8x57 Mauser conundrum

[Southeastern Son]

So I was gifted a Remington 700 chambered in 8x57 Mauser by an uncle years ago when I was in highschool. Years went by and I never even fired it (mostly due to moving away and it staying at my parents house). Eventually I picked it up from my parents, found some ammo for it and started shooting it. I honestly have fallen in love with it and would love to use and abuse it but.
1. The ammo is expensive and criminally hard to find
2. I’ve recently become aware that this is a decently sought after rifle/caliber combo and it is in great shape and don’t want to diminish its value
Any advise and any other 8x57 Mauser users on here?

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

So I was gifted a Remington 700 chambered in 8x57 Mauser by an uncle years ago when I was in highschool. Years went by and I never even fired it (mostly due to moving away and it staying at my parents house). Eventually I picked it up from my parents, found some ammo for it and started shooting it. I honestly have fallen in love with it and would love to use and abuse it but.
1. The ammo is expensive and criminally hard to find
2. I’ve recently become aware that this is a decently sought after rifle/caliber combo and it is in great shape and don’t want to diminish its value
Any advise and any other 8x57 Mauser users on here?

They aren't that expensive to reload for, and while there is a vast field of science behind reloading, just doing basic reloading for a single cartridge using a well known recipe is very easy to do.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

$0.10 per primer, $0.30 or so for a basic soft point bullet, $0.30 ish for powder, and you can reuse the brass quite a few times, so even if you paid $1 each for them, say $0.10 per load, and you are comfortably under a buck a round.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

The Sellier & Bellot 196-grain loads are relatively cheap and effective. That can be had for around $0.88-1.05 per round.

Avoid the American 170-grain loads. They neuter the cartridge.

I used to use it a lot more than I do now. I got very good results with Speer 200-grain bullets in all my Mausers.

I have a very light old Mauser hunting rifle that is an eventual project rifle. Maybe next year I will have the time to work up a load for it.


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