into the hole in the shell holder while it was mounted in the press ram and twisted the round sideways. The bullets could easily be pulled with my fingers after that, and the powder dumped into a container for reuse - the powder that wasn't clumped up or green with corrosion, anyway. I dunno if an 8mm bullet will fit in the hole in the shell holder like the .310" bullets did, but I'll bet they will. Trust me, it's much faster than a collet puller, and it doesn't damage the bullets significantly.

[LAGS]

I have pulled down lots of surplus ammo over the years.
I save the powder and bullets and load them into boxer primed cases.
Then the Berdan Corrosive cases, I load with cast bullets and a shotgun/ pistol powder like Unique. or my favorite is 2400, before you couldn't find it on the shelfs.
I doubled my shooting, and only used the cast bullets at the range so cleaning my rifles that day was no problem with the using corrosive primers in cast loads.