8x57 JS

[dross]

Does anyone have any experience with this round? I almost bought a beautiful Brno rifle in this caliber last weekend. The caliber seems very interesting and makes a good case for all-around. Apparently the U.S. load data is rated way low because of some older rifles, but in Europe they load this pretty hot. Anyone have any experience with this round?

 

[kludge]

No personal experience, but it is a great all around big game cartridge, just like the .30-06 with similar performance, if not better.

For "European" loads, in a modern firearm I would treat it like a wildcat, much research, work up slowly, watch for pressure, and keep tabs on the case head expansion to the 4th decimal (0.0001").

On that note, Hodgdon online data looks pretty potent, even if the pressure is kept to <50kpsi.

 

[geronimojoe85]

I've got a couple boxes of the Norma stuff from my dad (from the 70's).
I shot it in a mauser, it shoots real nice and it is a little hot. The primers were nice and flat.

 

[DownByTheTracks]

I've done some research on it before, and it's really up there with 30-06 when properly loaded to Euro specs. Woodleigh can provide good data.

The reason it's weak in the US is because of the the older 88 Commission rifles used .318 bores instead of the later .323 bores. The smaller bore can create dangerous pressures. The .323 bores can allow for full house loads and really scream!

 

[ghitch75]

i have loaded 8mm's sense the mid 80's....you can load a 125gr to 220gr.....125's loaded hot will shoot dead flat to 200y @ 3300fps and the 220's will run hot @ 2400fps and blow through a 6" tree and still kill whats on the other side....as said above it will do almost any thing a 30 06 will do...