Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 8x57 vs .308

Quit introducing sense and reasoning into an cartridge argument, will ya...?

So is he 8x57 destined to become the next darling of the campfire looneys? The 6.5 and 7x57 are so yesterday and that horse has been beat to death anyway.

Back in the day we all had at least one 8x57, and usually many more. There's nothing the round doesn't do well. Back then we used them for everything and 400 yds was a long shot with irons. There was not a lot of factory ammo available, and what there was was hard to find at first, but recoil with the pristine German surplus ammo was less than 30-06 or 308, it seemed.

The major importer was down the road, and we could buy excellent and better condition German mausers for $20... I should have bought as many of the Carbines, and as many of the scoped sniper versions the delivery truck would hold. Just mail order your guns back then, but the paper route didn't pay much, and how many Mausers did one actually need?

I could retire now if I could bring myself to sell one of them.

If I had a chance to buy some cool classic rifle that I really liked in 8x57, I would buy it.

If I were going to have a custom rifle built in this power range it would be a short action .308 as easy of a decision as choosing 7mm/08 over a 7x57.

Stray, you need a Mauser in 8x57 even if it's only a clapped out milsurp. Or a 7x57 with a set trigger. Just to round things out a little.

Hard to say, I had mine built 10 years ago.

ive got a BRNo in 8x57. Painted Rock Chuckers basement 6 or 7 years ago that's how I got mine.

Thanks! It looks like a lot of fun, actually.

.308 is boring and dont own one. That's why I own two 8x57's. A Remington and Winchester.

Just added them up, and it turns out I have three .308's and three 8x57's. But the .308's were all made within the past 10 years, and the most recent 8x57 is a German custom "guild gun" on a 98 Mauser action made before WWII--and maybe before WWI--with double-set triggers, butter-knife bolt handle, and side-paneled, schnabel-tipped stock. The oldest is a Gewehr 1888, complete with bayonet.

Those can come in handy sometimes. You never know when you're going to run into a hard-charging deer. Hand to horn combat, you know!

Wow, just caught up. Another, "and away we have gone". Anyone ever play with a proper redhead's stuff...

Yes

Define 'proper'�..

Then, not surprisingly, you understand.

You are older than I imagined.

I love the 8x57 because ammo is cheap and widely available. I have not lived any place in the USA or Europe that did not have 8x57, 7x57, 308 Win, 243 Win etc.....widely available when it is time to go and hunt! In the USA you could add 30-30 and 12 Slug and Buck Shot to that list usually in the old ever faithful Green and Yellow Remington Core-Lokt box!


I treat the 8x57 as if it is diet 338WM if loaded with 196-200gr bullets. So scale back the effective range for all game you would hunt with the 338WM. It has a larger diamter and the frontal surface is also larger than what you would normally see in mainstream America. Now if you are talking about 150gr factory ammo in America than yes it is a bit anemic but to be honest the 30-06 and 300WM are a waste of potential when people put a 150gr. bullet on them in my book.

It is not a matter of the 8x57 being better or worse or anything like that since talking about cartridges and their numbers on a sheet of paper is almost moronic because plenty of cartridges that look great on paper do not perform that great in real life and then some that do not look so hot on paper have 60-150 years of impressive performance on game in the hands of hunters. We are not going to see anyone winning nationals in BR, F-Open, Practical shooting of any kind anytime soon. Even those unethical hunters that think they can kill Elk at 1200 meters with a 6.5CM will not be recommending 1200m Elk kills with a 8x57 so we are really only talking about hunters and not the sort that would hang on on a sight like this well not in America at least. Since few OEM's in America currently chamber rifles for it and gun writers are not singing it's praises most just chalk it up as another obsolete cartridge.

I think the great combination of low cost componets, long barrel life, devastating performance on N. American game at the ranges that 99% of actual hunter take most game a good many unimpressive obsolete cartridges like the 8x57, 7x57, 6.5x57, 7.5x55, 6.5x55, 243Win, 25-06, 308 Win, 30-06, 30-40 Krag, 30-30, 35 Wheelen(sp), 45-70 Govt, 350RM, 300WM,338WM,300WBY while all of them are obsolete they still work great for harvesting game.

I love the 8x57 because ammo is cheap and widely available. I have not lived any place in the USA or Europe that did not have 8x57, 7x57, 308 Win, 243 Win etc.....widely available when it is time to go and hunt! In the USA you could add 30-30 and 12 Slug and Buck Shot to that list usually in the old ever faithful Green and Yellow Remington Core-Lokt box!


I treat the 8x57 as if it is diet 338WM if loaded with 196-200gr bullets. So scale back the effective range for all game you would hunt with the 338WM. It has a larger diamter and the frontal surface is also larger than what you would normally see in mainstream America. Now if you are talking about 150gr factory ammo in America than yes it is a bit anemic but to be honest the 30-06 and 300WM are a waste of potential when people put a 150gr. bullet on them in my book.

It is not a matter of the 8x57 being better or worse or anything like that since talking about cartridges and their numbers on a sheet of paper is almost moronic because plenty of cartridges that look great on paper do not perform that great in real life and then some that do not look so hot on paper have 60-150 years of impressive performance on game in the hands of hunters. We are not going to see anyone winning nationals in BR, F-Open, Practical shooting of any kind anytime soon. Even those unethical hunters that think they can kill Elk at 1200 meters with a 6.5CM will not be recommending 1200m Elk kills with a 8x57 so we are really only talking about hunters and not the sort that would hang on on a sight like this well not in America at least. Since few OEM's in America currently chamber rifles for it and gun writers are not singing it's praises most just chalk it up as another obsolete cartridge.

I think the great combination of low cost componets, long barrel life, devastating performance on N. American game at the ranges that 99% of actual hunter take most game a good many unimpressive obsolete cartridges like the 8x57, 7x57, 6.5x57, 7.5x55, 6.5x55, 243Win, 25-06, 308 Win, 30-06, 30-40 Krag, 30-30, 35 Wheelen(sp), 45-70 Govt, 350RM, 300WM,338WM,300WBY while all of them are obsolete they still work great for harvesting game.

To me the single greatest difference is availability of "quality" ammunition. The 8 X 57 is largely a handloader's proposition as factory loaded ammo for the German round isn't up to the standards one can handload. In this arena the .308 wins easily. and if it's ever happened that you are 1,000 miles from home and need ammo you'll have a much easier time of it if you are looking for the .308.

I hunted elk with a friend once who bought along his .35 Whelen and errored in bringing ammo for his .300 Win Mag by mistake.....we searched all over Denver for .35 Whelen ammo and never found a single round.....it's unusual but it does happen!!

To me it's the single greatest reason to own a .30-06, a .308 Winchester or a .270 Winchester.....good quality ammo is likely avalable in Podunk Iowa if need be.

I like the 308 better, I had an 8x57, better selection of 308 bullets available