Picked up and modified a sporterized Mauser 98 in 8x57. Anyone have experience with good bullets for Elk and black bear? I've worked up a good accurate load with a 170 gr. Speer and 55 gr. IMR4350. But no game yet. . . . .

That Speer is not what I consider a good bullet for game. I have killed many red deers with my 8x57, and mostly used 180 grs Barnes FBX at about 2700 fps with super results. Also 200 grs Nosler P at 2600 fps. American loadings are unnessecary low. 200 grs A-frame would also be great.

Try the 180gr TSX. Worked great in my gun last year on elk. I liked RE15 and IMR4895 with this bullet.

Look for a good european bullet for the 8x57IS, the europeans have great experience with this cartridge, they first and foremost use bullets in the 181-200grs class in the 2700fps range!
The only american experience with full powerloads in the 8x57 is limited at the Utah-Beach/Normandy in 1944!

Dear Monastery-Forester:

Now that last comment about 8x57 full house loads and Normandy beach is just not nice.

Makes me want to go out, and put a dent in my BMW.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

May be that is right, but I read similuar thing in a Nosler handbook about the 8x57, and because my father was on his "job" in Normandy - not at Utah, but at Omaha-beach - only for six days, than he got some special holidays at Alabama and Northern Carolina (perhaps as a result that the 06 is a better cartridge than the Mauser ).
Yale, I whishe you nice days in you BMTroubleyou,but you should prefer as your next car an AUDI!

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
BMTroubleyou

quote:

but you should prefer as your next car an AUDI!

i have to this date not met a single Audi owner that doesn't drive like an idiot.

Mercedes-Benz is THE car. period.
i probably shouldn't speak to loud since i can't afford any of them.
That's why i own a Opel Omega, 80% of a Mercedes E-class and 40% of the price.

this have gotten too far OT, the nosler partition has worked well in virtually every caliber for 60 years or so...

Dear M-F:

Your dad was lucky, he wasn't interned at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Boy it gets hot there in the summer.

I'm in the process of building an 8x57 on a 1909 Argentine Mauser to somewhat replicate a pre-WW-II commercial Mauser. I, too, think it is a sweet cartridge, but have no experience with it as yet.

What have you shot with it, and what bullets did you use at what velocities.

You should visit this part of Pennsylvania, they still speak Pennsylvania Dutch a colloquialized form of German.

No, I didn't kick my 1989 325iC BMW with 313,000 miles on it. Wouldn't be fair to the old lady.

Audi, are you kidding?

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

quote:

You should visit this part of Pennsylvania, they still speak Pennsylvania Dutch a colloquialized form of German.

I'm sorry, I simply have to ask: is it true that they have the word "arschgnoggles" which means the dried little pieces of s*it that are attached to you a*shair?

I have shot lots of red deer and wild boars with the 8mm Mauser, using the Brenneke TIG with 198grs or Norma Vulcan with 196grs (in the 8x57IRS). It is a great cartridge, loosing her place in the last 30years because of the .30/06, but by changing hunting conditions in Germany ( unbeleavable numbers of wild boars)in the last 10years, it is "in" again!

Dear Schauckis:

I have no idea. I'm originally from Philadelpia, Pennsylvania, USA, and never really learned Pennsylvania Dutch.

Dear Monastery-Forester:

Thanks for the information on the 8x57.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

DWright Speer makes a fine bullet for the 8x57 but its not the 170 gr bullet you mentioned . the 200 gr Speer is excellent with full throttle loads in the 8x57 and the 8mm-06. The 200 Nosler partion is even better. Another bullet that shoots quite well (I have not used this on game myself) is the 185 gr Rem psp.Hope that helps

Greetings, Schauckis,

In the interest of cultural exchange and universal understanding, a current American term for "arschgnoggles" is "dingleberries."
I hope this brings our two nations closer together.

APB

Thanks snowman, I will give them a try.

quote:

Originally posted by bowhgs280:
Try the 180gr TSX. Worked great in my gun last year on elk. I liked RE15 and IMR4895 with this bullet.

I'm on this guys side!

quote:

Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
The only american experience with full powerloads in the 8x57 is limited at the Utah-Beach/Normandy in 1944!

Be thankful you live in Germany.....if you lived next door, you'd be slowly and painfully picking that 8 X 57 rifle from your ass...

Dear Vapodog:

No need for that. I've already chastised him with a bit of humor.

By the way, a high school friend of mine's dad parachuted in at Normady beach during D-Day, and was caught by the Wehrmacht. Fortunately, they were not Waffen SS, but regular German Army, and they eventually let him go.

He told his son that they were drunk during the invasion.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Just to get back on topic
Anybody have any experience with the 200gr Nosler Accubond at about 2,600fps?

A friend is using the Accubond in the 8x75RS at 2750fps with great success, I`ll try it son in the 8x64S. The real hunting season is starting at the weekend!

quote:

Originally posted by Yale:
Dear Vapodog:

No need for that. I've already chastised him with a bit of humor.

By the way, a high school friend of mine's dad parachuted in at Normady beach during D-Day, and was caught by the Wehrmacht. Fortunately, they were not Waffen SS, but regular German Army, and they eventually let him go.

He told his son that they were drunk during the invasion.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

My grandfather (vetran of WW I on the battleship SMS Seydlitz) was killed as a civilian in the last days of the war 1945 by a fighter-bomber attack (P 47 Thunderbolt) with a cal. 50 machinegun!

I have 3, 8x57's and all are differant vertions of this cartridge. In my Mauser sporter I shoot a 150gr. Hornady soft point. This is the bullet weight that the J.S. or I.S. was designed for.
I've shot a number of deer and black bear with this and it has worked great.
In my 8x57 JR drilling and my 8x57 JRS double rifle I shoot the 196 gr RWS.
I havent hunted with the drilling because I nomally take my 30-06/12 bore Sauer drilling if I feel the need for 3 barrels (although I really need to break this 8mm drilling in) I've done a lot of hunting with my Merkle double rifle and it also has performed very well on the game I've taken with it. ( caribou, black bear,deer, wild boar,)
Although the time I took it back to it's homeland for a driven hunt (druck jagdt) I didn't manage to get a shot at a boar or rehbock I did take a couple of foxes with it and the bullet punched through without tearing up those beautiful furs.

By the way the Speer bullet you have loaded is a fine deer and feral hog bullet. I now load 185 grain Remington PSPCL's because i bought a lot of them cheap before the bullet price catastrophy going on now.

I did a little hunting and reloading with one a few years ago just to say I did...

I was very impressed with the 160 gr. GS Customs HP monolithic, It cut a huge core out of them and killed deer and a couple of elk about as well as anything I have ever used..It is a meat grinder but doesn't blood shoot a lot of meat.

A few deer, one cow moose, two black bears and a zebra. All with factory ammo. Wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

Here's a thread I started before my latest trip to Africa.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/...=571108278#571108278

And here is my trip report.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/527102178

The 8x57 is a fantastic round and very efficient. Good luck and good hunting.

Back to business after the cultural interlude!

What I use is a close match: the 8,2x53R. It uses the same bullets as the German Mauser.
The only factory load available is Sako's 13g/200grs Hammerhead @ 2525fps. Sako's load for the 8x57 is the same, and thus a close match to RWS's loads.
I have understood the case of the 8x57 does allow for hotter loads, too. The recoil of the Sako factory load is pleasantly mild.
If lighter bullets were used, then the cartridge would be very flat shooting. However, on larger game I see little reason to use lighter bullets.

Some other folks here even use heavier 220grs (Woodleigh and Speer) bullets but I have no experience in using them. Apparently, the meat damage is very little, indeed, when using the heavier bullets.

I use it mostly for Nordic Elk; on the hunts for smaller game I have not yet been successful, I'm sorry to say.
On elk the results have been very good both for me and my father: all kills have been one-shot kills.
The range has always been short, not more than 50yds due to the typical hunting terrain in Finland.

I daresay the Hammerhead is not the best bullet on the market but despite this I have not had any complaints on the results on game.
Another good bullet/cartridge option (if available in your region) is Norma.

In two weeks I'm off to hunt in Estonia, where we have wild boar, roe deer, and elk on the list so I hope to be able to report a bit more on the results on game.

Thanks guys, sounds like it's going to prove to be a reliable killer. I bought it first because it was cheap, then have been enjoying reshaping the stock and now it's fits about as well as any rifle I own. It's got nice, older, an all steel aperature sights, and I will probably put a barrel band front sight from NECG on it. (no scope).
In Elmer Keiths book,'Rifles for big game', he states his experience was that it killed better then any bullet fron a .30-06, so, figured it should work pretty well. Hope to find out this weekend as Deer season starts up. Schauckis, let me know how it works for you if your successful. Thanks! And I appreciate everyones input.

Not quite the answer to your question. I've seen several killes at 80 yards. All one shoot in their tracks at 80- yds.