Sounds like a combination worth a try. Today I discovered that 150 Hornadys also work real well with IMR-3031. The 8x57 cartridge seems to like powder that's a little faster than what I would have guessed I'd wind up using in it. Runnin 47.7 gr. of 3031 behind one of those Hornadys in carefully prepped brass with a Fed. GM-210M primer. It's half a grain below max in my Hornady 6th edition manual, Copyright 2003. I couldn't believe the 100 yd. groups I was gettin with an old military bolt gun. Too bad I didn't have the chrony with me today. Made up 20 more rounds tonight in some brass I had all prepped and primed and ready to go. Gonna punch some more paper with it plus get some velocity readings. I might just have a new go-to hunting load. Still wanna try some TAC, though. Next thing you know I'll be lookin around for one of those model 700's in 8x57. The more I play with this cartridge the more I like it. I don't even worry about brass. Got a Redding form and trim die so's 8x57 brass can be formed from 30-06 brass if need be. In fact, that's the brass I was using today.
