Since I FINALLY got my first double rifle at auction last month (an absolutely beautiful little German SxS in 8x57JR made earlier in the last century),I feel the need to share the wealth!
Amoskeag Auctions in Manchester, NH, USA has a real nice looking Pedersoli Kodiak sxs hammer with browned barrels in 8x57JRS at auction this coming Sat. March 24. It is listed at what seems a very reasonable 800-1200 dollars.
They are a reputable auction house; I have had many dealings with them over the last few years, all good (including my new love, my August Dortmund DR). For any interested, the contact information can be found at their website, and they take phone bids.
I am glad I finally had a good reason and something worthy to add to this terrific forum. I have been watching, dreaming and learning for a long time, and have wanted to join your ranks since I first read Hunter when I was a kid.
Soon my joy will runneth over, because I also have a Chapuis 9,3x74 on order from Dale as well. My wife may get to carry the 8x57; how's that for a creative excuse for new Chapuis ?!!
thanks
Rick

foxhound, do you encounter any problems finding .318 rather than .323 bullets in the USA? I've always been curious, can you reload the JR with the same dies as the JRS? I had my bolt action 8 X 57 J rebarrelled to 9.3 X 62mm so I never did find out.

Wink, I can't answer your questions, because with the weather here in NH at wintertime, I haven't had a chance to slog out to the outdoor range and shoot her(and join the club officially!)as of yet. My plan was to start with S$B factory loads (which are hard enough to come by) and work up my own loads from there. Hopefully there is someone out there who can help with these questions (they are ones I figured on asking on this board later, so thanks for the head start. Rick

So, S&B makes both 8x57 JR and 8x57 JRS? I did not know that. I wouldn't shoot any JRS ammo in a JR rifle, you might have a bad experience. As for reloading dies, I know the RCBS web site doesn't show anything for the older 8mm calibers, expander dies are only listed for .323, nothing for .318. However, RCBS makes alot of things not necessarily on the web site, you'll probably have to call them.

S&B dose make 8x57JR ammo and at a good price. I have several boxes but I've not had good accuracy with them. They did'nt shoot very well at all in my 8x57JR merkel double rifle and I got maybe a little under 3" group from my 8x57 drilling.
I would say that it's a good source for cheap back up ammo and brass later on but the ammo I have ( more than 10 years old ) is berdan primmed and I don't want to mess with that.
I don't know maybe the newer ammo is now boxer primmed.

Sorry I did'nt address the reloading questions before the previous posting.
Yes we can get the 196 gr R.W.S. .318 bullets here in the us. I stocked up on them many years ago from old western scrounger before they changed hands. I may have to search around the next time I need some but I still have a few hundred left.

I don't remember what die's I have for the JR I've been away from home for several months and won't be there till next week. If you end up needing a source for the die's PM me and after I get home I'll forward info back. I think in a worst case you could turn down the expander ball on a .323 diamiter set of die's (allthough this would requier grinding) but I'm sure .318 die's are out there.
One last thing to check out before you do anything else is your bore diameter. Many of these older 8mm's had a .321 diameter barrel. I've had a couple of these over the years. The idea they had with this ( I guess) was to shoot ether diameter bullet. I just go with .318 RWS if this is the case.

quote:

Originally posted by Akshooter:
Sorry I did'nt address the reloading questions before the previous posting.
Yes we can get the 196 gr R.W.S. .318 bullets here in the us. I stocked up on them many years ago from old western scrounger before they changed hands. I may have to search around the next time I need some but I still have a few hundred left.

I don't remember what die's I have for the JR I've been away from home for several months and won't be there till next week. If you end up needing a source for the die's PM me and after I get home I'll forward info back. I think in a worst case you could turn down the expander ball on a .323 diamiter set of die's (allthough this would requier grinding) but I'm sure .318 die's are out there.
One last thing to check out before you do anything else is your bore diameter. Many of these older 8mm's had a .321 diameter barrel. I've had a couple of these over the years. The idea they had with this ( I guess) was to shoot ether diameter bullet. I just go with .318 RWS if this is the case.

AKshooter, RCBS makes 8X57JR dies, and Norma makes both brass, and bullets for the .318 JR. The 196 gr bullets are excellent, and in my H. Barrela cape gun (16gaX8X57JR ) these bullets are responcible for many one shot kills on Muledeer, Wild boar, Elk, and black bear.
I have about 300 new cases, and about 1000 new 196 ge bullets on hand. S&B makes ammo for the 8X57JR, with 196 gr soft points, and in my rifle they shoot to the sights @ 100 yds, an print a tight 1.5" group of four. The shot barrel was origenally a very tight extra full choke, which I had opened up to modified, and the short 16 ga chambered opened up to 2 3/4". The shot barrel will print a Brenneke slug right beside a shot from the rifle side @ 100 yds also. With 7 1/2 shot, the 16 ga is a blue quail murderer @ 35 yds. The cape gun is a hammer sidelock made in Berlin in about 1920, by H,. Berrela, who was the holder of the royal warrant of gun makers to the Kieser!
BELIEVE it or not, I bought this cape gun from an aircarft machanic at Contintal airlines, for the princely sum of $105.00 US, because he couldn't find ammo for it. He's been trying to buy it back for 25 yrs, but he ain't gettin it!

Macd37
Thanks for the info I did not realize that norma made 196gr. .318's. do they have a high nickle content jacket like the RWS or are they good cooper jackets.
I'm a lttle out of date on what's availble once I find my load I'll load up enough for a few years and then move on to the next project. I use both R.W.S. and norma brass in my jr's and both seam about equal in Quality. Some years ago huntingtons had somone scrounging brass off Europion ranges and were selling it cheap. I loaded up on it while the oppertunity was there but didn't get any 8mm. I did get a 100 round bag of 6.5x57R for somthing like $15.00

Yes the 8x57 is a great med hunting round I likewise have taken whitail,boar, caribou and black bear with my Merkel with good results. A lot of American hunters scoof at the 8x57 because the only ones they have seen were military Mausers. I have a nice Mauser sporter 8x57JS with a 1.5-6 Henshult on claw mounts. I've taken a couple of blacktail deer and a blackbear with this using 150 gr. hornady's and they worked great as well.
I once took the Merkel back home to Germany for a driven hunt for boar and roebuck but the only thing I shot was a couple of foxes. The 196gr R.W.S.'s didn't tear them up to bad.