Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 8x57 opinion experience?

Wow! Excellent info and experience!

Looks like camel clockwork hanging in the grass there. Nice job!

For those interested....special run for the Euro market and this seller has one....

SAVAGE 111FC 8x57...click here!

For me the 8x57 is just another cartridge as far as effect game goes.

Otherwise it's not that available here in the USA if you want factory loads. Not only that but there are some rifles with odd bore sizes.

Some of the rifles show above are really fine.

That ought to make a hog smasher supreme. I can't help but like the 8x57. To me it is more or less a .338 Federal but with history.

I don't know a whole lot about it as I stumbled upon it when I was at my place in north Idaho last summer, a consignment gun for $700. It is built on a 1917 Erfurt small ring action. It is not drilled and tapped relying on the vintage Redfield receiver sight. Barrel goes 19" and it weighs 6 1/2 pounds. The builder did a pretty fine job as the action/barrel inletting, checkering and buttplate fit are well done. When shouldered the sourdough front blade centers in the rear perfectly. A pretty cool rifle that shoots well too.

I have another nice 8x57, a Walther Model B, that I picked up while living in Canada. It appears unfired and I have yet to fire it. Something I need to fix. It's the one on the right, its brother 7x57 next to it.

I used an 8x57 to kill my first deet. BIL had it. He put a Fajen stock and a Weaver K4 as well as a Timney trigger on it. I borrowed it and got my deer with one shot. I know he used handloads but I never got the specs from him. I would love to buy that rifle but I don't think he'll give it up.

CT how did that camel taste? There were bound to be some big backstraps involved there.

For me, 8x57's were speed bumps in the way of custom jobs I did on Mausers- the barrels came off and got thrown away. Then I chanced onto a BRNO 98 military rifle that had an absolutely mint bore, and I made the mistake of shooting the donor. MOA, and sometimes less, caused me to leave the barrel in place and proceed with the customization. I still cringe when I see that stepped barrel on what turned out to be a sweet classic sporter, but then I smile when reminded of how nicely it shoots. It has caused me to finally start exploring the potential of the 8x57 and makes me wonder why I ignored it all these years. If I ever need to rebarrel that rifle, I'll spring for a Lothar Walther 8x57 barrel with the original 98k stepped dimensions.

I pulled the figurative trigger on a Savage Euro 111 in 8x57. Not sure I needed it, but the chambering is interesting to me and this particular rifle was a limited run for Savage.

Been carrying this little Persian for 30 years. 18 inch barrel and a Lyman peep. Killed a bunch of deer and 1 bear with wimpy 170 rn Remingtons. Fire comes out the barrel.

Iron sights to boot! You got to love it!

Guys, the 8x57 cartridge is a very good deer cartridge, and the 7x57 is better deer cartridge, but the .257x57 aka .257 Roberts is an outstanding deer cartridge!!!

You could've just quit right there? ;O)

Indeedy, but I'm afraid it just might over penetrate!!

Only if'n ya use a bullet with too strong of a hide on it and a bit "too much" IMR 4064. ;O)

Puzzles me a bit, having loaded for and shot a fair pile of critters with the cartridge over many years, as to why most now seem to lean towards really heavy bullets for deer?

Most any good 150gr bullet seems to work very well on whitetails, in my experiences.

I have a military 98 that was given to me by a friend. I actually enjoy it and find it shoots pretty well with even the light domestic loads. I have a group of friends and we mainly get out and use old military rifles and cast bullets to shoot steel plates and or rocks of opportunity and it is super for that. I find it easier to shoot than the menagerie of smle's, mosins etc that show up at our shoots. I did score 2-3 boxes of the 170 gr rn bullets for it and loaded to about 2400 fps I would not hesitate to use it for deer at any range I would want to attempt a shot with the old military sights . Of course it capable of more speed but why w/o better sights. So if you happen to have a nice sporterized mauser there is certainly no reason to run out and trade it to a 308 or 30-06 but likewise I see no reason to buy one when there are so many nice 308's around unless you get it for a really good deal.

I used to load for it, and I had great success with it on hogs. I had a bubbafied K98 and a Turk mauser with a long 29" barrel. Both shot well, and both 150gr and 170gr loads were pig killers with ease.

Bingo. I purposely load mine to the performance level of domestic factory ammo. For that matter, that's the same level of performance I load .30/06's to also. After a mis-spent youth spent striving for maximum performance out of everything, I discovered the truth that milder loads kill just as well, are waaaaay more pleasant to shoot (leading to much more range time), just as accurate (and in many instances more so), offer less wear and tear on the gun, and are a bit easier on the pocketbook. What's not to like? I'm not likely to take 400+ yard shots or run into a brown bear or an enraged lion in my neck of the woods, so why be gunning for them?

Gary....Damn! Once it was foggy but now I see! You are correct! I think that your view is a very accurate one.