Hi guys,

FWIW I have chosen The first calibres that I will manufacture for the boutique (high end) market here in the US:

7 x 64 Brenneke
9.3 x 64 Brenneke
6.5 x 68 RWS
8 x 68(S)RWS
6.5 x 57 Mauser
9.3 x 62 Mauser (Bock)

The second group will be:

404 Jeffrey
416 Rem mag
416 Rigby
470 N.E.
375 H&H
375 Weatherby

I have a friend mailing me a copy of Weiderladen. I have a copy of Lagermasse und Patronelagen that gives me good information about dimensions and CIP standards. I have a copy of the RWS and Sako factory specifications.

If anyone has any favorite loads for these cartridges (especially if they have worked in different rifles of the same chambering), I would apreciate learning those loads from you.

Thanks so much for your help!

lawndart

JCN, I loaded 7x64 and 8x68S using RWS R905, a powder coming off the same Swedish (Bofors) production line as and very closely equivalent to Alliant RL22. For the 8x68S I used a 200 grs NP, for the 7x64 I have used several different bullet weights.

Note: the correct designation would be 8x68S. This is one of the few "8mm" calibers which only existed as an "S" (i.e. .323 cal) caliber. So no need to put the (S) in parentheses.

Just wait till you start working with RWS 8x68S brass (assuming this is what you'll be using). It is the thickest, meanest, son-of-gun brass I have ever laid hands on. You have to go at this stuff with a vengeance to make any impression whatsoever!

Good luck in your new venture!

- mike

My favorite 9.3 x 62 load is 57.5 grains Reloader 15 and a 286 grain North Fork soft.

The Searcy/Superior Ammo standard 470 NE load is 106 grains IMR4831 and a Woodleigh 500 grain bullet.

In the 416 Rigby I like 102.0 grains H4831 behind anybody's 400 grain bullet. very accurate

Not wanting to digress with this thread but after reading mho´s statement about the 8X68S, I just have to add the following;

Damn Right! That is the hardest, most contrary caliber to reload for that I have ever seen. I have been reloading a LOT of calibers over the past 35 years, and as far as I was concerned, the 8X68S was just another caliber to reload for, right? WRONG. The RWS cases are the only ones I´ve ever seen in quantity. (I have a few that I was given by my German Uncle that were headstamped with a simple letter ´T´and the caliber, but that is the only exception. Who knows where they came from). The RWS cases are unusually brittle, and I seriously doubt that there is a real well established standard for this chamber. I have many once fired cases from my hunting buddy´s Sauer 80 that even after full length resizing won´t chamber in my 1958 Mannlicher-schoenauer. Fired and resized cases from my MS won´t chamber in my other buddy´s Heym rifle. I have even sent my dies back to Huntingdons in Orroville CA. along with a factory cartrige, a chamber cast and a fired cartrige in order to get a special cut die so other brass would chamber in my rifle. That only helped some. I then just plain out resolved to buy new brass (at €1.50 each). 2 reloads out of moderately loaded brass is about all you can expect.

What a pain in the butt this caliber is to reload for. If loaded ammo didn´t sell for near $100 a box, I would probably just buy factory (don´t tell anyone I know I said that).

But..... once you find the magic formula,... they shoot tighter than any 8mm Rem Mag ever could, and they don´t detach your retina in doing so like the 8mm RM feels like it would do.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by murkan mike:
(I have a few that I was given by my German Uncle that were headstamped with a simple letter ´T´and the caliber, but that is the only exception. Who knows where they came from). Mike

Mike, I'm wondering whether those cases might be Swiss cases from the company now known as Ruag. The "T" stamp is certainly used on their brass, it stands for "Thun", the location where their brass was traditionally manufactured. I don't strictly KNOW they produced 8x68S brass, but the headstamp almost sounds like it... Anyway, just a guess.

The 8x68S gets high performance out of a comparatively small case by being run at pretty high pressure. Maybe that was part of the problem you encountered with reloaded brass.

- mike

P.S. I just checked a Swiss source ( http://www.waffenwildi.ch/Wiederladen/Huelsen.htm ), and Ruag does make 8x68S brass.

Mike & Mike,

The "T" headstamped bass is from Blaser's factory ammunition. It has also been related to me that the source of brass from Blaser's ammo is RUAG.

@all

The Thun Brass are available as well...
Brass

Good shooting and good hunting.
Collani

Hi guys,

I have 300 RWS 8x68S brass. RUAG owns RWS, so I assume all the brass comes off of one assembly line. Just a guess, but Blaser likely buys brass with their markings from the sqame source.

What determines the price point for me is what bullet and what brand of brass I'm using. In general terms, powder is powder and primers are primers. Having said that, I will be offering 8x68S for considerably less than $100.00/box.

On one hand, I won't be able to buy enough cases at a time to get a decent price break. On the other I won't have a bunch of parasitic vice presidents and dead weight employees driving the overhead up.

It should be interesting.

LD

Dan,
That is my factory recipe for the 9.3 x 62, except I will use the 250 grain bullet in that caliber. The 9.3 x 64 on up will definitely be packing the 286 grain pill.

quote:

For the 8x68S I used a 200 grs NP

That is what I will use. In deference to African temperatures, I will try H-4350 and H-4831 first.

The 7x64 will get a 140 or 160 grain NF.

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:
I have 300 RWS 8x68S brass. RUAG owns RWS, so I assume all the brass comes off of one assembly line. Just a guess, but Blaser likely buys brass with their markings from the sqame source.

JCN, I don't necessarily think you can make that assumption. Don't forget, RWS and RUAG had their own brass manufacturing facilities before the companies were brought under one roof. I have not heard anything about the brass making facilities having been concentrated in one location.

I for my part, still consider brass stamped RWS different to brass made in Thun (headstamp: T).

Blaser gets some of its brass from Ruag - the cooperation seems to have taken off with Blaser's decision to market the RUAG developed CDP bullet in a proprietary Blaser ammo line, manufactured in Switzerland. But, Blaser also sells ammo made by other manufacturers (parts of what has grown into the "RUAG empire"). Case in point, Blaser's WSM offerings are manufactured by Norma and features Nosler AccuBond bullets.

I may be wrong, but in spite of RUAG owning RWS and Norma, I still don't consider their brass the same. Could be wrong, but that is my understanding.

I have loaded Nosler 200 grs Partitions in 8x68S, and it seemed to be the almost ideal bullet at the time. Today, I'd look hard at the 200 grs TSX - and possibly at the 200 grs AccuBond.

- mike

You may very well be right about different lines of brass. One thing for sure is that the companies aren't likely to share that information with us.

I agree about the 200 NP. I might look at the 200 Barnes TSX for an "African" load, and offer the Accubond as a "deer/antelope/gazelle/terrorist" load.