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I have a large ring 98 sporting rifle made by Krieghoff in the early days (prewar I assume). The gun is an 8mm as noted by a chamber cast. Stamps under the chamber appear to indicate an 8x60 which makes sense for those days, but the chamber appears to be a tad short for 8x60 and just a tiny bit long for 8x57. Years ago I stupidly fired an 8x57 (one of the low pressure Remington lawyer cartridges) in it and the shoulder appeared to blow out a tad. However, when I chambered an 8x60 cartridge in the gun, the bolt struggled to close on it. I'm not sure what the deal is with it. It's been sitting in the rack ever since. If it didnt have such a short magazine box, I would just have it rebored to 9.3x62 and call it a day. Plain wood, but a neat old gun with a prince of wales grip, 21" barrel, beautiful sights, great trigger, very nice bottom metal with hinged floorplate and after all its a Krieghoff!. I'm just not sure what to do with it. I suppose I could send it off to a smith to have them take off the sights, shorten the barrel breach and rechamber for 8x57, but I'm not certain what that would cost and if it's worth it. I never invested in dies for it, and I'm not certain if thats the route I would want to take since 8x60 seems to be the kiss of death for Mauser values.

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I had a guy bring me something like that some years ago, it was not a name brand, a guild rifle probably. He was not a very accomplished handloader and the thought of fireforming 8x57 S and then just necksizing made him uncomfortable. He was on a very limited budget, so I ran a 8mm/06 reamer in it, adjusted magazine box length, shortened the ejector and dremeled the feed ramp a little, loaded him a box of sample cartridges and sent him on his merry way with instructions to come back if he had problems. Never heard from him again, so I don't know if he was happy or angry. But I think it worked well because I had built a lot of bubba 8mm/06's back in the day.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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If the chamber cast suggests an 8x60 but the chamber is short, then just have the chamber lengthened properly. It's a great cartridge. You say a chamber cast indicates an 8mm. A proper chamber cast should also give you chamber dimensions. What 8x60 cartridge did you have trouble closing the bolt on?

An 8x57 Mag box is long enough for factory length 9,3x62 cartridges.

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Do you mean 8x60 or 8x60S? It the rifle has a .318 bore that might be a reason why the cartridge doesn't fit.


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Z,

You were correct and I was wrong. Apparently, the follower is binding and I assumed due to the really tight fit of the PPU 285gr cartridges that they were getting stuck due to length. I removed the bottom metal and could see the follower binding and preventing more of the rounds from going in. Once I wiggled it around a bit, I was able to fully load the mag box with the 9.3x62 rounds. Once I put the gun back together, I attempted to see how they fed and they fed smoothly into the chamber (obviously didnt chamber the whole way). Seems like if I wanted to go the rebore direction it would be viable given this information would it not?

As far as the chamber cast, I'll send you a PM....

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Originally Posted by Boomer454
Do you mean 8x60 or 8x60S? It the rifle has a .318 bore that might be a reason why the cartridge doesn't fit.


Boomer,

The 8x60 cartridges I have will chamber, but the closing the bolt is very tight. The bullets loaded in the ammunition (loaded by Reeds) are Hornady 195gr SP, so I would assume those are S or .323" bullets. It doesnt appear the bullets are making contact with the lands (or at least I do not see any marks on the jacket), so do you think the throat could be causing the hang up?

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According to my Collector Grade mauser book, the 8x60 was made with a .318 bore but loaded with .323 bullets.
Very deep grooves much like the rerifled military 98s that were .318 and rifling deepened to allow shooting .323 ammo.

https://www.amazon.com/Mauser-Original-Oberndorf-Sporting-Rifles/dp/0889352305

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Originally Posted by Fallschirmjaeger
[quote=Boomer454]The 8x60 cartridges I have will chamber, but the closing the bolt is very tight. The bullets loaded in the ammunition (loaded by Reeds) are Hornady 195gr SP, so I would assume those are S or .323" bullets. It doesnt appear the bullets are making contact with the lands (or at least I do not see any marks on the jacket), so do you think the throat could be causing the hang up?


Take a black Magic Marker and cover the case and bullet. Gently chamber single shot style (not through the mag or over the follower) it to avoid marking it up. You'll be able to see where the interference is. -Al


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PM responded to. Yes, if dealing with the 8x60 is not something you're inclined to do, I'd think reboring to 9,3 would be a great option especially with the carbine length barrel. A short, light, handy thumper! If required, and feeding work would be minimal. And, you can easily file the back wall of the mag box to gain a little length should you want to.

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Seems like determining the barrels internal dimension is the first thing to get accomplished.

After that there seem to be different avenues depending on how adventuresome you are with reloading to match a chamber.
Adventuresome is not reckless.


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