Seafire,
I am having good luck with the Blue Dot loads you helped me with. Have not had time to chrony them but they are shooting well with no felt recoil. I think the reduced loads will be alot easier on my gongs also.

z1r, That is a NICE receiver sight!!! I've been searching high and low for a sight like that. A company called XS makes a sight very simular.

I have two commercial Mausers in 8x57, made in Oberndorf. A halfstocked Model B with a intermidiate lenght action in IS cal(.323cal) and a Model M fullstocked in the .318cal.

My standard load with 200grain Norma alaska bullet is backed up with 53grain V150....that gives a healthy 2640 Ft/sec in the Model B.

My Model M does a 2360 Ft/sec with Degol 220grain bullet loaded with 52 grain V150.

oh...the RWS H-mantel 187grain gives 2772 FT/sec with 53 grain V150...nor bad at all for
an old warhorse

z1r, where did you get the laminated stock for your rifle?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Would love to hear from those of you who have hunted or will hunt with an 8X57, maybe the most underrated cartridge in the United States. I just picked up a clean Yugo 24/47 Mauser that I plan to put an aperture rear and ivory bead front sight on. I'll have a very capable rifle out of the deal for shamefully little money.

I think the 8x57 is one of the best cartridges ever designed. If I wanted to have one rifle, I'd probably build up an 8X57 Ruger, or Mauser without a second thought. I still chamber for them & when customers ask what (cal) they should barrel their mauser to, I usually recommend they go right back to the old 8mm. Some even take my advice. In a decent barrel/action, it's very accurate, and very effective on anything this continent has to hunt. Easy to handload & very forgiving. I hunted for years with a Krieghoff drilling in 8x57 JRS, from the everglades to Alaska and took a bunch of game with it. Sure wish I had that gun back... don't we all have one of those .

My Hysky 642 on a FN Mauser is the one rifle I have hunted the most with, and counts about 15 red deers, same amount of roe-deers and a handful of caribous. I have always used the 180 grs BarnesX loaded to 2800 f/s, and it is just wonderful, from 15 feet to 300 yards. And, I will say it has a more modest recoil then a 180 grs bullet in a .30-06 at the same speed.
Modest and awesome, I think that sums it up.

http://www.xssights.com/store/rifle.html

I think I like z1r's better, though.

Tin Can, Thanks but I just made the new base that I soldered on. I pirated all the good parts from the XS sight. By the way, the folks at XS are some of the most outstanding. Always helpful, cheerful and polite.

Sorry for the lousey pic but it is the only closeup I have.

quote:

Originally posted by Head Trauma:
z1r, where did you get the laminated stock for your rifle?

Head Trama, That's a Boyd's JRS that was really worked over. Shortened the forearm, thinned it a lot, opened the grip some. At $69 it was perfect for the purpose.

I'll tell ya what- you have a lot going right with that rifle.

I just like it, seems others do, too.

I'm gonna snitch that pic, if it's OK.

Thanks. I like it too. Help yourself to the pic. There are a lot of folks with good taste on this site and it's nice to be able to borrow/share some ideas now and again.

After years of basically ignoring the 8x57 I stumbled onto a deal on a BRNO 22F and now you can add me to the 8x57 fan club. I killed my first 2 deer last year with some 150 gr speers that I had on hand and then I switched to a much sexier load using the 200 gr accubond.



I dropped the last one at 168yds DRT using the nosler. I have no idea why I overlooked this fabulous cartride for so long.

Weagle

I love my VZ24 in 8x57 it's killed alot of deer and hogs, and they all were dead right there!

I have a soft spot for this caliber since my first rifle was a m98 war souvenir, slightly customized. The much maligned Remington factory load is actually very effective on deer at normal ranges. I also shot 1 bear and 1 moose with same load with no problem. Cheap milsurp ammo allowed lots of practice too.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikelravy:
I have a soft spot for this caliber since my first rifle was a m98 war souvenir, slightly customized. The much maligned Remington factory load is actually very effective on deer at normal ranges. I also shot 1 bear and 1 moose with same load with no problem. Cheap milsurp ammo allowed lots of practice too.

I have a pair of Husky M46's (M96 actions) that I use the Remington ammo in exclusively. These are open sight only rifles and they shoot this stuff into very respectible 1" groups at 100 meters. More than enough punch for deer and hogs at that range.

Glad to hear that someone else shares my opinion on this load. I know the balistics aren't spectacular but it sure has worked well for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikelravy:
Glad to hear that someone else shares my opinion on this load. I know the balistics aren't spectacular but it sure has worked well for me.

Do the deer or the targets really give a hoot what the "ballistics" are? All those obsessed with muzzle velocity are missing out on some of the great cartridges of the sport IMO (including the venerable 8X57)

To suggest the 8x57 is "clearly superior" to the 30-06 is going a bit overgboard when in truth in the killing fields and trajectory field most non belted rounds from the 7x57 to the 30-06 and even the 300 magnums show very little advantage of one over the other, from a practical hunting standpoint. If it does its only in the mind of the shooter.

quote:

Originally posted by Jacobite:
Seafire,
I am having good luck with the Blue Dot loads you helped me with. Have not had time to chrony them but they are shooting well with no felt recoil. I think the reduced loads will be alot easier on my gongs also.

Don,

Glad to be able to help out..

Even tho I like the blue dot loads in the 8 x 57, I have to admit to migrating to SR 4759 for that cartridge... no other reason, that to conserve the Blue Dot powder that I have.. I go thru tons of it, and am still always out of it, even tho I purchase a lot of it.. we don't have sources where we can get it in containers larger than one pound locally...same with the SR 4759...

I play with a lot of loads in my rifles.. but for the 8 x 57, I don't seem to.. found out what works and play with it when I get the urge..I think I love the rifles I have it chambered in more than I love the round itself..

Seafire,
I know you actually recomended the SR4759 but being I don't use it in anything and had Blue Dot I just used it. I only use Blue Dot in my .41 mag. and my brothers .45LC so I don't go through it fast. Now I will be useing it in the 8mm and might try it in the .303. I found Sportsman's Warehouse sells it for $15.50 a pound. I was paying almost $20. Looks like the 8mm will get alot more range time especially if I can start hitting the gong at 300 yards with it. So far that job belongs to my Swiss 96/11.

For years I've had a soft spot in my head for '88 commercial sporters, but only came as close as finding a decent '88 military carbine. A nice sporter came to light the other day and now I'm looking forward to some mild-loaded 8x57J deer hunting. I've taken elk with a Brno mod22 in 8x57S some years ago using the long-defunct Speer 225 grain round nose and an, erm, exuberant amount of powder... Great shooter, but those bullets, as John Taylor would say, "failed to satisfy". Full loads with modern bullets ought to be terrific.

Krieghoff 8x57jrs and it gets fed nothing but 200NP's...
















I could keep going, but i don't want all that meat to turn to

DM

quote:

Originally posted by dopeydave:
Im with Bartshe on this one, its only after the quest quest for belted magnums, 40 degree shoulders and uber velocity fades and a fair amount of water passes under the bridge that we realize the old timers had it right the first time.

So, about the time the water won't pass anymore we finally appreciate the old 8x57?

Z1

Where did you get the stock I have a spare mod48 I would like to convert like that..

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
Thanks Tin Can, the sight is based on the Ashley Express sight. I made my own base so I could keep the stripper clip guide.

Ropes, I'll just jump in for a minute here, z1r says the stock is the following:

quote:

That's a Boyd's JRS that was really worked over. Shortened the forearm, thinned it a lot, opened the grip some. At $69 it was perfect for the purpose.

I have a Mod 98 Mauser in 8mm that was reamed to 8mm-06.I wish I would have found the rifle before any alterations were done to it.But now that it's done the 8mm-06 shoots into an inch at 100 yards with 175 grain Sierra's.
Now to load up some 185 rem Core-Lokt's and see if it shoots as well with a heavier bullet.

Tin Can,

thanks for stepping in for me. Yup, that's a Boyds stock. Like I said, perfect for the abuse I expect to heap upon the rifle.

303carbine, that particualer rifle will shoot the Rem 185's into roughly 1" groups all day long.



In fact, that particular load shoots about the same in several of my 8x57's. Not a barn burner but no slouch either and pretty darn accurate. Remember, that's with open sights.

quote:

Originally posted by Bent Fossdal:

And, I will say it has a more modest recoil then a 180 grs bullet in a .30-06 at the same speed.

Well, yes.

If everything else was exactly the same, but one rifle was a 30-06 firing 180 grain bullets and the other was an 8x57 firing 180 grain bullets, both at exactly the same muzzle velocity, the 8x57 would kick less because the 8x57 uses a little less powder than the '06, and the amount of powder figures in the ejecta from the muzzle in computing the recoil.

Idaho Sharpshooter
one of us

Posted 08 April 2007 08:19 Hide Post
Tex21,

you have got to be kidding me, right? Breakfast without spuds would be like, like, like...breakfast with a bunch of kalifornians!

You are off the Christmas Card List.

Remember all those Kaliforeigners came from other states or Countries , so theirs must have been real piss poor places !!. Now as for those Slack jawed F ots ( Gov. of MN, movie line from Predator ) that reside up in Frisco area , Some one please recall those models which have obvious defects and send them back to their home states !.

As for the 8X57 being superior to anything it's NOT . All of those who really believe that reflect for a moment your not speaking German !.
So if you still believe it is superior ?. Place your right hand out fingers up palms flat and give the Nazi Chant !.

It is a Very Very good cartridge just a little excessive for deer hunting was my original point . My opinion . I did how ever run across a person who was shooting Elk on a hunt in NM some years ago that had a H&H 375 !?. Shit Howdy did it make my .284 seem , well self conscious . That is until my Elk went down . He never ran any where just stepped forward two paces and dropped like a bad bag of Taters from the potato state !. Of which I also resided in at one time.
Even went to School there . Nice place but don't visit they resent foreigners there to !!.
. Native CA. Not to be confused with those Kaliforeigners or Frisco Knee pad dwellers !.

It's really kind of weird, that the 8X57mm never really caught on here....but neither did many other fine 8mm rounds. However, in view of the vast number of them that were drug back here by "Der Loot-Waffe" (as Phil Sharpe called them) both after WWI and WWII, one would have thought more people would have been sold on the round. It surely is one of the GREATS.......

quote:

but when RWS and DWM loaded it before with and 240 grain load so perhaps i shoudl get an box and load with or to rechamber it to 8x60S.

Mr. Rigby, WHERE can you find an 8X60S reamer, pray tell??

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
To suggest the 8x57 is "clearly superior" to the 30-06 is going a bit overgboard when in truth in the killing fields and trajectory field most non belted rounds from the 7x57 to the 30-06 and even the 300 magnums show very little advantage of one over the other, from a practical hunting standpoint. If it does its only in the mind of the shooter.

Well said sir.......but I'll stick with the old 30-06 anyway!

I picked up a BRNO a few weeks ago from a fellow AR member and I had some veryyyy oldddd 8x57mm ammo on hand. Went to the range last week to try it out. It's the first time I've ever experienced a hang fire... I stopped after 4 rounds.

Rich

I had that with some FN 6.5 M-S some years ago- hell I just kept goin'.