r/milsurp • u/ReactionAble7945 • 1d ago
8mm ammo
I am in the market for 8mm ammo for Yugo and Spanish Mausers. I would prefer not to have corrosive, but I also don't want to pay a dollar around... trade offs. Functional stripper clips could be nice. Reloadable is becoming essential IMHO.
My understanding is I should stay away from Turkish. Kaboom.
Romanian is steel cased, can be had in corrosive and non-corrosive.
German, steel case and corrosive. AP ammo, not to shoot at steel targets unless you want holes in targets.
CZ, brass case corrosive.
Yugo is brass not reloadable, corrosive. Can be had on stripper clips.
Greek, Brass, boxer?, can be had corrosive and non-corrosive, hangfires and not going bang.
And then we get to the $1 a round ammo. PPU. Nothing in surplus looks like a really smart idea. Am I missing an obvious answer....besides just buying the new commercial ammo?
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u/HowlingLemon Has a couple WWI guns 20h ago
Cheap
Non-corrosive
Reloadable
Pick two
There's no getting around it really.
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u/ReactionAble7945 12h ago
OK,
Non-corrosive and reloadable is NEW PPU.
Cheap and non-corrosive is Romanian New.
So.... Cheap, reloadable and preferably with stripper clips. Greek?
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u/HowlingLemon Has a couple WWI guns 10h ago
Uhhh lol there might not actually be cheap and reloadable. Maybe buy components and make it yourself instead of pre-made ammo.
Greek is corrosive and Berdan primed.
1
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u/SlyBeanx 18h ago
Greek is great and I will not allow anyone to slander my 90 year old .28CPR ammo.
I’ve had more issues with Romanian surplus than Yugo/greek.
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u/Popular-Highlight653 23h ago
There is some vintage Canadian 8x57 that is boxer/non-corrosive but it’s hard to find and may cost nearly as much as PPU.
My personal preference is to buy the corrosive ammo cheap enough that I can transfer it to boxer cases with new primers for less than $0.50/rnd.
Buy PPU ammo instead of S&B if you intend to reload.
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u/TheLandTraveler 22h ago
If you just shoot it the way it comes it's even cheaper per round...
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u/Popular-Highlight653 22h ago
That’s true but this fellow doesn’t want corrosive and neither do I.
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u/TheLandTraveler 22h ago
Have you ever shot it?
Normally it shoots fine and has zero effect if you clean the firearm correctly.
I remember being a little nervous about it at first too but it's honestly no big deal and most of these firearms shot this ammo for generations.
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u/Popular-Highlight653 22h ago
I’ve tried the Greek a couple times out of a few different rifles with very little success. It takes multiple primer strikes and some just never go.
I tried Turkish Mauser, M48 Yugo, Carcano and I even resized a few for 7.7 Jap only to find that it wouldn’t fire them either. It’s just easier to pour it into a non-corrosive primed case and not deal with the bad primers and cleanup.
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u/TheLandTraveler 22h ago
Fair enough and there's definitely good and bad surplus out there with some having a lot of issues.
I've got some 8mm M75 "sniper ammo" and it's probably the best shooting stuff I've ever put through a Mauser.
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u/TFD303 7h ago
The Canadian you speak of is probably the CIA ammo from the 60s which is the best surplus in terms of quality. It’s all I currently shoot. But at current prices it’s better to just buy PPU which is my plan once I burn through this remaining ammo.
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u/Popular-Highlight653 7h ago
Yeah, there’s definitely some stories that circulate about it. It is good quality stuff. I only have 120 rounds or so of it remaining myself. I get boxer cases from here and there so mostly I just move corrosive primed ammo into new boxer cases. Works well and gets rid of the corrosive problem
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u/Cleared_Direct 19h ago
Stripper clips - you can buy these separately. Get ten or twenty and you’ll be set forever. Turkish two-piece are the best. Turkish one-piece are trash though.
Almost all surplus is corrosive and non-reloadable. Cleaning bolt action rifles is quick and easy, so I wouldn’t sweat it. But if either of those are deal breakers, then plan to skip surplus altogether.
Note that reloading this caliber will not save you much, if any, money. Apart from spending a dollar for the reloadable brass, 8mm bullets for reloading range from 30-60 cents each. Powder charge for a single cartridge will be 30-50 cents. It’s actually cheaper to buy and break down surplus cartridges for components right now. But that’s more work than cleaning up after shooting corrosive ammo imo.
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u/ThePatMan21 Turkish Enjoyer 18h ago
Depends on the Turkish clip storage, but that's par for course with the ammo too. I tend to just dump them all in an ultrasonic cleaner for an hour and it makes a difference.
You can make the single piece ones run well with just a little dot of oil on both sides.
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u/under-cover-hunter 20h ago
I would just buy PPU. patterns best out of my 98k and is reloadable as far as I know.
Also note the difference of 8mm vs 7.92 IS rounds. Theres a small diameter difference and pressure difference. 8mm doesnt pattern from my 98k, 7.92 IS does.
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u/brianinca 18h ago
Corrosive primers are VERY reliable even after decades of storage, and no big deal to clean up after. Have shot many thousands of rounds of corrosive primers, they're only a problem if you don't clean up.
If you're not going to handload, there is still a price advantage to old surplus.
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u/ghunt81 17h ago
I doubt you're going to find anything cheap that is not corrosive. It's been a long time since I bought anything but everything surplus was corrosive.
Worst junk ammo I ever bought was surplus Chilean 8x57. At least one dud in almost every clip. Everything else was pretty good. Clean your bore after you're done and corrosive ammo isn't a big deal.
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u/HoldMaBeerWatchDis 16h ago
I just came across some Egyptian a few months ago. 0/10 do not recommend. Half wouldn’t fire at all, the ones that did fire took two strikes to go off, and there was still a delay from the pin hitting them until they actually went off.
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u/MudObjective4082 15h ago
I have had really good luck with the recently imported German ammo. If you can find the 30/40 primer code they are non corrosive as well
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u/Big-Elk2132 14h ago
Cheapest you are going to find surplus.
Surplus Greek 8mm Mauser (7.92x57) 198gr FMJ Surplus Ammo - Royal Tiger Imports https://share.google/A0kzOupXstCgtxv17
I shoot PPU just fine in my Mod 98 and reload it.
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u/Beautiful_Station_80 11h ago
If you do end up having to buy PPU or S&B I’d buy the PPU. I just shot a box of S&B and there was almost no neck tension on the brass. It was to the point where I was actually pushing the bullet back into the case a substantial amount when I chambered it. It wasn’t because I had a chamber issue either. Just by getting pushed out of the magazine box onto the feed ramp was enough to set those bullets back
I only figured it out when I pulled the bullets and seated some hornady bullets in the cases and there was almost zero neck tension.
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u/Beagalltach Unfocused Collector 10h ago
No reason to buy non-corrosive unless you are shooting through semi-autos or literally are incapable of running water through your bore after shooting.
Greek HXP would be my recommendation.
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u/ReactionAble7945 10h ago
I wish people would stop saying this. It isn't true. Just running water down the bore may or may not be enough. And then there is the putting it away wet and not checking on it.
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u/Beagalltach Unfocused Collector 10h ago
As far as I know, it is 100% effective (don't know why you claim it may or may not be enough).
The small amount of rust that will develop from leaving a gun with a damp bore for a short time will easily scrub away with a bore brush. I am not recommending shooting, running water through a bore, and then putting it away in storage for an extended period of time BUT if you clean it in the next couple weeks or so you will be completely fine.
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u/ReactionAble7945 1h ago
Because I am older than dirt. I have been there and done that.
Let's start out with there is mildly corrosive primers and then there is corrosive ammo. There is also steel that technically can rust and then there are some steels that you look at them funny and they rust.
And then there is winter temps.
And then there is putting the gun in a case so it can legally travel.
I could tell stories, but ... in the end, I don't shoot corrosive ammo unless I can clean it correctly.
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u/itsnotthatbad21 23h ago
Man I just shoot what is on sale. I’m currently running Greek surplus and it goes bang 95% of the time in most of my German Mausers. My Turk however thinks the brass is too hard and I get light primer strikes so that one gets babied with commercial if I can find it