JGalt
Diamond Member
- Mar 9, 2011
- 79,144
- 102,320
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Sorry I haven't been on here much the last couple weeks. It's city-wide garage sale season and since I'm the undisputed king of deals and steals, I've been scouring the state for bargains like this: It's a WW1 era German Gew 98 7.92mm (8mm) Mauser. It was manufactured in 1917 at the Danzig Arsenal and appears to have been 'sporterized" at some time by cutting down the forearm and shortening and re-crowning the barrel. But for $50, I'm not going to complain. Even in altered condition, these are bringing $350-$400 on Gunbroker. Probably going to keep it, though. I have a set of 8mm reloading dies and 8mm bullets are still plentiful.
I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:
The results were as follows:
Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:
The chronograph results were as follows:
Not a bad deal for $50.
I completely disassembled it when I got it, cleaned it, oiled it, and put it back together. Does it shoot? First I tried some surplus 1947-dated Turkish 8mm. This stuff has a 154 grain steel core bullet and is Berdan-primed. Turkish ammo shoots hot as hell, is notorious for being corrosive, and the case necks invariably crack when fired. I put four rounds of it onto a target at 25 yards:
The results were as follows:
Next I tried some PPU commercial FMJ 8mm with a 198 grain bullet:
The chronograph results were as follows:
Not a bad deal for $50.
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