8mm Remington ammo

How is the box labeled? Sounds like you got a box of 8mm J. You would want a box labeled 8x57mm JS. Or 8mm JS.

Remington 8mm mauser is a .323" (actually .322"-ish) bullet, but is downloaded so far that it's safe to shoot in an unmodified 1888 commission rifle or very, very early 98 with a .318" bore. My first mauser absolutely hates the Remington stuff. It shoots very well with everything else. I even pulled and mic'ed one of the bullets to make sure it wasn't undersized. It measured at .322" as stated above.

The .318 would be 8x57J (or I) and has never been produced by Remington AFAIK.

If you can find some Prvi Partizan, Sellier & Bellot, or Hornady ammo locally, they're much better than any of the Rem/Win/Fed 8MM Mauser stuff. The Prvi is still loaded to a lower pressure (SAAMI MAP of 35,000 CUP IIRC), but S&B and Hornady are both full pressure loadings.

This is what got me into reloading.

Matt

Ever since forever, the "big" domestic ammo manufacturers have been loading the 8mm with slightly undersized bullets, a "compromise size", and at very weak levels. I heard Remington and Winchester were both 0.321.

Pretty annoying! SAAMI rates it at only 35,000 psi, that's lower than .30-30 Winchester, .30-40 Krag, ridiculous. It's been a very long time and they've kept this weak ammo the almost exact same ever since they started loading 8mm Mauser.

Europe's C.I.P. rates it at 56,560 psi and they have 0.323" diameter bullets... I don't see why the big American ammo manufacturers can't follow suit. It's time they offered both I and IS loads. Hornady does. If people happen to have an old 1888 it should be up to them to find the correct ammo for it.

Hi guys, I have a question regarding 8mm ammo and thought some posters here could help. I have a Yugo M48 and have some sticky bolt issues.
When I shoot Privi 8mm Mauser match ammo (198gr FMJ) it's ok, easy extraction. When I shoot Privi 8x57 IS (200gr FMJ) I get a sticky bolt after shooting. When I shoot handloaded 8x57 (2gr below max in handbook) the bolt is sticky. Physical dimensions are exactly the same for all rounds.
I know Privi 8mm Mauser is a slower load than 8x57,but I don't think I should be getting a sticky bolt on factory loads or mild handloads. Any advice? This is the first time it's ever happened in all the loads I make.

Sounds like there might be a little roughness in the chamber that does not manifest itself until the pressures get up there. How does the brass look on the sticky loads?

Left to right (empties and loaded)
8mm Mauser; 8x57is; 8x57 handload.

Since shooting them I trimmed all brass and necksized them. The 8mm is fine and the other 8x57s are still sticky. I gave tho chamber a good scrub with froglube, patches and bronze phosphor brush. Still no joy. Perhaps there's residual cosmo that I might need to flush out?

'Sticky' is a relative word, so hard to judge if there is a problem or to what extent.

If it was my rig.

I would go ahead and put some solvent soaked, 0000 steel wool on an older brass brush (to be a tight fit in the chamber)
and spin it (cordless drill) in the chamber if I felt it might need cleaning.

Flush and clean out as normal.

I would use a micrometer or even a set of calipers on the base of those different cases to read head expansion as well.
One should take readings from several cases of each load to obtain average though.

Maybe fire and measure head expansion of some known factory spec 8mm such as either
WWII ball or Portuguese or Yugoslavian military ball for a comparsion.

Should let you know if the current PPU ammo you are shooting is too warm or not.
The pictured cases do not show any bright spots on the rear, can't tell if the primers are burning on the bolt face during bolt lift or not

When I need new 8mm cases, I form them from '06 cases.
I know that those heathens haven't learned how to make a proper boxer primed primer pocket (at least in 8mmK) yet.
You wouldn't think it's rocket science...

That's a start.

JT