8mm Rem Mag info

[Bill S.]

I just obtained a Remington 700 BDL in 8mm Rem Mag. The guy I purchased it from provided quite a few boxes of commercial reloads from Gary's Bullets and Ammo, no other contact information is on the boxes. They are marked 220 grain Barnes SP. They shoot extremely well off the bench, three shots touching at 100 yards. However, Barnes does not list a 220 gr soft point anymore. Does anyone out there, and I'm sure Murphy does, have reloading information for this caliber? I've seen who I thik, was Gary's Ammo at gun shows in the past but haven't lately and I'd love to know what powder they used in these bullets because I doubt if I could figure out a better load for this rifle, although its going to be fun trying.

 

[George]

8mm Rem

8mm Rem

Bill S,
I used to own an 8 Rem- same model as yours. Bullet selection wasn't as good then so have limited load experience. But, if those Barnes Originals shoot that well, I wouldn't doubt other, more modern ones would also. And, I've never been able to get top accuracy out of any of the Barnes Originals so your gun may be an inherently accurate one. With mine I remember having basically three groups of bullets to choose from- The worthless Remington conventional 8mm in two weights, the Nosler Partition 200s and an assortment of 8 Mauser bullets. The Remington bullets may have been designed for the 8 Mauser.... or should have been. The various 8 Mauser bullets were likewise out for the velocities of the 8 Rem. So the 200 Nosler Partition was about it. But the NP 200 loaded on top of a worked-up load of IMR 4350 seemed to give the best balance of accuracy and velocity. I never shot it to the last ounce of pressure or the last 50 fps. It performed very, very well. There are more bullets and powders now- have fun.