some former 8x57 mausers i had liked the s&b product just fine. their 7.62x54r stuff is just fine in my m-44 sporters. so i really, really, really wanted my swede to like the s&b 131-grain hunting ammo. no soap. my rifle shoots winchester factory 140-grain hunting loads (admittedly mild; i have read the velocity is only 2,400 or so; but it does kill well) into 9/16ths inch at 100 yards. two separate groups of three with the much faster s&b (groups were 3 inches higher on target) at 100 yards yielded triangular groups of almost 3 inches. a breakdown of s&b components showed very good consistency. the winchester OAL is 1/10th inch or so longer; the 140-grain bullet - obviously - is longer. so i suspect it is an OAL factor with the s&b and the long-leded model 96 sporter. when i get new dies, i'll put some s&b loads back together at the same OAL as the winchester. I hope that squeezes the groups.

The idea of true 8mm +P loadings is not new. Indeed, both DWM and RWS employed such a concept before the war in order to squeeze out top performance from the 8x60. Their hot Magnum and Magnum Bombe loads in 8x60S (8x60RS) did surpass even 8x64 (8x65RS) levels. But such a concept was never undertaken for the 8x57.

Carcano