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retread
09-26-2017, 08:29 PM
Got these in a bunch of reloading stuff I bought recently. Can anyone shed some light on what cartridge they might be for and maybe some history on the maker?

204740204741204742

Red box are 175 gr and the brown box is 150 gr.

Mfg. by Modern Gun Shop not Modern Bullet Co. as the title reads.

3006guns
09-26-2017, 09:00 PM
Probably for the 1888 German 8mm commission rifles...........they had a .318 bore as opposed to the later .323. I have a box of German H-mantel .318's from before WWII. They use a jacket that looks "H" shaped in cross section (pinched waist) and until the advent of similar modern designs, was the only projectile that could be counted on to perform consistently from shot to shot on game.

country gent
09-26-2017, 09:01 PM
8mm mausers had 2 different bore dias ( early and older) one was .318 the other was .323 these were identified as S & J bore sizes. I don't remember which was S and which was J now) These may be some bullets for the older .318 bore sizes.

3006guns
09-26-2017, 09:02 PM
8mm mausers had 2 different bore dias ( early and older) one was .318 the other was .323 these were identified as S & J bore sizes. I don't remember which was S and which was J now) These may be some bullets for the older .318 bore sizes.

No, the S and J (actually an italicized "I") were the type designations for Schweres (heavy) and Infanterie (infantry)......nothing to do with bore sizes.

Earlwb
09-26-2017, 10:50 PM
Most of the old 1888 Commission rifles with the .318 bore were converted to shoot the .323 size bullets after 1895. These converted rifles had a "S" stamped on the receiver. It would be rare to find one that is still with the original .318 bore in it. The rifles were used up into WWII with the second line troops.

Now there is also the old .318 Westley Richards cartridge and rifles too. it was also known as a .318 Rimless Nitro Express. It is a British cartridge. Quite a few of the famous British hunters used the caliber in their rifles too. This was a pretty popular caliber with the British. They also used to make a rimmed version in .318 for the smaller double rifles as well.

So anyway, your old vintage bullets could really be for the old .318 Westley Richards cartridge.

Landy88
09-27-2017, 03:55 AM
To complicate 8mm even more, while the military switched up to .323" in orderly fashion, sporting riflemakers used whichever bore suited their fancy until at least WWII; and the Brit's .318, actually, uses .333"s.

Earlwb
09-27-2017, 08:02 AM
Landy88, you are correct. I forgot about that with the British .318 as it is really a .333 caliber instead.

So the .318 bullets are for those old European sporting rifles, and some old 1888 rifles, that used the small bore .318 bullets.

bruce drake
09-27-2017, 09:26 AM
If you have a German Commission Model Gewehr 88 rifle that has not been converted to fire the WWI era .323 bullets than those bullets are for that earlier 8x57mm cartridge. As a sidenote, all Gewehr 88 Carbines were retained in the original 88 series chambering so if you have a 88 carbine, you will use those smaller bullets and require an en bloc 5round clip as well.

AND just to mess with folks. If the Gewehr 88 rifle has an S stamped on the Receiver ring of the rifle, it has had its barrel throat altered to shoot the newer .323 bullets safely (not to shoot Post WWI military surplus 8x57 ammo though) but this allows the shooter now to use modern 8x57 ammunition that has been loaded a lower pressure (remington and winchester especially). The throat was adjusted to basically allow the barrel to squeeze the bullet down from .323 to .318 as it was fired.

Then you have the 88/05 and 88/14 series of rifles that were modified in 1905 and 1914 to feed from the modern stripper clip versus the enbloc clip. Those barrels had the S barrel modifications done as well.

After the War, many where sent overseas as reparations and as surplus sales and the Czech arms factory in Brno was often contracted to provide new barrels for these rifles and those usually have a Cz mark on the barrel underneath the steel barrel jacket. Those barrels were setup as .323 barrels from the get go.

In the 1930s, THe Turkish government modified their 88 rifles again by changing the rifle stocks and barrels to closer match the appearance of the Model 98 Mauser rifles they were buying and often have Czech-Brno made barrels added to these receivers also.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gewehr_1888

If you own a Gewehr 88, keep them to shooting cast load pressures at this time due to their age and if you want to shoot jacketed bullets, I recommend using 30-30 or 32 Winchester special loading data.