Ihave a friend that wants to sell me a scoped Mauser rifle with anicee sporter stock. I'm going to try it on whitetail. What do y'all think of 150 grain Honrnady SP over H4895?

I like to shoot heavier bullets in the 8x57; the 180 grain BT, 195 grain SpirePoint, and 200 grain Partition.

I have been shooting and reloading for my great uncles Mausers since he sent them to me from Africa when he became too old and infirm to hunt. I have had great success with a 150 grain bullet on deer and deer sized animals. When I took them back to Tanzania I upped the bullet weight to 175 grains and in all honesty I saw little, if any, difference in the immediacy of the animal dropping and dying. Even a bull wildebeest, as tough as they are, didn't travel far when I put two 175 grain Sierra spitzers into his chest. I used 150 grain bullets on two grant's gazelles and one impala and they all went down within 50 yards.

Hope that this helps.

Terry

Some of the mil-sup Mausers prefer a heavyer bullet (175-180) for best accuracy but the 150s will certainly get the job done.

I had good results with 175 gr. sierras on deer. I am gonna use 200 gr. partitions for a back up elk rifle,

I use IMR 4895 under Hornady 150's as a load for a couple of mausers in our deer camp. The load gives very good accuracy in at least two different WWII-vintage rifles.

Mine likes IMR-4064 with the 185 gr corelokts and IMR-4895 with 200 gr Speer HC or Nosler PTs

Should be good to go . I consider the 8x57 to be a 308 equivalent. Hornady also makes a 170 gr rn that s/b good depending on where you hunt . They shoot good in my 98 kar.

The basis of my Dad's deer rifle, now owned by his grandson, was a M98 mauser that my uncle got in the Ardennse from a fellow who had no more use for it. It was of 1936 vintage and very finely put together.

His load for years and it was an honest 1.5 shooter was a 150 gr Sierra bullet over 48 grains of IMR 4895.

Boggy!
I haven't seen you on here in a coon's age. Good to see you're still breathing. You haven't been hitting the ship dip again, have you? They say that's bad for you.

Write soon. Write often.


So I guess the '98 is just like 30-06 or .308 Win in that anything from 130 to 200 seems to kill deer flat dead, and each rifle has its idiosyncracies and each hunter has his pet loads.

I see a pattern forming here. Hmmmmmm.

My sporterized Turk really likes the 185 remmies pushed to about 2650 fps deadly on cow elk out to & a little over 400 yards. I think it was 4350 powder I was using for that load.

Brother used a 180gr TSX to kill a bull at about 250 yds with the ole 8X57.

bangeye the 8X57 is a superior cartridge when compared to the 308.

Been doing the best we can Shaman. Sheep dip is every week. Won't get addicted to that stuff you can bet.

In a good rifle and I mean a commercial or pre-early war Military M98 the 8X57 is fully the equal of the vaunted 30-06. I know that is heresy but ask any reputable gun smith.

Yeah. Your Dad prolly got that rifle off one of my relatives. That's okay. I'm not bitter.

So years ago, the guy who ended up being my best friend of over 12 years and I were first getting to know each other. He tells me of a moonlit night spent just north of the Ardennes back in early '45. He and his squad were camped out in a ruined barn. There was fresh snow on the ground, and the Krauts decided to send a bunch of SS right at them. Normally they were a water-cooled Browning 30 crew, but in this instance all they had were Garands.

The guys coming at them were nearly invisible in their white snow suits, except for the black leather suspenders on their cartridge belts that made a perfect 'X' over their hearts. All John had to do was aim for the 'X'. He said he and his buddies never had so much fun in their lives as that night spent shooting at the 'X's . In the morning, the field in front of the barn was so filled with corpses, you could walk from one end to the other without touching the ground-- couldn't count them all-

Uh. . . er. . . John suddenly remembered my last name and started doing verbal backflips. I let him go on for a bit. It was fun watching him sputter.

"Sound like great fun to me," I finally replied to let him off the hook. "Wish I'd been there to help."

Raybass. Not sure if I agree since both push 180 ,s to about 2650 fps and 200s to about 2500. I'm not sure the game could tell much difference in that .321 Idia.vs .308. Don't get me wrong I have both and like them both so I'm not ripping on either but they are pretty comparable from my point of view ymmv but I'd be interested in where you think the big advantage comes from.

The 170 grain Hornady rn is one accurate bullet. It works great at 30/30 speed to as fast as the 8mm Mauser will push it.

bangeye
That comment was slightly in jest, mainly because I've had a tiny bit more experience with the 8mm than the 308. Not much with either honestly. IMHO the 8mm is more like the 06 than the 308 and 2700 fps is more doable with a 180 in a modern rifle chambered in 8mm. At least that was my experience. Besides I never could warm up to the 308. Is it a good cartridge? Yes the 308 is I am sure of it. My sig says it all........they all work, its whatever a person prefers.

R15 works very well for me with the 170 Hory Rnd Nose. Plus they just look very cool. I do crimp them but probably doesn't make any difference.

I would say the 8X75 is between the .308 and '06. Does a much better job than the .308 with the heavier bullets. It will never be an 06. Very cool cartridge with one heck of a history.

It will kill without a doubt but IIRC they're twisted for heavier bullets. Can't hurt to try though>

.

I'm curious just for the heck of it Please expand on "much better job".

Do you like the 308 bangeye? I'm gettin you do, not everybody likes it. I much prefer a 270 winchester but you can like the 308 if ya want.

Ray bass I like it fine I have one along with a 8x57, a 270 a 257 and a couple of others. I don' find it superior or inferior to the 8mm necessarily to me it's like comparing the 7x57 to the 7mm08 pretty much two peas in a pod. I just find it interesting when someone uses terms like "much better" or "superior" indicting a marked difference to describe two cartridges with virtually identical ballistics. Just curious if its based on the diameter or the 50 +or - fps that is no more than I would expect to find between two rifles of the same chambering. Sorry I probably shouldn't have asked for your alls thoughts it really wasn't a challenge it was more that it piqued my curiosity regarding people's thought s process. Actually after fooling around with rifles for 40 years I see that NA game is pretty much broken into two groups Medium sized game from 100 to 800 lbs ie deer to elk and larger which would be moose great bears and bison . The first being handled about equally by any of a dozen cartridges and the second where you probably need to begin thinking of a lager caliber

No big deal. My brother likes the inferior 7mm08 and I give him a hard time about it. Its all in fun, besides he knows my 7X57 is soo much better. I think most catridges are very close in killing power and trajectories than we all like to think. It really comes down to the fella pulling the trigger. A good rifleman and hunter is more likely to be successful with a 30/30 than most would with a 30/338.

Correct, the 170 RNSP Hornady will kill anything. No need for fancy projies in the 8mm and yes, it is a step up from the .308 (on game).

Topet1 cool picture, is camel good eating?? Nice looking milsurp

TY,

Rifle is a post WWII refurbished VZ-24 (some company in Germany did them).

We ate the backstraps from an old bull on our last trip (curried) and it is as good as beef.

From an old Speer manual (1979), but it's the one I was using when I began to load for the 8x57, years ago:

30-06
150gr Spitzer - 59grs of IMR 4350 (max) - 2955 FPS

8x57
150gr Spitzer- 51grs of IMR 4064 (max) - 2915 FPS (Actual load used in one of my M98s).

My bobbed-barrel (20") WWII bring back M98 shoots far more accurately with 125gr Hornady Spire Points, than it ever did with either Speer or Sierra 150 grain bullets, BTW. So much for the "They're twisted for heavy bullets" theory, in practice. ;O)

Thanks Topet1

Go to Hodgon Powder website and to the reloading section and you will find a lot of load data for this catridge,I like and use H 4895 and Sierra 150 for deer.
Craig

only meaning you get better velocity in a 200 grn bullet out out of an 8X57 than you will with a .308, perhaps "much" was a stretch

btw: here's a classic for sale over on the classifieds not mine,

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...S_Remington_700_Classic_8mm_#Post7736940

I have one of these and love it. They do have the 24" barrel which helps a tad on the velocity.

Those things were a bargain for several years after they were issued, at least around here. The local Jerry's distributor (Bonitz Bros.) had them as specials for well less than the original selling price, in their catalogs.

Was tempted to get one, but since I already have several M98 8x57s, never tumbled. Wish now that I had.

they were a bargain for sure...think I gave $450 for mine. no one was interested in them and the prices got very low.

Ned thanks for your response. I agree that the 8x57 is a great cartridge and enjoy mine a bunch though it is an old 98 in full battle dress. Mostly use it now to shoot cast bullets at swingers out to 300 yds. I did for a awhile try and see what it would do speed wise but mostly stayed with bullets in the 170 to 195 gr range. I too saw the 700 and for a moment thought hummm but let my wits settle and realized I already have about 8 rifles that will do all the hunting I plan to do.

I have my dad's old sporterized 98, but it has a dark spot in the barrel and just sits in the back of the safe these days. i did pick up one of the 700 classics when they got cheap and have had great success with the Hornady 170 RN and 160 TTSX. Both have shown great accuracy and performance on deer sized critters.

Dark spot or not, the old war horse might still deliver the goods.

If you haven't tried it lately, give it a whirl.

I have one with a dark bore that delivers the goods and one that looks like it is chrome plated and it scatters bullets all over the target.

AND, Yes the bore has been slugged on the poor performer.

Louis,

One of my Mausers was doing that , too.
It was badly pitted 1/2 way down the barrel.
I had it rebarreled to a 9.3x62:



Now its one of my favorites!

I wish they made that 8 mm partition bullet in 180 grains.

The barrel that patterns them is consistent diameter as I push a slug down the barrel. Clean and shiny one end to the other, crown is "good".

The shooter has slightly dark barrel, slugs out about the same.

What's wrong with the 200-grain Partition, or did they quit making it?

I`ve had very good luck with that combo....you may also want to try TAC, with 150 Sierra`s or Speers.
In my 24 inch barreled 8x57 Classis, TAC pushes both close to 3k.

With all the other projects I've had recently, I have not had much of a chance to deal with the Mauser. However, I did manage to get out this past weekend and tried two loads.



1) Some 125 grain Kurz bullets over H4895
2) Some PRVI 175 grainers over H4895

both were loaded 5% off MAX.

Yikes!!!
I don't usually have failures like this. The 125 grainers hit 4 targets in 4 shots. The spread was over 20 inches. The 175 grainers produced a 12 inch group.

My question to you is what's next?

1) The scope is a cheesy Tasco 3-9X
2) The trigger is heavy and creepy


Where do I start making improvements?

I've put this one back on the rack until time and budget permit.

A friend of mine has a 98 Mauser that his dad "liberated" during WW2.

He sporterized it and has killed a couple dozen whitetails and one black bear with it.

He initially used the 170-grain Hornady and then switched to the 150-grain Sierra.

He's never had any problems killing anything with either bullet. In fact, he used the 150 Sierra on the black bear and killed it with one shot.

Try a couple different bullet weights, pick the one your rifle likes best, and go hunting.

Timney Sportsman will take care of the trigger issue. Most of my M98s have one.

150gr "spitzers" shoot well in the M98 I use most often. Either Sierra or Speer, both ovr 48grs of IMR 4064 and they have each killed deer.

Most accurate load is the 125gr Hornady spire point, over 52grs of IMR 4064. It's a WWII era rifle, barrel bobbed to 20". That one has also killed deer and just as quickly as the 150s do. Trashco World Class 3x9x40 that's been on there for years, no issues.

Shaman how confident are you with the scope. Those are some large groups. Do you detect hints of the bullet tipping or tumbling ?

No, they made round holes. I'm wondering about the scope or possibly the mount. It does not wobble, but my buddy had a heck of a time getting the scope mounted. The first smith drilled holes that weren't true. The second smith had to fill in the first set and re-drill. The scope is a Tasco trash.

Try shooting the iron sights (assuming you have the rear sight or a replacement for it) won't give the best possible groups but will certainly let you know if it a scope / mounts issue. Just a thought.

Did the smith that did the d&t also do the bolt alteration? If so, make sure the bolt is closing completely/correctly. Surest way is to pull the striker assembly and inspect the front corners of the firing pin safety shoulders for impact damage. If need be mark them with a magic marker, reassemble and dry fire the rifle then check them.

Thanks all. I'm putting it on the rack now until deer season is over, but you've given me a lot of good directions. I'll get back to you all and let you know what I found.