8x57 Mauser

[BigPat]

Anyone using a 8x57 Mauser (Rimmed)?....I understand it has several different names including 8mm Mauser and 8x57 JRS. I have checked with the gunsmith and the one I am looking at definitely takes the rimmed cartridge.

I have my eye on a very nice drilling, double 16b with the 8x57 underneath and just wondered if anyone has experience of the rifle calibre. It would predominantly used as a walking gun for when I’m out checking pens etc. But I am also thinking it would make a half decent driven boar or PG gun.

It’s quite an unusual gun as it is a full ejector, when pushing what would normally be the shotgun safety forward it flips up a Regulated rear sight and engages the trigger for the rifle, push the trigger forward and it becomes a set trigger, flick the top safety back and the sight drops, set trigger disengages and the trigger becomes a single for the 16b DB shotgun which is taken off safe by way of a side safety.

I am assuming it will be a classic ‘Slow and heavy’ type cartridge to reload but not sure about the effective range and accuracy of the round (accepting gun and hunter have a part to play). All my rifles are SS synthetics and best described as tools but I fancy something a bit unusual and a talking point but it still needs to be usable.

 

[enfieldspares]

Jack of All Trades? Or Master of None? Personally I don't rate combination guns such as that for use in the UK. They don't handle well on flying game as does a conventional side by side.

Also in 16 Bore what is the chamber length? If a lead shot ban comes in and it's 65mm chambers you're buggered. If it is 70mm you're probably buggered too.

I've owned in the rimless variety a 8x57 and an 8x60S. A rimmed will be designated as either 8x57JR (.318") or 8x57JRS (.323"). Somewhere on the barrel will be the weight in grams of the bullet it is regulated too.

The caveat is it might be a .318 bore and not a .323 bore. My strong advice if it is a .318 bore is walk away. Why. Contrast and compare the several 8x57JRS loadings with the one 8x57JR loading. So fine and dandy if your drilling is regulated for the 196 bullet if it is 8x57JR but not if it isn't.

Rifle ammunition – Sellier & Bellot

www.sellier-bellot.cz

Rifle ammunition – Sellier & Bellot

www.sellier-bellot.cz

So to re-cap in 8x57JR bullet selection is limited, loaded ammunition is one bullet weight and, yes, it's available BUT...and here is the BUT...is it available here in the UK? And if so is there a minimum order?

My advice? Get a Baikal either S/B/S or O/U that's fitted with sling swivels. It might as well also be a non-ejector and as long as the chrome bores aren't too expensive (when the time comes) to have the choke opened for steel use that. It'll cost all of a meal for two at the local pub.

 

[Southern]

You didn't state the make and model, or how old it is, whether it has bases for claw mount rings, has the rings, has a scope, etc.

I have several 8x57IS bolt actions, and an 8x57 combo gun, with a 16 gauge barrel, claw mounts, 1-inch rings holding a Leupold 2.5x scope.
I love it. It is lighter and quicker handling than many shotguns, very accurate, and a 200 meter hunting gun with the scope, though I carry mostly for when I am roaming around thick woods where I might stumble up on a deer, bear or wild boar inside 75 yards, or 25. The shotgun with buckshot is a good thing for a coyote on the run, too. Loading for it is simple. The longer barrel makes up for lower pressures, and a 200 grain bullet lumbering along at 2,350 fps is plenty deadly without much recoil.

Plenty of load data for European bullets and powders.

8x57 JRS | Reloading Data for hand loading ammunition

www.norma-ammunition.com

 

[Jagare]

My double rifle is a 8x57jrs and i think its one of the best boar calibers available. The Cartridge is not as sexy looking as the 9.3x74R but it will kill just as well. The 8x57 rfles I've seen used have always seemed to work well. Make sure the 8x57 you are thinking of buying is .323 and not the older .318. There still are older drillings about in .318

 

[8x57]

My double rifle is a 8x57jrs and i think its one of the best boar calibers available. The Cartridge is not as sexy looking as the 9.3x74R but it will kill just as well. The 8x57 rfles I've seen used have always seemed to work well. Make sure the 8x57 you are thinking of buying is .323 and not the older .318. There still are older drillings about in .318

I will second every word of the above statement. I have both 8x57irs and a 9.3x74r and the 8mm with a 200 grain Sierra bullet is every bit as good as the 9.3x74r on boar in my very limited experience. The 186 grain Grom bullet also works very well as do lighter bullets on smaller deer. (I have used 8mm bullets from 150 grains up to 200 grains in my 8x57irs.)

Can't emphasise enough, do not buy if it is the older .318" bullet as you will have great difficulty sourcing bullets to suit.

 

[BigPat]

Thanks everyone.

In terms of maker, there are a few different makers marks and I have been led to believe that this is quite usual as there were many factories in Germany producing the components that would then be assembled by the final gunsmith.

Here are some of the names on it...

Barrels - “Krupp - Flussstahl”

Action (this is in fancy script so I might have misinterpreted it) “Duhal - Hubertus - Suhl - Wotan”

 

[8x57]

[
Barrels - “Krupp - Flussstahl”
This simply means Krupp steel. A well know steel and armaments manufacturer.

“Duhal - Hubertus - Suhl - Wotan”
I believe that this is the makers name and place of manufacture (with Wotan possibly being the model name?).

 

[Border]

My double rifle is a 8x57jrs and i think its one of the best boar calibers available. The Cartridge is not as sexy looking as the 9.3x74R but it will kill just as well. The 8x57 rfles I've seen used have always seemed to work well. Make sure the 8x57 you are thinking of buying is .323 and not the older .318. There still are older drillings about in .318

And it's so smooth to shoot....

 

[Muir]

Love 8x57. I have three Husqvarna 648's, and several sporters made on the older .318 barrels. My favorite it s 1888 Comission rifle sporter with folding leaf sights. No finish left on the rifle, the wood is dinged and scratched, the bore is beautiful. The stories that rifle could tell......

One of my Husqvarnas has taken several deer using a 208 grain cast bullet and open sights. Smooth, powerful and accurate.~Muir

 

[Ade8mm]

Great calibre. I love mine . It is 8 x 60 but started out as 8 x 57 (practically one and the same in terms of performance etc)

Reloading in the UK won't be a problem components-wise but you should be able to get RWS and Sellier and Bellot factory ammo easily enough

 

[enfieldspares]

8x60 is a sublime cartridge. I had one. A result of the Treaty of Versailles. Like the five German enclaves still marooned from when the now redundant Vennbahn was ceded to Belgium.

 

[alberta boy]

A truly useful cartridge . It's boringly dependable , it doesn't kick much , throws heavier bullets , if that's what you need , and at the velocities it operates at , it works perfectly well with ordinary cup and core bullets , no expensive , cutting edge projectiles necessary . What's not to like ? If I didn't already own one ( or two ) I'd buy one and be well prepared for any game we have .

AB

 

[Cranhill]

I also had one. It was project which ended being too much for me. I've now got O/U 16bore / 7x 65 with spare set 16bore barrels. I've still got some 8x57JRS factory ammo and brand new used RWS cases!

 

[Stalker62]

.. and brand new used RWS cases...

How does that work?

 

[Dalua]

“Duhal - Hubertus - Suhl - Wotan”
I believe that this is the makers name and place of manufacture (with Wotan possibly being the model name?).

After a bit of Googling, I wonder whether it is made by the firm of Immanuel Meffert?
I think 'Duhal' is a misreading of 'Dural' - a proprietary (1909) alloy probably used for the action-body.
'Hubertus' (one of the patron saints of shooting/stalking) is Meffert's brand name.
Made in the town of Suhl, and I guess (like 8x57) that the model is 'Wotan'

One should reckon with the possibility that might be the .318" 8x57IR.

 

[8x57]

After a bit of Googling, I wonder whether it is made by the firm of Immanuel Meffert?
I think 'Duhal' is a misreading of 'Dural' - a proprietary (1909) alloy probably used for the action-body.
'Hubertus' (one of the patron saints of shooting/stalking) is Meffert's brand name.
Made in the town of Suhl, and I guess (like 8x57) that the model is 'Wotan'

One should reckon with the possibility that might be the .318" 8x57IR.

It crossed my mind also that Duhal might in fact be DURAL which as you say is a hard aluminium alloy commonly used in firearms. Verney Carron for one, offer a choice of steel or Dural in many of their express rifles.
Just speculating but I think that there may be more than one maker who has or continue to use the name Hubertus, I know it's a brand that often features in Frankonia and in the past in Kettner catalouges.

 

[8x57]

As regards those that have mentioned various cartridges other than 8x57irs or 8x57ir I think we need to remember that these cartridges are not merely the rimmed version of the 8mm Mauser. 8x57irs and 8x57ir are loaded to lower pressures and as such produce slightly lower velocities than the military round (roughly 200fps lower). Double rifles and combinations have much weaker actions and thinner barrels than bolt action rifles so it isn't a good idea to simply try using reloading data interchangeably.

Also while you usually use 8x57is (8mm Mauser) dies to reload 8x57irs the case dimensions are not actually identical. For many years I believed they were until another site member pointed it out and this can be verified by looking in any good reloading manual that shows dimensional diagrams. I never use the description 8mm Mauser when describing the rimmed rounds as it can lead to confusion and I think that its convention that most people do the same for that very reason.

 

[Border]

Still umming and ahhing about rebarelling my Sako 75 6.5x55 to 8x57IS for all purpose rifle from roe through boar to elk. Problem is I have a 308w that does the same.....

 

[Cranhill]

How does that work?

Sorry, How's does what work?

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Sorry, How's does what work?

brand new used RWS cases