M48 magazine too short for 8mm-06?

[AbitNutz]

I happen to have a Yugoslavian M48 in OK condition. I also happen to have a set of RCBS 8mm-06 dies. Brownells happens to have a 8mm-06 reamer on sale as well as a discount coupon that makes it really cheap...

Do all these happenings become irrelevant because the M48 is an intermediate length action and the magazine is too short for the 8mm-06?

[Mk42gunner]

Make up a dummy round and try it. Various sources say a regular 98 or k98 magazine is too short for a .35 Whelen, but I have never had any trouble with mine. I don't load humongously long projectiles in it though.

Robert

[blixen]

I've got a M48 that's a great shooter. I was considering conversion to 8mm-06 mainly for cheap and abundant brass. But I've discovered that 8mm brass is cheap and pretty abundant, too. So, I abandoned the project.<br><br>Does the 06 case give that much ballistic gain over 8x57?

[Mk42gunner]

Does the 06 case give that much ballistic gain over 8x57?

I'm going to have to answer that as "No, not at sane pressures." I base my answer on the difference between the .30-06 and 7.62mm NATO. The '06 is roughly 63mm long while the 7.62 is 51mm. Not a lot of real world difference in performance, and the 8x57 lies almost exactly halfway in between the two in length.

I realize there is a difference in taper, so there would be a small gain in case capacity due to that, but I really don't think there will be more than 100 fps difference, at the same pressure.

My understanding of why the 8mm-06 came to be is because of a glut of surplus Mausers and no 8x57 ammo, so since 06 cases where readily available the two got combined.

I wouldn't necessarily shy away from buying a rifle already chambered for the 8mm-06, but I doubt I would ever build one since 8x57 brass is available now.

Robert

[Tackleberry41]

Yea 8mm-06 was born of necessity, lots of surplus 8mm rifles, but no ammo to use in them. It was a simple conversion. 8x57 is everywhere now, so a bit less point in it, and why they are selling the reamers cheap, lack of demand.

I have a pile of various 30-06 based brass I was getting from a friend who worked at a range. I convert a few when I feel like it, and reuse the projectiles and powder from the Turkish surplus I have where the brittle brass goes bad.

[Scharfschuetze]

I may be regurgitating info that you already know, but remember that the post war M48 action is a bit shorter than its German Kar 98 cousin. All of those 8mm Ought Six (8X63mm) conversions of the 40s and the 50s were on the slightly longer Kar 98 that is capable of Ought Six length cartridges. While my SWAG is that the M48 is too short for such a conversion, I would find it interesting if it works out should you decide to do it.

That dummy cartridge idea posted by Mk42 is good advice.

[blixen]

I realize there is a difference in taper, so there would be a small gain in case capacity due to that, but I really don't think there will be more than 100 fps difference, at the same pressure.

That's pretty much what my research found. I guess a guy could rechamber to 8mm-06 Ackley Improved and get another 200 fps (with jacketed bullets)! JUST KIDDING.
Actually, I like my 8x57 M48 quite a lot and it's a tack driver with cast boolits (I use the Lee 8x56 slug sized to .326"). The military configuration doesn't seem to affect the accuracy to the point that I've considered tapping it for a scope. Right now, I've got a 2.5x pistol scope clamped on the rear sight and seems to do the job.

[AbitNutz]

It's such a pity. I always liked the M48 Yugo just a little bit better than a K98. The one I have is in good shape, not fantastic but good. I have 8mm-06 dies, I have enough 30-06 brass to never run out...and none of it matters because I expect that there is no way to make it work without seating a reasonable weight bullet too deep or going with an extremely light bullet that either isn't available or won't shoot due to the twist rate being wrong.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I've always fancied an 8mm/06 as it is an integral part of your hunting history, but really the 8x57 is versitile enough and while the brass is not everywhere, it is always available at the bigger stores and getting on the phone or the net with your credit card soon fixes that problem. I have a Turkish Mauser which would be a good conversion, but it is a silly thought, I'd need dies, reamer which would have to be sent from the States so, I will resist.

It is so easy to make 8mm brass from 3006 cases, I don't know why the guys in the 50s and 60s didn't just do that.

[Wayne Smith]

Way back when I had ordered a 7x57 Mauser and what the mailman delivered (yes, that long ago) was an 8x57 Turk! Full length barrel - with the typical damage to the muzzle and throat. I took it to a gunsmith (first time I ever used one) and he cut the barrel to 22" and rechambered to 8mm-06. I essentially had a new barrel. I had no dies, so buying dies was in the cards anyhow. Still have it and still shoot it once in a while.

The magazine of the Turk does not allow me to seat bullets out to the rifling, so I'm sure the Yugo would be short.

[AbitNutz]

One of the problems I once encountered with re-chambering an 8mm Mauser to 8mm-06 happened when I tried it on a Polish Radom Mauser. It seems the neck of the old chamber was larger in diameter than the neck on the 8mm-06 reamer. When the chamber was reamed out it left a step where the old larger chamber neck ended and the new smaller 8mm-06 neck began.

As you might imagine, it was wholly unusable in that condition and I ended up re-barreling to another caliber entirely. That nightmare just came back to me when I started wondering why I had a set of 8mm-06 RCBS dies...

[Four Fingers of Death]

Like my dear old departed Da used to say "it sounds good when you say it fast!"

[leadman]

I read an article in an old American Rifleman on this conversion. From the info in the article the round nosed bullets worked best as they are shorter than the spitzers and fed thru the magazine fine.
It would not be hard to reform your 30-06 brass the 8X57. An RCBS trim die would make it very easy to do but a full length sizer die will work.

[BigMagShooter]

personally I think the 8x57 has better numbers than the 06 for bullet wt and velocity.

[Wayne Smith]

I just used the full length resizer and lubed the inside of the necks. Not hard to size them up to 8mm.

[flounderman]

compare the magazine to a 98 magazine. The were both chambered to an 8mm, stands to reason the box is the same, or close.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I haven't done it personally as I bought a 100 PPU cases when I bought an 8mm Turk a few years ago and before I got to use them I also bought an 8mm Vaguerio Mauser a few days later and it came with a shopping bag of 30006 brass that had been 8mm'ed. I asked my mate and he said that he just used his FLS die to convert them. I haven't opened the bag of PPU brass yet, the converted stuff works a treat.

[koger]

I have had 2 8mm/06 rifles. One was a K98 original barrel converted, the other was a aftermarket ER Shaw I believe. They both shot ok, around an inch, best they would do, velocity was about the same as a 8mm std European load, and no advantage to my custom 8x57 with k98 barrel,which was more accurate. Would not go thru it again for any reason.

[justashooter]

compare the magazine to a 98 magazine. The were both chambered to an 8mm, stands to reason the box is the same, or close.

as pointed out earlier, the 24-47 and 48 were both designed around the minimum requirements of the 8X57 case length. this action is 1/4" shorter than a standard 98 action. obviously, bolts are different length, as well.