8x50mmR Hungarian Mannlicher

bbman25 · July 16, 2014, 08:53 PM

8x50mmR hungarian ammo for a steyr M.95. it is my understanding that this ammo is particularly hard to come by.

ive heard of using russian 7.62x54r cases and fire forming them in the rifle or using cut down 8x56MM R hungarian cases, which we have a handful of to try. (sport shop guy gave it to us to try in the rifle, it was too large.) but i am unsure about proper techniques to use for either of those.

anyone have experience with loading this round? any tips or help would be appreciated.. would love to get this old gun shooting again. or, of course, better yet finding some commercial ammo or a surplus source..

tangolima · July 16, 2014, 10:54 PM

I have a mannlicher steyr that fires the bigger 8x56r, so I don't need to do what you will try to do.

However, I did try converting .30-06 to 7.7 jap, and I believe the techniques are similar.

1. Cut the donor brass short to about 51mm. I have used copper pipe cutter and hack saw.
2. Clean up the burr, so that the brass can be fed into 8x50r resizing die.
3. Apply a good sizing lube. Feed brass into resizing die. It may be tough going. Don't force your way through. Back up and relube if you meet strong resistance.
4. Trim brass to length. Deburr and anneal.

Note that the rifle shoots bullet slightly bigger than the 8mm mauser(.323).

Hope it helps.

-TL

July 16, 2014, 08:53 PM	#1
bbman25 Member Join Date: February 15, 2012 Location: PA Posts: 36	8x50mmR Hungarian Mannlicher 8x50mmR hungarian ammo for a steyr M.95. it is my understanding that this ammo is particularly hard to come by. ive heard of using russian 7.62x54r cases and fire forming them in the rifle or using cut down 8x56MM R hungarian cases, which we have a handful of to try. (sport shop guy gave it to us to try in the rifle, it was too large.) but i am unsure about proper techniques to use for either of those. anyone have experience with loading this round? any tips or help would be appreciated.. would love to get this old gun shooting again. or, of course, better yet finding some commercial ammo or a surplus source..

July 16, 2014, 10:54 PM	#2
tangolima Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2013 Posts: 3,815	I have a mannlicher steyr that fires the bigger 8x56r, so I don't need to do what you will try to do. However, I did try converting .30-06 to 7.7 jap, and I believe the techniques are similar. 1. Cut the donor brass short to about 51mm. I have used copper pipe cutter and hack saw. 2. Clean up the burr, so that the brass can be fed into 8x50r resizing die. 3. Apply a good sizing lube. Feed brass into resizing die. It may be tough going. Don't force your way through. Back up and relube if you meet strong resistance. 4. Trim brass to length. Deburr and anneal. Note that the rifle shoots bullet slightly bigger than the 8mm mauser(.323). Hope it helps. -TL