Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 8x57 JS

Anyone used this guy for Elk hunting? Any info on ideal bullet weights and types for this cartridge and elk hunting would be appreciated.

195 grain Hornady.

Ingwe

or 180 grn Nos BT, or the new Barnes 160grn TTSX, or a 175grn Sierra, or a 200grn Speer, or a 185grn Rem Cor-Loc.

You got a few choices, and more if you go custom bullet.

What you shooting it in?

If you are not handloading, stay away from American loaded cartridges. The European stuff is loaded to its potential with good bullets, but the American factory loads are anemic and have indifferent bullets. The lawyers have trained the ammo designers in North America to load this cartridge as if it will be shot in an old .318 dia barrel 1st world war relic. Modern "S" bore .323" guns can be shot with ammo that is the full equivalent of the 30-06 in power. You can't go wrong with the offerings by Norma or RWS. Bullets around 200 grains (12.7 grams) are appropriate.

200 grains = 12,96 Gramm

I have used the 8x57 Mauser with the 220 gr. Game King, 195 gr. Hornady and lately the 180 gr. TSX - from roe deer to red deer.

Would have no qualms using a 180 TSx at 2650 fps (23" barrel) for elk.

My wife prefers her old 8 MM over the other rifles she could use.She has smacked quite a few Elk with the old war horse and factory Remington bullets.

Yeah,I no but it works....

Jayco

on paper, it looks like a 30-06... I have one in an old Turkish Mauser, but that thing is really heavy and I haven't hunted with it yet.

Just for curiosity:



Loaded the Impala KS bullets for my 8x57IS.

Pretty drasitc departure from convention.

.323" 100gr. copper flat nose bullet at (calculated) 3100 fps.

I bought a 1903 Turkish Mauser in 2000 for $50 at BIG5.

I got a coffee can full of 200 gr Sierra match king .323" for cheap when some guy's father in law died.

I got a coffee can full of 220 gr Sierra .323" for cheap when the same guy's father in law died.

I bent the bolt with an Acetylene torch, heat sink, welding paste, and hammers.

I drilled and tapped and put on a #45 and #46 Weaver mounts.

The rifle has shot a 1" 5 shot group at 100 meters with 200 gr. match kings at 2635 fps and a 40X scope.

The rifle will shoot hot too @ 10.5 pounds with a 4X scope:
48 gr. bulk IMR4895 [more like H322] 220 gr. Sierra 2420, 3.22", 2653 fps, 2675 fps, measured 1.3" 5 shot group @50 yards.

In contrast, my 338 Win mag only throws the 250 gr at 2625 fps, but it has a shorter barrel.

Hello cmg,
How well did those Impala bullets shoot?

Kinda sounds like 06 speeds.

Quite well in fact.

Just over 30 mm at 100 meters. Not to bad for a 2,5x scope.

Took a fallow deer doe with them yesterday evening.

Worked - shot placement was high, though. Drivers fault.

Any additional info?

Barrel length,twist,load?

18,5" barrel, 1 in 9" twist (standard military K98), 47gr. Norma 200 (stout-discretion advised)- 3100fps calculated (not yet chroned).

cmg, That's a cool looking bullet. What is the diameter of the meplat?

.154" = 3,9mm

47.5% of caliber

1st. 160gr TTSX
2nd. 180gr TSX
3rd. 180gr E-Tip