Surplus 8mm in a Commercial Rifle?

[22HM77]

Foremost, does anyone know of any commercial rifles chambered in 8mm? I seem to recall Remington making a Model 700 in 8mm, but I'm not sure if they did/still do. What about about the other major manufacturers (it appears, by the caliber search on Weatherby's site, that they don't make an 8mm)?

If anyone does have a "commercial" rifle in 8mm, how does it handle 8mm surplus ammo? Please specify country of origin and approximate date of manufacture if possible. Thanks.

 

[tube_ee]

I wouldn't.

The cheap surplus 8mm is just about gone, anyway, and nobody uses it anymore, so there won't be any more of it.

And, all surplus 8mm Mauser ammo that I'm aware of is corrosively Berdan primed. So cleaning is harder, and reloading the brass is a royal PITA.

There's plenty of non-corrosive, Boxer-primed 8mm Mauser ammo out there. Some of it isn't cheap, but I think Privi Partisan loads it, and their ammo has been consistently at least decent for me, with good brass.

It's just not worth bothering with surplus 7.92x57, especially not in a good gun. Which, since we're taking about Mausers, is pretty much all of them.

--Shannon

 

[rr2241tx]

Remington ran their 2004 700 Classic in 8mm Mauser. There are still a few unfired in the box available and they are good shooters, but have the bolt lock wart on the shroud. Expect to pay $550-600 for a pristine example. The rifles are assembled on .300 H&H length actions originally specially made for the 1978 Remington 8mm Magnum that couldn't be given away, so there is a lot of extra room in the mag box. The wood is dark American Black Walnut and the finish is just a tick above the usual Remington standard. Triggers and safety are of the new design. Trigger pull on mine is 3# and very crisp. Overall, I'm very pleased with mine.

Most of the surplus is corrosive, Berdan Primed, steel cased delinked machine gun bullets and currently are running just under .40 each and is not what you want for hunting since it is intended to spray bullets into a beaten zone. Samco Global is still selling the last of their Hirtenberger Patronen which is 198gr, non-corrosive, Boxer primed brass cased and will cost about the same as all the other, but is very consistent ammo. You will probably see some of it at gun shows or just buy it online.

Wolf Gold and Prvi Partizan are both made in the Serbian ammunition plant and are different only in headstamp. They are good soft point ammo made to CIP levels giving a MV of just under 2,500 fps from the 24" Remington barrel. Norma is good, but expensive. The domestic producers usually run a small lot just ahead of deer season and are SAAMI-spec underpowered and nearly the same price as Norma.

 

[Mike 56]

I still have 2,000+ rounds of turk surplus i shoot it all the time. My Mausers love it. Clean up is not a problem clean with five patches of ten percent Ballistol ninety percent water then five patches pure Ballistol alternating with dry patches and your done. A 50/50 mix does a great job on my Black Powder guns.

Mike

 

[cracked butt]

I wouldn't put corrosive ammo down the pipe of a new rifle, in fact, I don't even shoot corrosive ammo in any of my milsurps unless the bore is already pitted. On a warm humid day, those salts are immediately attacking the barrel metal, you might not see it, but its there.