8mm Mauser ammo

[Clark500]

www.ammoman.com has 900 round wooden crates of 50's Yugo 8mm Mauser ammo on sale for $199 - delivered. I know it isn't as cheap as it used to be, but this is a good bit cheaper than anyplace else I have found. Most folks want $30 - $50 just to ship ammo in this quantity. I purchased some of this ammo a few months ago and it has worked well for me.

[mp25ds4]

good to know, ive heard mixed reviews about the 50s yugo

[Ignition Override]

Ammoman's price for 900 rds. just fell $29 in two weeks!

I ordered it at the higher price a month ago. At that time, the ad said "very limited quantities", or similar words.

Are people avoiding the 50's Yugo, or are they needing to free some storage space?
Can't imagine that more of this was exported from Serbia.

[Clark500]

I ordered at the higher price too. :( I am not sure why people would avoid it - just go in with your eyes open. It may come with some small inconveniences, but the price reflects that. I've never seen ammo offered in this caliber by Wolf or Bear, so that option seems to be out. I guess that leaves reloading or paying about a buck a round for new production brass-cased. I wouldn't trust my life on it, but for just banging around at the range I have found 50's Yugo to be just the ticket. Plus it comes in a cool wooden crate. :D

[dean1818]

I would say be very careful of the 50's yugo ammo......

On my mauser, I replaced my spring with a 22lb wolf spring
and cleaned the goop from the bolt.

The Yugo Ammo was about 50/50 on firing the first time.

I call it "click" ammo


I shoot the romanian 8mm and like the performance (for me 100% went off)

[Clark500]

I would say be very careful of the 50's yugo ammo......

Careful how? Are you saying that it is dangerous, or that there is the possibility that all rounds may not fire? The first is a problem. The second will depend upon what you are willing to put up with.

As I said before, based upobn the price it has worked well for me.

[Ignition Override]

My 50's Yugo from two different sources is pretty reliable, but the Croatian (with our Roman alphabet labeling) has many ftfs.

Does anybody have a decent theory why Ammoman reduced their prices, after stating very limited quantities weeks ago?
Maybe lots of people avoid the Yugo because of reports of so many ftfs, the way most people have learned to avoid Mitchell's Mausers.

[DoctorXring]

.

Hopefully they have a bunch of M75 coming in and feel
a need to move this 50's out the door....

dxr

.

[Ignition Override]

M 75 appears to be a grenade or grenade launcher, A. P. Carrier etc (on Wiki).

[Garand1957]

I'm not a big fan of the 1950's Yugo 8mm ammo.
I had this happen in two rifles with good headspace.
11/55 seems to be the bad year and have read reports from others who had the same thing happen.
Wear shooting glasses :cool:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Garand1957/German%20K98k%20Mausers/14694.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Garand1957/14695.jpg

[Ignition Override]

Basic all-American Remington .22 gives me so many gas blowbacks (none with Federal or Win.) etc that I would trust old surplus over cheap Remington, with a good Yugo Mauser etc, i.e. my 48A.

[madcratebuilder]

That's not a bad price, but if 50% are FTF then it's a lot of money for corrosive, non reloadable ammo.

[Clark500]

Where did you come up with 50% FTF? I would not have recommended this ammo if it had a high failure rate.

[ksstargazer]

I have had 50% failure rate with 50's dated Yugo ammo but only in certain rifles. When I replaced the springs in those rifles with Wolff springs, the problem disappeared.
Apparently, either the primers were too hard or were set in too deep for these rifles.

[Ignition Override]

madcratebuilder:

I appreciate your frank, simple explanation on the other thread, as to why Ammoman reduced his price for 8mm Yugo by $29.

If the FTF rate is such a significant factor, then I had really underestimated its influence.

To this middle-aged late-bloomer, the inherent accuracy of my Yugo 48A helps compensate for the FTFs with Yugo or Czech surplus. Time to order a replacement firing pin spring?

Both of my nice laminated MN 44s (fairly shiny bores) had no FTFs, but groups at 50 yards were either 5" or 8", with the bayonets extended OR retracted (old Bulgarian ammo).
Maybe I'm still naive about much of this, only starting to learn about guns in late '07.

[madcratebuilder]

I have read several threads on ammomans 8mm yugo ammo on several different forums. This is what I have surmised.

I would say two thirds of the guys are getting a high FTF. My thoughts on the FTF are some are from weak firing pin springs and/or gummed up firing pins. I know my unfired M48 had a very weak sounding firing pin until I striped, cleaned and lubed the bolt.

A few have reported ruptured cases. A few have changed the firing pin spring to a Wolf and have had better results. Maybe some of the yugo has a hard primer issue??

About a month ago I looked at ammomans add and the add stated the yugo ammo was stored in sealed containers. Last time I looked it said stored in unsealed containers. He may have sold the sealed stuff and is now selling the unsealed. Is that the reason for the price drop??

I want to buy two or more bricks of 8mm, that's one reason I bought my M48 so I could shoot cheap surplus ammo and not have to reload it.


ksstargazer's comment on the FTF being eliminated with a new firing pin spring may in fact indicate it's a hard primer issue. A new FP spring is pretty cheap, I may order that yugo ammo and a new spring.

[Clark500]

Madcratebuilder,

I also noticed the opened vs. unopened change in their ad. However, my experience has been totally backward. The first crate I ordered was before the ad stated that they were open - the crate arrived unsealed. I was slightly disappointed but decided to order another crate. This time the ad stated that they were all open - the crate arrived fully sealed. My guess is they opened a few and saw that they were open and assumed they were all open. Or... Maybe I just got lucky and got the only sealed crate in the bunch. :)

[madcratebuilder]

Thanks Clark

I better go order some, maybe I'll get lucky.

[dean1818]

I would say be careful of the FTF ammo, beause I have heard that in a few rare cases, the FTF will actually go off with a short delay.

Very bad if you are in the process of ejecting.

Either way, the "CLICK" ammo was just a pain

I did the wolff 22lb spring on the Mauser.


I have a friend that reloads, and so I have been using Privi Partizen
which has great brass

Goes "bang" every dang time

[SainthoodDenied]

I guess I got lucky when I had 506 rounds of Egyptian 8mm surplus ammo given to me the other day, I don't have a 8mm or plan to get one so I swapped it for about 100 bucks worth of WW2 field gear for my garand and carbine.

[doofus47]

i used to put 50's (headstamp 54) 8mm through my Hakim w/no problems, but I've seen on other boards where people have had a case failure shooting 50's yugo through their Hakims; auto-disassembly commenced immediately.

I sometimes had a ftf putting the same batch through my 98K or M43 mausers. I waited 5 seconds, turned the bolt and it usually went off the second time.

Nice price.

[Ignition Override]

Have most of you guys noticed that 50's Yugo 8mm is now listed on an extra three or so distributors' websites?

Even Classicarms (in NC) has it, even though some of their ammo is often forgotten by "Ammo-deals".

As for strange things happening, let's not forgot that surplus .303 has now reappeared, but at double the previous price.
This seems weird after over a year of nothing.

[THORN74]

sprotsmans guide has 50s yugo on strippers for cheap... picked up 150rds for less than $50. didnt want a ton of it b/c of the mixed reviews. that and i dont really shoot he mauser that often.

[Aguila Blanca]

Since a couple of people have mentioned reloading this stuff -- how do you reload it? I haven't shot any Yugo mil-surp, but I have been shooting Ecuadorian mil-surp 8mm in my Mauser and it's Berdan primed.

How do you reload Berdan cases?

[James K]

Hi, Garand 1957 and guys,

That kind of "split" case is not the result of rifle headspace. It is due to the acid in improperly washed powder eating away at the inside of the case over years. Depending on how the ammo was stored, it can appear at the rear, the middle, or the shoulder of the case. It rarely causes any problem other than perhaps some gas blowback (wear shooting glasses, always), but can be disconcerting when fired cases are examined.

Also, when firing dubious ammo, be careful with hangfires. IF a round does not fire immediately, leave the bolt closed for at least 30 seconds in case of a hangfire (delayed firing). If you open the bolt and the round lets go in the action or in the air while being ejected, the shooter's face and eyes can receive a blast of gas and case fragments, and the rifle can be wrecked.

Jim