Best surplus 8mm ammo?

NOTPOSTAL

Whats the best surplus ammo availiable for my K98 and what should I avoid? I'm not looking for match grade just quality plinking stuff.

rufe-snow

Nowadays your choice is pretty much limited to Turk & Czech, 8mm surplus for plinken/blasten ammo. Both are corrosive.

The Turkish stuff is all around, even the local gunstores, are selling it dirt cheap by the case.

Supposedly it's really hotly loaded, but safe to shoot in a bolt action Mauser with the proper headspace.

Folks that have shot it in FN 49's and Hakim's have reported problems. Don't even think about shooting it in one of those Italian Carcano's.

Der Gebirgsjager

"Best" is open for definition. To me it means (1)quality, (2)construction, (3)price. Others may define it differently, or place the priorities in different order. For sure, you want it to fire when you pull the trigger, not to be all gungy and corroded, and accuracy is really important (1). Non-corrosive primers are very nice, easing your gun cleaning chore considerably, and the cases being reloadable is a big plus (2), but you'll find corrosive berdan primers closely linked to (3) price. Over the years there have been many surplus versions for sale, but few have met all three of my requirements for "best". The last really great stuff I remember was Israeli headstamped actually manufactured by Winchester. So, as stated by Rufe-snow, the current choices are mostly corrosive Turk and Czech, with some Yugo and Greek available here and there. Peruse the Shotgun News, especially ads by J&G Sales and SOG. Your really best bet is to become a handloader, to buy 250 rounds of newly manufactured Remington or Winchester brass from Black Hills Shooter's Supply or Graf & Sons, and to load your own. That will allow you to make loads custom-suited to your individual rifle and to experiment until you find the most accurate loads for your purposes. You can even do odd things like an friend and I have done, which is to buy the cheap Turk ammo, pull the bullets, salvage the powder, and reload the carefully measured powder (we used 45 gr.)and the bullets back into your reloadable brass with non-corrosive primers. It made some of the most accurate 8mm ammo I've fired, and was still far below the cost of "off the shelf" civilian production ammo.

Diesel Dummy

There's plenty of Romanian & Yugo around. I've heard some folks complain about the 50's dtd Yugo, I've got 2 cases & haven't had any problems. Both will go bang when thry're supposed to, are reasonable accurate but are corrosive - so clean accordingly.

Check the following for prices etc.

www.aimsurplus.com
www.southernohiogun.com
www.ammoman.com
www.ammunitionstore.com

Depending on shipping charges you can usually get it for .10 - .12 a round. If I remember right Ammunitionstore has the best price going on 70's dtd, brass case Yugo.

jonk

The turk stuff is loaded with a 156 gr bullet, and seems to do better from longer mausers than the 98k.... best results for your gun seem to be had with heavier 198gr bullets, or the sS load as the Germans called it. I've had very good luck with Yugo ammo, and the 15 round box 1939 greek ammo.

"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf

rimfire72

I just bought 780rds of Romanian from AIM. Its metal cased. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet,but I ran 15 rounds through the gun(M48)with no problems. Best deal I've found too. 79.00 including shipping.

sandwarrior

My favorite for blasting is the Turkish. I have consistently chrono'd it between 2920-2980 fps. That is pretty hot. It is actually somewhat accurate, but not great. I also took some and pulled the bullets and replaced them (154 gr.) with 150 grain Sierra's. That improved the accuracy but not as much as using modern reloadable brass with Sierra 150's in front of 52.5 gr. of IMR 4064. I don't get the published velocity with 4064 like I do with 4895, but the accuracy is better.
For hunting I also load 50 gr. of IMR 4064 behind a Speer 200 gr. Spitzer for 2550 fps. All this is shot out of an M48BO that I sporterized and put a 3-9X40 nikon on. WORK UP TO THESE LOADS CAREFULLY BECAUSE CHAMBER DIMENSIONS VARY THEREFORE PRESSURES!
Most anything from Europe is Berdan primed and expensive to set up to reload. It is cheaper to go with standard single hole primers.
I have shot Greek, Yugo, and Czech, but they were all more expensive than the Turkish to buy so I haven't gone back and gotten more.
-hope that helps, good luck.

We have the second amendment so that all the rest are secure....UNK>

Mobuck

I have some of the SOG noncorrosive (seems to be ok if cleaned rightaway with Hoppes #9) that has a 150+/- bullet. It shot good in a vz24 with about about 3" of smooth bore at the muzzle but not so good in a 29" barrel. I just got a new turk shortened to 22" but haven't tried it yet. The lighter bullet loads are easier on the shoulder and the backstop. Those 196 grainers will really penetrate.

Mobuck<BR>