8x57 recomendations for moose

[Thebear_78]

My sister in law decided she wanted to take up hunting and was given a 8x57 sporterized mauser. The factory loads available are pretty anemic. I can't imagine that they would perform all that well on game bigger than caribou. I got a set of dies to load her up some more potent ammo. So far I have loaded up some Speer 200gr SP with Tac powder. Haven't run one over the chrony yet but should be about 2450fps. They shoot pretty good out of my sister in laws rifle. I figure these should be pretty tough bullets since they were designed for the 8mm rem mag and should hold together and penetrate well at these speeds. Anyone with experience with this bullet in the 8x57?

Since I had the dies I had to find myself an 8mm too. Picked one up on auction arms for a pretty good price. Going to go with peep sites on it and most likely leave it behind the seat of my truck with a couple of stripper clips.

Other bullets of interest include...

196 & 220gr Woodliegh
200gr Nosler Partition
200-220gr Hawk
195gr hornady

Any others out there that I'm missing. I would love to hear of any experience with loading the 8x57 or performance on game.

 

[hodgeman]

An acquaintance of mine loves the 8x57 and reckons it to easily be the equivalent of the 30-06 on game, and he's killed a pile of it with one.

He likes the plain vanilla 195/196gr cup and core bullets (I believe Hornady) loaded to "Norma factory levels" in a well made Mauser '98 commercial rifle. I think if it were me I'd look no further than that either. Chances of a decent bullet coming apart at these speeds is remote.

He reckons the US made rounds (170gr @ 2300fps) just don't do this cartridge justice since they were produced for military surplus of sketchy and varied origin and downgraded considerably- suitable only for once fired brass.

 

[377PFA]

I think the Speer 200gr or 200 gr Partition is just about right. Nosler also has the 180 gr Etip that might be intriguing. With that said, I have had good accuracy with Hornady bullets but can't speak to their construction for hunting. Great cartridge and good luck.

 

[grizz106]

I've taken my Partitions out to 2601fps....am content with how it shoots. Never shot anything with it in the few yrs I've owned it, my brother in law liked the VZ24 so much and bothered me for it I sold it to him before I could take a bear or a moose with it. I'd expect with them bullets it would have done a good job for certain.

 

[Murphy]

I gave a Husqvarna rifle in 8x57 to a young hunter at Delta junction a few years back. I loaded and shot that rifle with the Norma 196 grain "Alaska" bullet to about 2450 fps. It shot nice 2-3" groups at 100 yards for me with the factory iron sights and my aging eyes.
I've lost contact with the young lad but heard he took a good bull moose with it and that load. The cartridge is ideal for good cup and core bullets. I think Hawk and Kodiak, as well as Nosler, make good premium bullets for that velocity range.

 

[Thebear_78]

Shot it over the chrony today, 5 shot average of 2457fps. Shoots good out of my gun too. I'm betting this load will work out just fine. Any experience with the heaveir 8mm bullets would be apprectiated.

 

[Nitroman]

Can she take the recoil? The anemic US loads are the equivalent of the .30-30, that'd be plenty.

 

[LuJon]

Is the 8x57 the same .323 bore as the 325wsm? If so I wonder what the 160grn TTSX would do out of it.

 

[BrownBear]

That would be an interesting way to keep the recoil down, provided the 8x57 velocities assured reliable expansion.

My longest experience in the 8mm is with the 200 grain speer spitzer. At 8x57 velocites it's a reliable expander yet holds together well. Even at 8mm RemMag velocities it's performed well for me.

In a light 8x57 though, recoil gets a little "snapish" when you push it up near max, so maybe not so good as a first load for a sister-in-law. Now if it was my mother-in-law I'd strap her into my 460 Weatherby and tell her if she couldn't shoot it well, she couldn't hunt with me.

 

[Thebear_78]

She has shot the load several times and the recoil doesn't seem to effect her. The rifle is no lightweight and has a decent recoil pad on it.

 

[hodgeman]

Is the 8x57 the same .323 bore as the 325wsm? If so I wonder what the 160grn TTSX would do out of it.

Out of curiousity I looked it up... the Barnes manual gives it about 2750-2850fps with a couple different powders. That should be a very effective load- at least until it slows down too much. I don't know whether I'd mess with this one much or not...2750 at the muzzle seems pretty mild for a TSX bullet to my line of thinking, I really don't consider mono-metal bullets until you get over 3k fps.