quote:

I THINK TED NUGENT SHOULD INVITE YOU TO JOIN HIM ON ONE OF HIS SHOWS, SO THE TWO OF YOU COULD SHARE IDEAS, WARM FUZZIES, WARM POOLS OF BLOOD, AND REVEL IN THE SPIRIT OF THE WILD.

Now that is funny!

Yentna,
I'm envious of your 8x57. Just a few days ago I finally made a decision to go ahead with a 8x57 on a VZ action. I made a mistake many years ago, and let the best military Mauser action I have ever seen get away from me. It was a pristine VZ 24, with what looked like a never been fired 8x57 barrel. I just didn't know any better at that time. About three years ago, I found another action. This time I'm not letting it escape.

I ordered a Lothar Walther barrel in 8 mm with a 9" twist, which should work real well with those Woodleigh 250gr super penetrators. People talk about the superior penetrating qualities of the 6.5x55, well this ought to be 6.5 penetration squared, and bumped up a few notches.

In a previous posting under another thread, there were some good reports on the Woodleigh 220 gr in 8x57 in Africa.

Best Regards,
KB

Kabluewy,
I think you'll really like those 250gr woodleighs in your 8x57. I've found them to be the most accuarate hunting bullets in several of my rifles.There's just something about those big nasty round nose bullets that inspires confidence. Good luck with your mauser project but be careful. Mausers are addictive.

You can't go wrong with any of them, but I'd like to think a 45-70 Marlin Guide gun to be the best because that is what I have. I'm loading some 350gr Hornady FPs for it right now to see how it shoots. I'm loading from 52 to 56 grains of IMR3031 - should give a nice kick!

Slatts,
I use to hunt with a marlin 1895 back in the early 80's. This was before Marlin came out with the guild gun. It had a 22" barrel and I used it with the factory iron sights on a couple of moose with good success. We didn't have the bullet selection back then that we have today. My load was 52gr reloader 7, 400gr speer FP, WW cases, cci200 large rifle primers. This was a max load from the speer manual of those days. I had core seperation on the back bone of the last moose I shot with that load and lost confidence in it. I cut a bullet into lengthways just to see how it was made and I couldn't believe how thin the jacket was.It looked like copper paint.
Today you can buy ammo for the 45-70 at the Wallmart in Ancorage that's better than the best hand loads back then.
Sure wish I still had that rifle but who knew?