Please don't boo me here. The other day I was day dreaming when for some unknown reason the thought of doing the above popped into my mind. Has this been done before? What was the result? Am I losing it? :-)
GG
Posts: 500 | Location: Queensland, Australia | Registered: 07 August 2001
This cartridge already exists. It is the 8mm Poor Man's Magnum (8mm PMM). It has been around for many years, and is essentially the .338 Win. necked down to 8mm. If you neck this down another step to .30, you have the .30/.338. One more step to .284, and Viola!! The 7mm Rem. Mag!! (There's essentially nothing new under the sun, when it comes to cartridges!!!) w
If you are looking for a high performance 8mm, why not consider the 8mm Rem. Magnum? That's an off-the-shelf solution without the disadvantages that normally attach to any wildcat. One catch: my recollection is that it is a 2.9" case, like the Weatherbys and the H & H's.
Of course, now that we have the common .404 Jeffery/RUM case, you could neck the .338 RUM to 8mm and be in business with a 2.5" case.
I think that the future of the 8mm bore is very much in question outside of vintage Mausers. I think that all the good .338 cartridges are going to swamp the 8mm bore. Unless you want to rechamber an 8mm barrel, why would you bother with 8mm when you can get .338 Win, .338 Rum, .340 Wby., and .338-.378?
Posts: 264 | Location: Grand Prairie, TX, USA | Registered: 17 September 2001
If you must have an 8mm, have at it. Years ago, Col. Charlie Askins made up every different flavor of 8mm wildcat that he could think of. With each wildcatted round, he went to Africa and Alaska to test the round. His only disadvantage was the bullet technology of the time. You might try to look through Safari Press and see if you could find any copies of his books. Fascinating reading. This ol' boy was the real deal.
If you want something different, go for it. The 30 or 338 solutions will have far better bullet selection, but there are some good bullets for the 8mm now. I'd go with the 300 win as a parent case if you don't want to step all the way up to a 8mm Rem Mag. If I were you, I'd think about an improved version, just to be really different.
Posts: 198 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 05 September 2002
GG375, sorry I did not respond sooner! I think you can find performance info on this round in one or the other of Ackley's Handbook for Shootere and Reloaders. It's at least as good as the .308 Norma, close to the .338 Winney.
GonzoFreak, did you ever consider that this guy might have an 8X57 already that he wants to keep, but wants better performance from than the 8X57 or 8mm/'06 can give him?? Mayhap he no wanna buya new gun!!
I would take on the 8mm SAUM project for the same reason someone decides to landscape their yard or chop a 1950 Merc: the creative process. For me, having a firearm featuring an uncommon (unique?)cartridge would be secondary to the fun of assembling the rifle, working up loads, etc. A successful hunt with such a weapon would be just add that much more.
I don't have any ballistics software but by just doing some thumbnail sketching, an 8mm SAUM would probably be an efficient, flexible cartridge with performance and recoil somewhere between an 8mm06 Improved and the 8mm Rem Mag.
My apologies again. I really wasn't trying to start a fight, just wanted to understand the Wildcatter rationonale. I would do it too if I had the money, but I have to be ultra practical right now.
Good luck to anyone and everyone playing with wildcats.
Posts: 557 | Location: Various... | Registered: 29 December 2002
Given that a trio of rifles in 223, 30-06 and 458 will kill anything on the planet, the reason people wildcat from my perspective is not practical, but because we're all individuals. We want to have something different in camp on our next hunt. Or maybe some people really think that there's stuff you can kill with a 6.5/06 that just wouldn't have died with a 270.
Posts: 198 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 05 September 2002
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the original rationale for doing this (indeed the origin of the name "Poor Man's Magnum") simply to take a Mauser '98, open the boltface and rechamber? I understood this to be another one of those "practical" wildcats like the 8mm-06.
As such, I'm surprised it didn't meet with widespread acceptance, considering the number of cheap surplus '98s kicking around over the last several decades. This cartridge should be at least as effective as the .300 Winchester Magnum and I bet it would be awesome with the 200-grain Nosler Partition.
quote:Originally posted by P-17: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the original rationale for doing this (indeed the origin of the name "Poor Man's Magnum") simply to take a Mauser '98, open the boltface and rechamber? I understood this to be another one of those "practical" wildcats like the 8mm-06.
As such, I'm surprised it didn't meet with widespread acceptance, considering the number of cheap surplus '98s kicking around over the last several decades. This cartridge should be at least as effective as the .300 Winchester Magnum and I bet it would be awesome with the 200-grain Nosler Partition.
Right you are, surplus 8mm bbls are a dime a dozen. The 8mm bore just never has gained much acceptance in the states, its too bad too. Although there are some very good bullets available in 8mm now Id like to see them cover a wider range. I think Woodleigh is the only one that makes one in 250 grn. There never was an 8mm Barnes original to my knowledge. Nosler has a pretty good 8mm partition variety going though and the barnes "X" line is not bad either.
Posts: 10197 | Location: Tooele, Ut | Registered: 27 September 2001
Let's start a resurgence of this cartridge by talking about it on the internet. It seems like a practical and cheap option for those surplus '98s with worn throats...
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