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cracked butt · June 25, 2002, 06:06 PM

I shoot alot of Turkish surplus ammo for plinking. Its loaded up to German specs with 154 gr bullet pushed to right around 3000 fps out of a 29 1/2" barrel. The WWII German ammo was 198 gr, as the 154 grain ammo caused too much muzzle flash and spotty accuracy out of the shorter barrel Karabiner 98's.
The 8mm and 30-06 are very similar in performance, though handloaders have a bit of an advantage with the 30-06 because of a wider variety of bullets than is offered in 8mm. Also, alot of loading manuals tend to be very conservative with 8mm loads, Lee's loads are a joke- probably put together by a team of lawyers, Hornady's are pretty conservative, while recommended loads from the Lyman manual are pretty close to reality. Most of my rifles show signs of pressure at or just above Lyman's recommended loads.

June 25, 2002, 06:06 PM	#17
cracked butt Senior Member Join Date: December 22, 2001 Location: southeastern wisconsin Posts: 537	8mm I shoot alot of Turkish surplus ammo for plinking. Its loaded up to German specs with 154 gr bullet pushed to right around 3000 fps out of a 29 1/2" barrel. The WWII German ammo was 198 gr, as the 154 grain ammo caused too much muzzle flash and spotty accuracy out of the shorter barrel Karabiner 98's. The 8mm and 30-06 are very similar in performance, though handloaders have a bit of an advantage with the 30-06 because of a wider variety of bullets than is offered in 8mm. Also, alot of loading manuals tend to be very conservative with 8mm loads, Lee's loads are a joke- probably put together by a team of lawyers, Hornady's are pretty conservative, while recommended loads from the Lyman manual are pretty close to reality. Most of my rifles show signs of pressure at or just above Lyman's recommended loads.