8mm-06 anyone?

[Lumber_Jack]

Does anyone load for 8mm-06? My father has a Mauser conversion that was done by his brother in the 60's like most that were converted. All the reloads he has were done by one of two of his brothers sometime in the 80s. I don't think they were loaded for accuracy, as it's sporadic. He has asked me to try some loads and see if we can get it shooting better. In the end it may be the gun (or the smith that worked it) but right now I'd say it's mostly ammo to fault.

[Raoul]

I'd never heard of this conversion. Found a few things here.

http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/w8mm06.html 

[Lumber_Jack]

[quote name="Raoul" post="1077516" timestamp="1386812627"]I'd never heard of this conversion. Found a few things here. [url="http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/w8mm06.html%C2%A0"]http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/w8mm06.html[/url][/quote] Yeah it was a popular conversion as there were plenty of post WW2 guns but ammo was scarce.

[79troublehead]

I've got one on a old mauser I picked up in TX. Still has the stock barrel with simple ream job.  Haven't fooled around with it in 30+ years. My old sierra manual has loads for it, as it was pretty common in the 60's and 70's. Mine is a 8mm/06 improved, but the only dies I have are  straight 8mm/06. I just fireformed 30/06, and then just neck sized the cases. Used .323"170 gr hornady and 4064. I've probably still got the work up data somewheres.  Never got real serious with it, as it was and still is, rough as a cob.

[gregintenn]

Was this an improvement over the 8mm Mauser?

[Lumber_Jack]

[quote name="gregintenn" post="1077553" timestamp="1386816276"]Was this an improvement over the 8mm Mauser?[/quote] None that I know of. It was an easy conversion. Just ream to accept 30-06 brass. 8mm ammo wasn't as readily available then as it is even now. My uncle converted a ton of them. All my uncles and a few cousins all have one he converted. Most now feel it is a bastardization of a war relic, but what's done is done. It was a solution to a problem at the time.

[gregintenn]

So it was just done for the sake of cheap brass?

 

Was commercial ammo ever available in 8mm-06?

Edited December 12, 2013 by gregintenn

[Lumber_Jack]

[quote name="gregintenn" post="1077573" timestamp="1386817587"]So it was just done for the sake of cheap brass? Was commercial ammo ever available in 8mm-06?[/quote] It was done to be able to shoot them, at all. It was easier to ream the gun to fit 30-06 than to form 8mm brass. Never any ammo commercially available. It's a true wildcat

[leroy]

As i remember, the 8 mm 06 wuz (...as others have pointed out above...) a "poor boy" answer to a good hunting rifle that wuz thought to be powerful enough for the "big deer" like moose and elk; even the big bears... The 8 mm 06 wuz a "poor boy" 35 whelen... The whelen wuz thought to be in those days a great "mid-bore" big animal rifle cartridge (...and it is...). Think of todays 338 magnum -- note the infintesimal difference between the .338, .323, and .358 bore diameter.... Interestin aint it?

 

There were evidently plenty of 8 mm mausers layin around that had come from the great wars...

 

In the "old days" there were many wizened gunsmiths and wildcatters that thought the 30-06 was about the ultimate cartridge (...i happen to think they were right...)... There was plenty of brass and the whelen wuz popular for "big" big game hunting; and there were many innovative wildcatters around in those days.... The "ultimate mid bore" rifle cartridge (....the 375 H & H is...) wuz out of reach for most ordinary hunters and wuz based on an extra long action that has always brought a premium; plus the actions were hard to find... Contrast that with the plentiful availability of the old 8 mm mausers... Plus they were relatively cheap... That made great fodder for all kinds of conversions... The mauser wuz a standard (...long...) action sized in the 30-06 range...  That translated into a "reasonable" priced action to convert to your favorite rifle caliber plus plenty of surplus brass layin around...That meant that everybody could own his own "custom" mid bore rifle with a relatively small cash outlay... A helluva idea...

 

To let ya know that there is nothin new under the sun; remington brought out an 8 mm magnum several years ago...It wuz based on the 300/338 winchester case... I dont know if they still make 'em today...

 

leroy

[Col. Sanders]

I am getting things put in place to have an old military 8mm reamed to 8mm-06.  I am going to start reloading the round and getting my dad to help with it too.

[Mowgli Terry]

A friend has an FN-49 rechambered to 8mm-06. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The only hangup was the round was too long for the action.

[Sunfish]

I have an 8-06 Mauser that I've hunted with for many years. Mine started out a 29 inch Persian barrel VZ-24 and cut it back to 25 and step crowned it. It loves 200 grain Speer Hot Core bullets and 4350 with standard primers. Anything you shoot with 53 grains of 4350 troubles are over. When you're putting them together? make them as long as the magazine allows. If it flattens the primers back off a half a grain and don't push the shoulder back to far