8mm Rem Mag

[Lee Martin]

I've been getting back into rifles and took this 8mm Rem Mag to the range today. It was snowing like hell and the wind prevented me from shooting groups. Nonetheless I had a great time busting rocks at 100 yards.

We built the gun on a stainless Model 70 Winchester (claw extractor). The barrel is match grade Shilen cut to 27" and the scope is a 4 - 16 Weaver.



I've tried a few different loads in it and settled on 87.0 of Retumbo with Sierra's 220 gr Game King. It'll touch 3,000 fps and prints under an inch at 100.



Anyone else on the forum shoot this round? I know it's an oddball cartridge but I've had great luck with 8's. If you do own one I recommend the aforementioned load.

And there's something about shooting in the snow. Ya, it's cold and messy but the targets show up so much better. Here are a couple of shots from earlier this morning.




-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"

[Snyd]

Nice.

My one and only scoped rifle is a Kimber MT 325wsm. I affectionally call it the "Little 8".

singleactions.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rifles&action=display&thread=8197

My go to load is a 200gr Accubond at 2950fps and shoots 5rnds sub moa at 100. I have a 220GK load that is 2800 and shoots about the same. I took an Interior Alaskan Griz with that load. A few sheep and moose have fallen to the 200gr AB, it's a great bullet. Flys great and is tough. I've recovered 2 of them.

Here is a great thread full of lots of load development for the Big 8. With modern day powders and the case capacity the Big 8 is a whopper.

forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/116912-8mm-Rem-Mag-Range-Report

[kaytod]

My father has had an 8mm Rem mag since their first introduction. Nicknamed "lightning", the factory 700 BDL is plenty accurate after free floating the barrel. Great cartridge IMO.

[2 Dogs]

I lean towards the 338 bores myself, but if a 8mm Mag ever came my way I would be all over it. I really like the over 30 calibers for serious killing.

[tek4260]

Have had one for years! Love it

[toroflow]

I've got an 8 mag on a 700 action. Love the thing. The original RUM round, from the late 1970s!

[bradshaw]

Lee.... beautiful photos. Remember, you're not allowed to use the brakes driving in those conditions. Steering exists only while the wheels rotate!

Seems Americans only have room in brainpan for one "mm," which would be the 7mm. Winchester named their 8mm Short Mag the ".325" to hide this inconvenient fact. Nevertheless, with bullet makers designing 8mm projectiles for Rem Mag velocity----as opposed to the 8x57mm Mauser----the handloader is off to the races.

I won't trade my .338 Win Mag for an 8mm, but I respect the honest hole it makes with a good bullet.
David Bradshaw

[Fowler]

I have always felt the 8mm Rem Mag might be the ultimate elk rifle, a good supply of 210gr Nosler Partitions and you are all set.

The only thing that held the gun back was that factory ammo was nonexsistand and all of crappy Remington brand and even to the reloader bullets and brass are hard to come by.

I also wouldnt trade my 300 or 338 for one but now that there are more bullet choices out there it would be a dynamite cartidge for the high country.

[Lee Martin]

Thanks for the link Snyd....much appreciated. I have a CZ 24 Mauser action that may become a 325 WSM.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"

[bradshaw]

Lee tells me his first 8mm Rem Mag was the Remington M700, and a rough spot in the chamber caused a fired shell to stick, which reinforced in his mind the fundamental strength of the Mauser extractor, which of course the REAL Model 70 has.

This points up a major difference between the Remington or Sako style extractor and the Mauser/M70 extractor...

Remington or Sako style extractor:
A chambered cartridge DOES NOT ROTATE as the bolt is closed. Therefore, the Remington or Sako fixed extractor rotates over the rim. The bolt rotates while the cartridge does not, a weakness in PRIMARY EXTRACTION (bolt lift). A sharp extractor can lathe-turn brass off the rim, and/or derail or jump off the rim.

Mauser/M70 extractor:
Non-rotating. Picks up rim as bolt pushes cartridge from magazine to chamber.

Any extractor badly out of spec will fail to perform. The Remington extractor is a piece of spring steel countersunk in the boltface. Often it proves "stronger" than the Sako/M16 styles, which are coil spring loaded and not captive in the boltface. A weak spring or rounded edge can cause the extractor to jump off the rim.

In addition, brass shaved from a sharp extractor can wedge the Remingtion plunger ejector flush with the boltface, preventing ejection. While the frozen ejector must rank as a statistical rarity, I've seen it several times. The M1 Garand and its offspring M14 and the later AR-15/M16 each has a plunger ejector; why don't these rifles suffer the malady?

The answer is country simple: these robust extractors are devoid the sharp edges which can lathe-turn brass.

I share Lee's affinity for the Model 70. It is not as strong as the Remington M700, which I believe is the action all manufacturers have to compare their product to in test bolt action strength. Against that, I have seen Model 70's used in High Power which have been rebarreled ten times. That says something.

As a final note, I lubricate rifles, especially the locking lugs. Very important for long, gall-free action life. This is especially true of stainless steel actions and all Remington actions, whether carbon or stainless.
David Bradshaw

[Lee Martin]

David.....thanks for the advice on the AR extractor. My 700 is actually a 7mm STW. The first 8mm Mag we built is on a P-17 Enfield.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal one round at a time"

[bradshaw]

Lee.... thanks for the correction.

The M16 extractor is very strong, and enjoyed some popularity in IHMSA silhouette, especially when opening the Remington XP-100 boltface from .221 Fireball to .308 Win.

Another common trick was to cut two coils from the ejector spring, which dropped a fired case beside the shooter, as opposed to throwing the empty on the competitor to the right.

My caution to lubricate Remington locking lugs applies double to the individual who insufficiently resizes brass and expects that closing the bolt handle will finish resizing the loaded round----it's called GALLING.
David Bradshaw

[Ken O'Neill]

The 8 mm Rem. Mag. is one of Craig Boddington's favorites, in his David Miller built rifle, and he's taken some superb animals with it.
Like Fermin, I've never owned an 8mm, having settled on a .338 Win. Mag. in its stead, back when I hunted with rifles.
But now, the 8mm's full-grown brother, the .416 Rem. Mag. ... now THAT'S a rifle! I just sold my last one earlier this year.

[tek4260]

Here is mine. Loaded with 200gr Speer over 81gr of H4831SC. I like the lighter constructed bullets for whitetail. The 150s will ruin a whole deer though....

[tek4260]

Forgive the screwy pictures. Photobucket is acting up today.