Anyone else here a fan of the 8mm Mauser?

Don’t have any pics but will never forget the squirrel I shot with the one in my Grandmothers kitchen closet.

I'm one. If injected with truth serum its probably my favorite cartridge.

I reload for it, mostly with imr 4064, and would like to acquire a higher quality modern rifle for it. Have my eye on a sako that seems to be perpetually on gunbroker.

Currently have a wwII vintage mauser with a period correct reproduction scope. Side mounted fixed 4x with an old school german #1 reticle. One of my first amateur gunsmithing triumphs

I had the exact same experience. Got a K98 when I turned 18 because the used rack had many of them for around $200 and there wasn't a better gun for less than triple that. There was Yugoslav ammo available for a while, but I didn't like the quality so I bought a whole RCBS outfit kit and started loading my own. I've been reloading since I bought my first firearm and began shooting. Regrettably, I no longer have the RCBS gear or the Mauser. I'd buy another in a heartbeat if they were still bargains, but their prices have gone way up and other very good rifles can now be had for a lot less.

At the time (when I was 18), I had wanted a Garand and I had .30-06 envy. Nowadays, I'd get more use out of a K98. It's lighter, simpler, easier to clean and maintain, and I wouldn't mind beating it mildly as a truck gun -- not so with a Garand. What I convinced myself back then was that the 8mm really lacked nothing compared to the '06. It generally takes a little heavier bullet at a little less velocity. The difference is not enough to have any practical effect in the real-world. Whatever can be done with one, could just as well be done with the other. One practical difference is the much greater selection of .308" bullets. But with the advent of the .325 WSM and maybe the 8mm Remington Magnum, there has been more than just FMJ and softpoints introduced in the last 20 years. For one, Barnes makes TSX and TTSX boat-tails, which are my preferred hunting bullet, in .323".

My 98 was Nazi-marked also, about which I was always indifferent. I didn't celebrate it or regard it as spoils. My family managed to skip that war as it was between generations. I don't relate to it closely. The Germans were good machinists before a nazi idea was ever imagined. The same can be said about the 98, which is the model of 1898. Hitler was only ten years old. In a lot of ways, the Karabiner model was inferior to the Enfield or the Garand, but outside the context and circumstances of the war, it's a Mauser bolt action that most general-purpose rifles are based upon to this day, whereas the Garand and Enfield were transitional designs that may have been more advanced but which find little use today.

It's a good rifle, and that cartridge hits with a lot of power.

Wish it was more common and cheaper, that's for sure.

I don't really like 8mm as much as I like Mausers, but it's a good cartridge. A lot like the 30-06 in that it can handle a wide variety of bullet weights and a mild-to-wild powder charge. If so many nations didn't load their military ammo to 196gr and wild, I'd pry like it a lot more too.

My second elk rifle was a 1891 production GEW 88. This rifle has the "S" throat modification, but still uses the original Mannlicher clip. I have shot the US 170 gr loads and some old Remington 236 gr RNSPs without issue. In addition to the Commission Rifle, I now have a M48 Yugo and a 1940 Mauser K98k RC. The K98k is currently on-duty and loaded with PPU Match in my bedroom gun safe.

I like me some 8x57 I only have 2 at the moment, one is a custom 1891 Argentine I put a cool old j.p.sauer barrel on made it look like it was done 100 years ago. The other is early 98 sporter from Germany dated 1914 of I remember right.

I've owned modern 8x57 and loaded to its potential there potent.

My grandparents were farmers, my grandmother did all the hunting, she had a German byf43 98. she killed one of the biggest bucks taken by a women back in the 50s with that mauser.

The cool thing to me is that despite the fact that it was das original, some 120 years later there really isnt anything much better. Better? Yes. But not "much" better. And that is pretty impressive. You can hunt anything with it. For whatever reason to me its classy.

Nosler makes a 180gr tipped bullet that seems to do pretty well for me. At least out of the rifle i have now.

Borcha said:

The cool thing to me is that despite the fact that it was das original, some 120 years later there really isnt anything much better. Better? Yes. But not "much" better. And that is pretty impressive. You can hunt anything with it. For whatever reason to me its classy.

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There are few cartridges introduced after the first 25 years of smokeless powder that offer much improvement or utility over the existing rounds. The concepts of short action magnumitis and "it works in an AR action" are pretty much modern incantations of the snake oil salesman.

I dig!

Have a Persian Mauser sporter, full length stock on it that makes it the perfect little Stuetzen. The fireball from that 18" barrel will incinerate why the bullet doesn't kill.

Recently picked up a likely interwar built stalking rifle based on a Gewehr 98 receiver. Currently at NECG having obscenely expensive claw mounts and rings made.

I like it best in the 170 - 200 grs range.

Mn Fats said:

Not many new rifles chambered in the 8x57 today. I'd love a Remington 700 CDL or Win 70 chambered for it.

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I never gave it much thought, but now that you mention it it does seem odd that you don't see at least a few production rifles available here.

.455_Hunter said:

There are few cartridges introduced after the first 25 years of smokeless powder that offer much improvement or utility over the existing rounds. The concepts of short action magnumitis and "it works in an AR action" are pretty much modern incantations of the snake oil salesman.

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Well, I'm not quite so harsh, those selling points are applied to something that actually achieve the absolute design function without necessarily comparing relative +/- attributes. Even still the market still provides the ultimate thumbs-up or thumbs-down at some point such as the WSSM family of cartridges.

PPU alone has a reasonably diverse assortment of 8mm component projectiles available but much like PPU 7mm projectiles few are readily available for retail purchase in the USA unfortunately. Their 2016 catalog is the last one that I know of that had such a level of detail. I wish we had retail availability for many of the PPU component projectiles in the USA, and goes without saying at a more friendly price point than many of the cup and core projectiles we do have available as reloading components here.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2_9_Sz7MCIswLcZjXHr3Ok

Someone mentioned the 8mm Remington Magnum; I'm more oddball and if my body was more tolerant of recoil issues especially WRT my eyes, I'd be seeking out the 8X68S cartridge to fill the slot of an 8mm magnum, but I'm also a guy who owns three 7X64mm Brenneke rifles and zero 280 Remington or 280 AI rifles. The 8X68S has been around since 1939.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/8×68mm_S

Zastava of course still manufactures 8X57mm sporting rifles in their LK (bolt action) M70 line but I don't think many firms are willing to gamble on importing new production rifles in 8X57mm to the US market. Too much risk of gathering dust until clearanced to make room for something else. Folks at Zastava told me they doubted they'd ever bring any 7X64mm Brenneke current production rifles to the US when I asked a couple of years ago. Too niche here.

Old Stumpy said:

I never gave it much thought, but now that you mention it it does seem odd that you don't see at least a few production rifles available here.

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It was never a really popular round outside of its milsurp roots rifles, and was out classed slightly by the .30-06 (at least on paper, and when compared to the original loading). Americans, buy (or bought) American, so the 8mm and (IMO better then either the 06 or 8mm) 7mm mauser rounds never really had a chance.
You can get a number of euro based rifles in 7 and 8mm now, and its still popular enough to be supported by the Majors, just isnt as diversified.

I still havent had any of the Mauser rounds, and dont really care for the original rifles, but I certainly wouldnt turn down one at the right price, or a modern gun in any of them.

LoonWulf said:

It was never a really popular round outside of its milsurp roots rifles, and was out classed slightly by the .30-06 (at least on paper, and when compared to the original loading). Americans, buy (or bought) American, so the 8mm and (IMO better then either the 06 or 8mm) 7mm mauser rounds never really had a chance.
You can get a number of euro based rifles in 7 and 8mm now, and its still popular enough to be supported by the Majors, just isnt as diversified.

I still havent had any of the Mauser rounds, and dont really care for the original rifles, but I certainly wouldnt turn down one at the right price, or a modern gun in any of them.

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You really need a 7x57 lol. It would be great for the stuff you hunt.

Tikka made a T3X Hunter in 8x57 just a couple years ago. Talked a friend into buying one. Just like he does with all his guns, he bought it, shot it, loved it, kept it a year, and sold it to buy something else he ended up selling. Never seen a man who wasn’t a dealer buy and sell so many guns.

As for the cartridge, it’s definitely one of my favorites. 4064 is where it’s at for that cartridge.

troy fairweather said:

You really need a 7x57 lol. It would be great for the stuff you hunt.

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I completely agree.

BigBore44 said:

Tikka made a T3X Hunter in 8x57 just a couple years ago. Talked a friend into buying one. Just like he does with all his guns, he bought it, shot it, loved it, kept it a year, and sold it to buy something else he ended up selling. Never seen a man who wasn’t a dealer buy and sell so many guns.

As for the cartridge, it’s definitely one of my favorites. 4064 is where it’s at for that cartridge.

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Buds gun shop had left over tikkas like 5 years ago in 8x57 I kick my self for not buying one but was broke then. They were cheap to.

In general, Yes.

But If I could have figured out how to use the iron sights, and in addition, compensate for the need to aim about 5-6” low at 50 yards, that very nice Yugo M48 might still be here.

Another regret is Not knowing that the beautiful “Persian” (marked) Mausers at Samco were actually 100 percent Czech.

A milsurp magazine sold by bookstore chain Barnes & Noble revealed this in an article about the Czech “Persian” rifle... When, about eight years ago (too late by then—) ?

troy fairweather said:

You really need a 7x57 lol. It would be great for the stuff you hunt.

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Eh, where @LoonWulf lives with the "we gotta take what we can get" availability in reloading components and ammunition, and the way Made in USA commercial 7X57mm Mauser ammunition is loaded way, way below that cartridge's potential in a strong modern action (including the Hornady Superformance 7X57mm factory ammo), a 7mm-08 would be a much better "fit" in those circumstances but hey, why weight practicality and ease highly as considerations when it comes to firearms ownership? I don't now that I can afford not to need to do so!

He reloads so will never be a problem.

troy fairweather said:

Buds gun shop had left over tikkas like 5 years ago in 8x57 I kick my self for not buying one but was broke then. They were cheap to.

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Try to find one now! I told him then he should keep it. He traded it without offering it to me.

BigBore44 said:

Try to find one now! I told him then he should keep it. He traded it without offering it to me.

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There were some sauer 100s floating around a few months back.

Still are. Around $750 on gunbroker. But not a single Tikka. I have heard mostly good things about Sauers and the Mauser M-18.

BigBore44 said:

Still are. Around $750 on gunbroker. But not a single Tikka. I have heard mostly good things about Sauers and the Mauser M-18.

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I like mine

One gun shop by me has about 20 tikkas I'll check them next time you never know.