8mm Maus & herco+lee

[JRR]

Hello everyone,
I am just about out of 2400 and Unique but have a full jar of Herco. I usually use Herco as my go-to choice for the 40 S&W.

I am thinking about trying Herco with the Lee cast bullet in 8mm Mauser. Since it is slightly slower than Unique and about the same texture, I thought about a starting load 1-2 gr. more than Unique.

Has anyone had successful results with Herco?

Thanks,
Jeff

[35remington]

Sure, but not personally in the 8mm Mauser, but in other rifle and pistol calibers.

It is in fact a tick slower than Unique or Power Pistol, and doesn't seem to suffer from spikiness or any of the other supposed maladies of other powders in the same burn range.

It would be a very good substitute for Unique. Provided your loading is intended to be consistent with the capabilities of a relatively fast powder, you'll be fine in your reasoning.

Provided you're talking about rifle loads, in my experience it takes less extra Herco than that to duplicate Unique velocities. Call it within a grain or so, realizing that it can vary slightly depending upon the cartridge.

Have at it.

[dromia]

What boolit?

What Velocity?

What was the Unique and 2400 loads you were using?

[JRR]

I'm looking for a 50 yard accuracy load with the Lee 170 gr. cast bullet. It should be under 1800 and more than 1500 fps. My best load was 18 gr. of 2400. 14.5 gr. of Unique was a runner up.

8MM Mauser. 1938 Turkish Mauser, probably built in Czekoslovakia. Large ring, small thread action.

Jeff

[Ricochet]

They weren't built in Czechoslovakia. They were built in Kirikkale, on the outskirts of Ankara, in a factory set up by the Czechs. They offloaded the obsolete and pretty much worn out German equipment that got them started in the rifle building business after WWI on the Turks. They managed to keep it working making new rifles from 1940 through 1946. Some of it was still in use rebuilding old Gewehr 98s in 1954.