Any users of this old wildcat?

I was just curious what kind of performance you fellas may have gotten from it. Every time I see data on the 8mm/338 the data doesnt seem to reflect its true potential, it usually seems extraordinarily low.. I expect that is because they usually just throw a couple rounds down range and call it a day for such an out of the box cartridge.. ?? Or maybe because it used to get built on old worn out bbls..

Wstrnhuntr I have a 8mmPMM or 8mm-338 whatever you prefer to call it.At one time this was one of the least expensive ways to get a belted mag. Yes you could re-chamber Springfields to 308 Norma or any other short mag that you fancied. Same could be done with the P-17s. However there were thousands of decent M98s in 8x57. Most were decent quality but the chamber area of these military barrels is not very thick. If you run a 338 reamer into that military barrel the chamber walls are further reduced. It is probably a good idea not to push loads to the extreme for safety sake. I have a 25 in barrel on a Parker Hale rifle that I shot the 7mm Rem barrel out. In my opinion 200 gr bullets are very effective on elk/moose sized game. I have not worked with a pile of powders but IMR 4350 has been quite good in my rifle. There are excellent 8mm bullets availible from Nosler (partitions and accubonds ) as well as Swift A-frames and Barnes TSX. The 195 gr Hornady is also a very reasonably priced bullet. My rifle will handle a max load of 72 grs of 4350 and push a 200 partion to 2950 fps.Rl 19 might even do better but I was happy with the groups I was getting. Thats pretty close to the 325WSM and within 100fps of what the 8mm Rem will do. That is not faint praise. In a mauser the 338 case is better than the 300 Win in my opinion. Heavier bullets must be seated very deep in the 300 Win case so very little extra case capacity is realized.

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
My rifle will handle a max load of 72 grs of 4350 and push a 200 partion to 2950 fps.Rl 19 might even do better but I was happy with the groups I was getting. Thats pretty close to the 325WSM and within 100fps of what the 8mm Rem will do. .

That sounds more like what one would expect from a 338 case. As I mentioned, load data in the books is pathetic.

You make an intresting point about the thin chamber walls with a millsurp bbl though. That may have some bearing on the pitifull data.

Thanks.