How is 8mm?

Start reloading.

It's the only way to go once you get outside the Walmart cartridges.

Privi Partisan makes good ammo in many odd ball cartridges. I wouldn't worry about that aspect if you don't handload.

You can get Prvi Partizan pretty cheaply, and then sell the brass to someone who does reload. More savings all around.

Prvi 8mm is pretty good - it's what I shoot in my 8mm Mausers.

The Exile said:

Isn't reloading Expensive and time consuming?

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Doesn’t have to be. If you wanna start out basic, you can get started for well under $100. But that’s real basic, starter stuff. With that you could turn out far better than factory stuff for usually 1/2 the cost

For rifle, you’re usually not gonna shoot more than 50-75 a day so loading speed is not an issue

Prvi is indeed currently the best source of nearly all non-US WW2 ammunition including .303, 6.5 Carcano, 7.7 Jap, and all the Mauser calibers.

My only worry about them is that, being in Serbia, any trouble Putin stirs up in the Balkans or if the filthy EU tries to stick their fingers into ammunition exports, may quickly shut off our supply. Yes, the domestic makers will probably pick up some of the slack for a few batches of .303 and 7.92, but they still wont be cheap or easy to find.

I faced the same dilema the OP did, and found this to be a good answer-


The excellent Spanish FR8 (I think this is actually Gunny's gun, lol). These were newly made (or arsenal converted from low-mileage actions, there is much debate), and use the large ring 98 Mauser action mated to a CETME .308 barrel. They are handy, accurate, and use a unique and very nifty click- aperture rear sight. IMO, this is the best .308 Mauser out there.

Some will whine and complain that the FR's were made for the less-powerful 7.62 CETME cartridge- I dont buy it. There was an FR7 made from older M93/95 small-ring actions which I consider iffy, but the FR8 is plenty strong for commercial .308 ammo. Do your own research and decide for yourself, but I shoot the snot out of mine with no reservations- and this is coming from someone who wont shoot low-numbered M1903s.

Another option for you might be a .308 Ruger M77. These use a 98 action and nobody gripes about the Ruger being too weak to handle it, despite being made largely of investment castings rather than the supposedly stronger Mauser forgings. Always thought it would be fun to find a cosmetically challenged M77 and put it in a full military stock.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

Sellor & Bellot also makes good 8mm ammo. And last I saw, Remington also made it. But that was a few years back. Haven’t had to buy factory ammo in several years. No reason when the stuff I make is far superior and tailored to shoot best in my firearms.

A few years ago I bought an almost new Yugo M48 in 8mm for cheap, but I too had problems finding ammo locally. One store nearby keeps a few boxes of 8mm on hand, and I buy one every so often to keep on hand.

Actually, the 8mm (and .30 carbine) is the reason I got started reloading. It’s way cheaper than ordering and paying cost + shipping. You have to check various manuals, though, to get full power 8mm loads. Most load data is for the older pre-98 models, and is substantially weaker. While this is not a problem for plinking (and it saves wear on your rifle), if you ever want to hunt with your rifle, you’ll want to use the hotter data or Sellier and Bellot 196 gr soft points @ 2500+ FPS.

The Exile said:

Isn't reloading Expensive and time consuming?

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My wife would say it's expensive and I do spend a lot of time casting bullets and reloading.

But I also shoot quite a bit. I "save" enough money every year to buy a new Dillon 750 and all the addons.

Reloading saves a shipload of money - less than half of cost of shelf ammunition. Plus it's fun until you think of it as work.

The Exile said:

Isn't reloading Expensive and time consuming?

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Depends on how much you shoot and what kind of setup you invest in. When I’m really into it I shoot several thousand rounds a year in about 20 different calibers. I have probably $1500 in reloading stuff that I’ve aquired over 10 years, but I probably save that much every year because I shoot oddball calibers. Takes me maybe 30 minutes to set up and load 50 rifle cartridges. I can do about 400 rounds an hour of 9mm. A basic setup to reload rifle cartridges will cost about $300 to get started. It opens a whole new world of shooting and interesting cartridges.

It's a very good round and can be loaded right long side the 3006. Most of my 8mm rifles are old German sporters with light stocks, so I used the ppu ammo. It can be found for less the $14 a box for that it's hardly worth reloading unless you need more power or a different bullet.

As far as obscure cartridges go, 8mm is not it. Yeah, it’s no 30-06 but it is possibly the most common European cartridge in the US. You may not find it at Walmart, but most any LGS will have it from a few manufacturers

The Exile said:

I've always loved old WW2 era surplus rifles, wanted to have one for myself but the odd ball calibers aren't easy to find or at least they don't stock them at my local walmart. The crown jewel I'd love to get my hands would be a Kar 98 and I've heard a few of them went to Israel after the war where they were rechambered in 7.62 NATO which would be the dream; but perusing the Cabelas the other day I saw something I later learned was basically an Indian copy of the Lee Enfield redesigned and built from the start as a 7.62 rifle while they were trying to crank out enough FALs to modernize their army.

So this is the conundrum I've got right now, I could get the Indian Ishapore and not really have to worry about finding ammo or breaking the bank, or I could get the Kar they also had in stock but have to worry about 8mm. I did a little googling and found some actually pretty cheap 8mm but you get what you pay for and I don't know Partisan as a brand. Any advice is welcome.

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I have one of the Isreali K98's, and it is a late war, slave labor receiver. Mine is stamped "SWP 45" which means it was made in 1945 at Waffenwerk Brun AG (BRNO), Brunn Czechoslovakia. It does not feed 308 Win reliably. I am of the opinion that was the desired functionality by the slave laborer's who made the component parts. These rifles were sold as 8mm rifles when Israeli was fighting for its life in the 1948 war and they were willing to accept anything, because arms from the West were being embargoed. There is a recent article in Air and Space Magazine about Czech modified ME 109's that killed most of the pilots that flew them. I don't know if all Israeli 308 Win's are from these slave labor Brunn actions, but I would avoid one with a 1945 receiver.

I have an Indian Ishapore in 308 Win. I finally found one with a good bore and bought that. I saw many with rusty barrels, so push a cleaning rod down the barrel. I bedded the thing because the bedding was shot. It is not that accurate, expect 4 MOA. It also does not feed as reliably as a 303 Brit Lee Enfield. Also, you still need to handload for the thing as standard 308 Win loads will cause sticky extraction. The action is not that rigid and light 308 loads with pressures close to 303 Brit pressure levels extract easier.

I would keep looking for a Mauser in its original caliber. The 8mm cartridge is an outstanding cartridge and if the rifle was issued in 8mm Mauser, you should have no function issues due to caliber changes.

there should be lots of M48 Yugo's around

Love the 98. I have a Persian and a KAR98 post war sporter. US loaded ammo is anemic. I bought a case of S&B 196 grs step shoulder ammo about 10 years ago and have been reloading it ever since. Great rifles. Great hog, deer, bear, and elk cartridge.

The Exile said:

I've always loved old WW2 era surplus rifles, wanted to have one for myself but the odd ball calibers aren't easy to find or at least they don't stock them at my local walmart. The crown jewel I'd love to get my hands would be a Kar 98 and I've heard a few of them went to Israel after the war where they were rechambered in 7.62 NATO which would be the dream; but perusing the Cabelas the other day I saw something I later learned was basically an Indian copy of the Lee Enfield redesigned and built from the start as a 7.62 rifle while they were trying to crank out enough FALs to modernize their army.

So this is the conundrum I've got right now, I could get the Indian Ishapore and not really have to worry about finding ammo or breaking the bank, or I could get the Kar they also had in stock but have to worry about 8mm. I did a little googling and found some actually pretty cheap 8mm but you get what you pay for and I don't know Partisan as a brand. Any advice is welcome.

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I've owned and shot both the .308 Ishapore and a Yugo M48 which is a close copy of the Kar98k. The Indian is hands down a better rifle for shooting: better sights, better bolt action ergonomics, and the recoil is so much more manageable with the .308 vs the 8mm.

If it's for hanging on a wall the Kar98k wins.

BSW

8mm ammo is pretty tough to find. Impossible, far from it, but it's one of those calibers you either need to order online or specifically go looking for; you're not going to find it at Walmart and you won't find it at most sporting goods stores either (or if you do, it'll be some $40/box hunting stuff).

Remington Core Lokt ammo is availble, but it's both expensive at like $30 a box and way underloaded (176 gr bullet @ 2300 FPS if I remember - the German military load was 196 gr at 2500 FPS). Milsurp ammo is getting rare and expensive as well, and it was usually low-quality corrosive stuff to begin with. Also, some of the surplus left over is machine gun loads that just have a vicious kick. OTOH, I'd give my right arm if someone could find me a case of Romy light ball. I can just shoot my Mauser left handed if I get it, no big deal....

Anyway, I think your best play is to load up on Privi. Buy a case or half-case now while prices are reasonable and just shoot it up over time. IME, the bolt-action, hard kicking surplus guns tend to be low volume shooters anyway, so a few hundred rounds should last quite a while.

There used to be a huge supply of steel-cased 8mm surplus ammo, but I suppose it's dried up. Former Yugoslavia was exporting a lot of it to the US. The Mauser 98K was not a rare rifle by any means. It used to clutter gun store bargain racks. The Germans built nearly 15 million of them -- that's more than all the Glocks ever produced. That's just the karbine version built from 1935 to 45. If you include the longer Mauser Gewehr 98, there were another 10 million or so.

8mm is not an obscure round by any means. Besides the Mauser service rifles, there were a lot of machine guns like the MG34 and MG42 produced which used the same cartridge -- and a lot of them. Is it still abundant today? The WWI and WWII supplies were corrosive and what's left is very old at this point. The more modern surplus like from former Yugoslavia and some eastern bloc countries was typically steel-cased, berdan-primed, and its chief virtue was low cost. Those sources aren't really viable today, but when they were, they made the surplus and confiscated rifles cheap to shoot.

The bottom line is the 98K is not the inexpensive, cheap-to-shoot rifle that it used to be. If a person likes it, they can reload ammo that is much better quality than the surplus stuff ever was and shoot it for really no more than any other brass-cased, boxer-primed rifle cartridge of similar size. If they want the cheapest deals on bulk steel-cased ammo, those days are over for 8mm. I'm not even sure we still have those days for 7.62x39, at least in the US. Really the only thing I see available that's less costly than reloading is what comes from Wolf or TulAmmo -- especially .308, .223, 7.62x39, and 9x19mm.

If you're not looking for very inexpensive ammo to shoot a lot, then it doesn't really matter, does it? If the ammo is $1.75 a round for Federal and you shoot 100 rounds a year, then it's no big deal considering what you pay for a good 98K these days. Back when people were paying $150 for the rifle, of course they wanted to shoot 10,000 rounds through it for a thousand bucks and then sell it after 25 years for $800 with the barrel shot-out.

I own and reload,shoot all my milsurp rifle from many different countries. this 8mm Iranian 98 carbine was the last one I bought in ex condition inside and out for 350.00 at public auction late last year.

Hang on this is going to be a real long ride.....

The mauser in 308 is VERY popular in the renacting community for really one reason....8mm blanks are stupid expensive....so really most 308 stuff gets snagged by those guys pretty quick....the british impression is (for some reason) not real popular...at least around here...so the India "SMLE" don't seem to be in short supply.....but I really bet this is location based....but 'merican and german are the most popular, with Soviet being third....guess those cheap mosins and cool coats are part of the deal with the russian stuff.

If you want to get into playing with this old stuff you really need to think about reloading....while MOST of this stuff is out there it is pretty expensive....you need to do some research on reloading....but be warned it is a hobby into and of itself. I have so much stuff loaded up and just not the will to go out and shoot it (with all the setup of the stuff)....but you don't really have to go there if you don't want to.

You can do reloading for under the price of the rifle pretty easy....all in.

Mosin Bubba said:

8mm ammo is pretty tough to find. Impossible, far from it, but it's one of those calibers you either need to order online or specifically go looking for; you're not going to find it at Walmart and you won't find it at most sporting goods stores either (or if you do, it'll be some $40/box hunting stuff).

Remington Core Lokt ammo is availble, but it's both expensive at like $30 a box and way underloaded (176 gr bullet @ 2300 FPS if I remember - the German military load was 196 gr at 2500 FPS). Milsurp ammo is getting rare and expensive as well, and it was usually low-quality corrosive stuff to begin with. Also, some of the surplus left over is machine gun loads that just have a vicious kick. OTOH, I'd give my right arm if someone could find me a case of Romy light ball. I can just shoot my Mauser left handed if I get it, no big deal....

Anyway, I think your best play is to load up on Privi. Buy a case or half-case now while prices are reasonable and just shoot it up over time. IME, the bolt-action, hard kicking surplus guns tend to be low volume shooters anyway, so a few hundred rounds should last quite a while.

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And yet another reason to roll your own....down load it a bit and enjoy.

Surplus stuff has all the minus things that go with it being surplus, generally corrosive, inaccurate, hang fires, dirty.....with the pluses being cheap. That was it. I am still sitting on a spam can of 54R that I doubt I will ever shoot...why it groups like hell....what fun is it just making noise.

Down load it....you will find that those fixed 300 yard battle sights can actually hit closer, not kill your shoulder, be more inexpensive to shoot...more fun to shoot.

I like the 8x57. But I recommend staying away from Seller and Bellot ammo in it unless you have some roving elephants that need killing. It shoots good, but is loaded to full power.
The PPU is much milder and just as accurate.
Hand loading is definitely the way to go.

There was some issue with the .308 Ishapores and shooting in the rain.

I have an FR-8 that I shoot with plastic training rounds probably more than regular ammo; at 50 yards its just as accurate and recoil-wise it's like shooting a .22LR.