doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Looking for info on a Drilling

also, remember that following the armistice, the wartime bullet diameter for the 8mm mauser was increased from .318" to the now standardized .323"....i don't have an accurate notion of when that change might have occurred, or how it might have affected a sporting gun, such as the subject gun.

best regards,

tom

Ghostrider,
Great, when you slug the barrel, don't be surprised if it is not precisely .318", groove diameters are often larger and sometimes smaller than this. You may be able to use bullets larger than .318". Any bullet that will freely slip into a fired and unsized case, can be safely loaded in that case. If cases are changed to a different make,they should be checked the same way. Bullets for 32 Win. Special (.320-.321") are often useable instead of .318", and sometimes .323" are useable. The new "Flex Tip", 32 Win. Spec. bullets have a good reputation. If the neck area is large enough to allow the case enough room to expand and release the larger bullet, pressure is not unduly increased by the larger diameter alone.
Mike

Thank you Mike. Was not able to slug the barrel today, hopefully tomorrow.
I appreciate the information. I have some 00 buck shot that I will use to slug the barrel.

Might that in fact be 15 grams, which is about 320 grains? Or a 15-grain powder charge? Because a 15 grain bullet seems a bit light for an 8mm Mauser.

That's 230 grains which is about the max I've ever seen for 8mm bullets. I had a factory BSA Lee Sporter that came chambered in 8x50R Mannlicher apparently because of the heavier 8mm bullet. A beautiful and accurate rifle which I wish I still had.

From my very limited understanding of and reading about proof rounds, one should expect a standard powder charge under a grossly-overweight projectile (a .50 BMG example I found cited using a 25% heavier bullet) compared to the standard bullet-weight for the chambering in question, in the aim of deliberately increasing chamber pressures well beyond the norm. So 320 vs 230 grains of bullet, in this context, rings some (albeit precarious) bells. "Let's see if the thing blows up!"

Edit: Of course your math is correct, and mine is all ahoo. 15 grams = 230 grains. My damned brain transposed some digits. Mea culpa.

OK I slugged the bore tonight. Ended up getting a reading of .319. I think it is now safe to say that the rifle barrel in a 8x57 JR.
Thanks to all that commented.

If you have a source for 8x57 JR ammunition please let me know as I would like to buy a box.

I need a little information. I would like to know is this the same as 8x57 JR ammo?




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I'd say the S on the cartridge makes it IRS (.323 unless it has been reloaded with .318 bullets) and the box is IR (.318 as it says). The "J" is an old German font for an "I" (infantry).