Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 8mm-06

No idea why anyone would do this when 338-06 allows better bullets (and wider selection) to be flung.

My thoughts exactly 257. Bullet selection.............. .338 for the win

Ray Montgomry built me two 8mm-06's on Remington actions, one an AI. Had sold both but recently bought back the AI. Great cartridge foe any of the 200 grain bullets.

Damn, how many bullets do you guys shoot. I'll tell you...one. You choose one bullet for each rifle and that's what you hunt with. So why is the 8mm-06 a bastard when one can shoot the 170, 175, 185, 195,and the 200gr bullets. powdr

powdr......If you want a 8mm-06, nobody is stopping you. Go for it!!!

I do think there's a lot of overlap in bullet weight between the .308" and .323". The .338" allows you to easily go to 210's and 225's and even 250's (or 285's for long range). Or 160 TTSX for speed.

Already have one, Weatherby Ultralight. Like I said before, there is no logic involved in the project. It's just to scratch an itch. I am a big fan of medium bores between 8mm - 9.3mm. I have an 8x57, 8mm Rem Mag, two .325 WSMs, various .33s, a whole slew of .35s and 9.3s. This 8mm-06 will be set up as an "all weather" gun, so that's my justification to myself, for what it's worth.

Keep us updated and show us a few pics when it's done.

Heaven, my comment was not directed at you. I just can't see what a 338-06 can do that an 8mm-06 can't do w/a 200gr Partition. Their both great cartridges but alas I live in Texas where neither would be useful. I've owned a nice 338-06 on a 78 action w/Borden stock but I sold it. Have always wanted an 8mm-06 but I'm hoping the 6.5X55 I'm building will scratch the itch. powdr

First step of the project complete...

I wanted an 8-06AI when I was about 20, which was a long time ago. Then I came to my senses and got a 338-06. Now I would get a 30-06.
About the same time a got a 375-06 AI.

Today, if I wanted more than a 30-06, I would get a 35 Whelen, which is just what I did.

Getting closer...

I've got a half dozen 8mm's of various flavors from standard 8x57, 8mm-06AI, 8x62 Durham Mag and a few others... them all. The 8mm-06AI with a 25" Douglas barrel is running 3050fps with a 175gr Sierra in front of a stiff load of Re22...I only get 2 or 3 loads out of a case before my primer pockets loosen but it gives me -1/4" groups and groups open up significantly when I back it off so after a long chat with the techs at Alliant I decided to leave it as is. Have been shooting that load for about 20 years or whenever 22 came out and have never looked back. I would highly recommend the 8mm-06AI. Have never recovered a bullet from any of the elk I've shot with it but mostly shoot 180gr Barnes or 200gr Noslers and North Fork bullets. I don't think you could go wrong building one bu it is a lot more gun than the standard 8mm-06.

I think the 8mm/06 was a bit of an under-performer simply because the bore/case ratio did not favor any of the powders which were commonly available. Today that may not be the case. I agree with those who say you only need one good bullet. In fact, it eliminates all of the mental anguish which plagues the shooters of 30 calibers. GD

I have no experience with the 8mm/06, but I have owned several 8x64s and 8x60s as well as 8x57s. The 8x64 is very close to the 8/06 which would be the 8x63. I think the 8/06 is a small step up from the 30-06 and the Ackley version another small step.

John

We wore out reamers by the dozens building these back in the day when 06 brass was available by the ton and 8mm brass was as rare as hens teeth and berdan primed to boot. This was a popular conversion. You could find 8mm bullets but no reloadable brass.

Aside from the brass issue it made no sense, and when brass became available it quickly died out. It got the job done just as well but wasn't any better than the original. 8x57 was a hammer...I liked it.

To avoid all the drama, I just re-barreled my rifles to 30-06, then my $50 Garand had ammo too.

That German surplus MG ammo was real pretty.

How do you find your 8x60s?

I was lucky enough to find a zg47 in 8x60s. 200gr partition at 2,600fps without trying under H380.

There's a cool old Sako Mauser in 8x60 on GunBroker right now. Condition is not great and if it was better, I'd be tempted. Been told the Sako 8x60s had .318" bores but don't know it for a fact.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/590335202

8mm-06 would be fun, I had an 8x57 built a year ago, and had my Dad's old 98 rebarreled in 8mm Gibbs for him probably 20 years ago. Both a lot of fun, but these days, I'm thinking the 8x57 will do it all with a lot less fuss.

8mm-06 would be about as pain free as a wildcat gets, but don't overlook the x57. Load it to CIP spec and it doesn't give up much of anything to the '06.

I built a 8-06 about 20 years ago. I wanted one since I was 18.

Since then I have owned and shot 338-06, 338-06 AI (2), 35 Whelen, 375-06 AI.

Concluded they are all great, just like the original, the 30-06. Going with Mule Deer on this call.

If I was crazy enough to do it again it would definitely be the AI version.
I just don't buy the bullet selection argument. The sweet spot is around 200 grains. End of story

It's done, except for getting mounts and glass on it. Just got it back from being electroless nickeled by Mahovsky's Metalife. Time's running out fast but I hope to get it scoped and get a load worked up in time to get it in the woods before Jan. 2 gets here.