8x57 question

[jon_norstog]

I had dental work at a Kaiser dental clinic in Aloha OR today. There was a "surplus store" in a yello kinda-quonset next door, said they had military ammo. so I looked in. The young fellow behind the counter had a nose ring like Ferdinand the Bull! Anyway they had some 8x57 that looked pretty good so I bought a bag of 80. Couldn't read the headstamp with just my reading glasses, but the ammo was clean. I thought maybe FN? I got it home and read it with the magnifying glass. "TOC" "7.9" "1949" and "F.9" or maybe "F.g"

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What say you all? It was $60.00 for 80 rounds, kinda steep IMHO, but times and prices seem to have changed. I plan to shoot it all in my G-98, see how it (the ammo) shoots. The G-98 is pretty damn accurate once the barrel gets warm.

jn

[bruce]

Nowadays any kind of 8mm ball is a real find! Hope it gives you good results. Sincerely. bruce.

[fguffey]

I purchased bandoliers of 8mm57 from Cheaper than Dirt for $4.70 each. Each bandolier had 80 rounds on 5 round clips. I had no use for the Berdan primed cases, after I pulled the bullets, I lost a lot of interest in the bullets, all of the pulled bullets had a waist, they had the shape of an hourglass.
That left me with the powder, some of the powder was packed in front of the primer, other cases had powder packed behind the bullet. SO, I busted up the clods. I had already started to form 8mm57 cases from 30/06 cases, that part went well. Before I started, I was told "All I had to do was just size them 30/06 cases in an 8mm57 full length sizing die, that effort resulted in forming some of the ugliest cases I have ever seen.

And then there was the advice I received from the "easy-peasy reloader" he claimed all of the creases, dents and folds would just pop out when fired. Anyhow, the cases were no prettier after firing than when they were formed. I did not look forwards to pulling the bullets, so I called the technical people at Hornady, they convinced me I needed their bullet puller, so I ordered one, what a waste, they had that puller more than I did because of repairs. I complained, they told me I made too many mistakes. It was then I went for a visit.

I had a collet puller with a 30 Cal collet, and now I have 2 RCBS collet pullers with a small selection of collets. When I started on the 8mm57 I had 700 rounds to pull down, I still have close to 500. I fired a few of the rounds from the bandoliers, they made me nervous, one round would just smoke, another round would just fizzle out the rear, others were delay firings. And then there were the ones that went bang, those were the ones that split the case bodies lengthwise.

I believe those were the ones that were a little slow building pressure on the inside of the case and some of us know when the case neck does not expand to seal the hot, high pressure metal cutting gas from escaping past the neck the case body collapses, and then! the case expands to seal the chamber from the inside of the case while trapping the gas between the chamber and case body. About the time the pressure inside of the case drops the high pressure trapped between the case body and chamber rips a long split looking hole in the case.

I purchased cases with 3 different head stamps, none of with the same head stamp as yours. I have purchased 30/06 ammo that was loaded from the early forties, I have never had a problem with any of it and then I am a collector. I do not have to shoot it, if I do not shoot it, I collect it.

F. Guffey

[fguffey]

Jon, forgive, all of my 8mm57 was loaded in 1939 +/- a year.

F. Guffey

[jon_norstog]

I'm going up to N. Idaho first week of June, probably do a lot of shooting. I'll put up a report. I guess without more info, I'll assume it is corrosive priming. If my brother's chrony is working I'll post the results form that - shooting out that long, Gewehr 98 barrel.

jn

[jon_norstog]

A possible candidate is "unknown factory, Turkey" A close look at the stamp shows some non-Roman characters instead of "TOC"

https://www.cartridgecollectors.org/headstampcodes?page=headstampcodes#T

Given the date it's a possibility. Let's see how it shoots. Turk 8mm ammo is notoriously hot and notoriously corrosive.

jn

[jon_norstog]

Found it! What I thought was a "C" is a star and crescent, definitely Turkish ammo. You can see here the headstam[p was a lot cleaner on older brass, must have got some wear on the stamping dies. Nice pictures here.

https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/wwii-8mm-mauser-headstamp-help/23810

jn

[togor]

Do treat it as corrosive! Just in case!

[fguffey]

Found it! What I thought was a "C" is a star and crescent,

OK, my ammo is older both came from Turkey. Not a rule, not a policy but I suggest you shake your ammo in an effort to determine if the powder is loose, shaking the rounds will not hurt. I have pulled the bullets on many rounds to save the powder, after pulling the bullets for the powder I was not surprised to find the powder cacked against the primer and against the bullet. I have had to get the powder to start flowing and I have had to continue to remove all of the powder out of the case.

F. Guffey

[bikr7549]

I have some old surplus 8MM as well, 50 rounds. It appears to be Chinese origin, but I may be wrong on that. A friend gave it to me years ago and I never used it, another friend who has a table at a local show this weekend is going to sell it for me as I have no need for it. Does anyone recognize the numbers on the rim, ' 4 79 52? I would think part of this is the date of manufacture, factory # the other maybe?

Bob

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[jon_norstog]

I took the ammo up to Idaho and my brother and I shot half of it up at the Sandpoint gun range, in my G98 and his VZ24. No signs of excessive pressure and it grouped 4-5" at 100 yards in the G98. This is a rifle that will group 1" horizontal by 2-3" vertical with handloads. The few dud rounds all went off the second time they were fired. Given that I paid $60 for 80 rounds, I think I'll stick with handloads ... I've got plenty of brass

jn

[fguffey]

I've got plenty of brass

Careful when you size the cases, we use Boxer primers, they use Berdan. We use a primer punch to remove primers, if you use the primer punch on Berdan primed cases the punch will not last long. Not impossible but with enough light you can see the flash hole in the bottom of the case, if the primers are Berdan there will be three flash holes. Berdan primers require a different tool for removing primers.

F. Guffey

[fguffey]

I form 8mm57 from 30/06 cases with a forming die. Others use a sizing die; I have paid for the forming die many times over. When going from 30/06 to 8mm, 7mm and 7.65mm 53 the reloader is in control clearance by controlling the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head.

With using a forming die there is no need to fire form, just form first and then fire.

F. Guffey

[bruce]

Re: Forming. That procedure has been the salvation of lots of riflemen with calibers that are not now available at the corner hardware store. It also allows one to keep shooting rifles for which ammunition is no longer produced. Sincerely. bruce.

[Tuna]

The ammo in the pictures is Chinese and considered to be corrosive.

[fguffey]

jon_norstog's Avatarjon_norstog The picture furnished by Norstog has all of the markings of ammo from Turkey.

F. Guffey