Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 8x57 JS in modern rifles

After messing with many calibers over several decades, I discovered the 8X57 less than two years ago. I picked up a neat Mexican Mauser sporter with an 8mm bbl. Last deer season I killed two deer of about the same size from the same spot. The similarities of both shots and bullet location was eerie. Both deer scented me and were vacating the vicinity when they made the mistake of pausing where I had an opening through the brush. The deer were quartering away from me and the bullets entered just behind the rib cage and exited between the front legs. Shot placement was almost exactly the same.

The first deer was shot with the Mex using a 170 gr Speer. Results....drt! The second was shot with a 308 Win. Using a 150 gr Hornady spire point. This deer ran about 25-30 yds and piled up. It was slightly more spooked and that may or may not have made a difference in how quickly it dropped. So, there is an opinion of the effectiveness of the 8X57 based on a data base of one!

Here is the Mex:







Wormy, I also have had a yen for one of the pre-war Mauser sporters, knowing that I would never pay the going rate for one of those masterpieces. I am cheap by nature and lean toward interesting �junkers� and rifles with �character�! This summer I found what the local knowledgeable rifle folks have described as a factory Mauser sporter knockoff. Many small gun shops and mom and pop operations in Europe would obtain mauser actions or convert military actions into cheap, durable copies of the factory sporters. This rifle has a small ring 98 action with no markings or serial number. It does not seem to be buffed or ground at all. Apparently, this was not uncommon when these actions were obtained from the factory for these builds, or at least that is what I was told.

Anyway, it is a very neat copy with express sights, double set triggers, shotgun style trigger guard, and typical slim Mauser sporter type stock. It had been roughly used and had seen better days. The good thing was that it was dirt cheap....the bad was that some bubba (my guess is after coming over here) had added white diamonds in the stock under the action and a rubber recoil pad. The recoil pad was good because the old girl kicks like a mule (it weighs about 6 pounds). The diamonds still give me the shivers when I look at it.

It also is an 8X57 and is being toted this season in hopes of adding to it�s character.






Get you an 8X57.....you won�t regret it!