Ran across an old Steyr Mannlicher/Schoenauer 1908 rifle this morning; metal is in fabulous condition, but the stock is a bit beat up so I could likely get a good deal on it.
Anybody loading for or hunting with the 8x56 MS? If so, what are you using for forming dies and parent cases?
I used 8x57 mauser dies and Winchester brass trimmed back to 56mm along with 8mm bullets. It's been a while so I do not remember particulars about the load. That's all in boxes from a move. As I recall though, started with new brass and just neck sized.
Anybody else shooting an old Steyr 1908 in 8x56?
I was gifted a gorgeous MS in 8x56 last year and have been using 8x57 brass from Norma to play with it the little bit I have.
I have a drilling in 16x16x8x57JR and have shot a fair bit with it over the past 40 years. I have a bunch of Barnes Originals in 186gr(?) IIRC and have found them to be incredibly accurate.
MR3100 and about 56 grains of it worked better than anything else I found.
The single best group I ever shot with any rifle was with that drilling with irons... It put three shots in the same hole and the next two did not open it enough to worry about... planets and stars aligned in an unreal way!
Old Western Scrounger has loaded 170gr soft points in reformed 8x57 brass for $50 per 20. Expensive but it will get you started.
Use the data in the Ken Waters 8x56MS article (June 1995)and using 9.3X57 brass will work as well.
My long time hunting partner used a pristine Model 1908 MS for many years.
He used R15, H4895 and IMR4064 for powders and he was partial to 175 gr. Sierra, 185gr. Remington and 170gr Speer semi-spritzer bullets.
Next time I chat with him I'll see if he still has his load data.
SC