RCS, what about the 8mm Remington Magnum

[usabaker]

What can you tell me about the 8mm Remington Magnum cartridge? I read a bit about it on the Wiki but you always seem to have information not stated in most places.

Information

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[RCS]

The 8mm Remington Magnum is an excellent cartridge but never became popular, having a metric designation did not help either. The 375 H&H was being necked-down to other calibers not long after WW1, the Griffin & Howe 350 magnum in the mid 1920's was a good example.

Then Elmer Keith and his friends started necking down the 375 H&H case to their 334 OKH which influenced the development of the 338 Winchester and 340 Weathererby.

You also had the Newton cartridges from the WW1 period, while the 30 Newton and sometimes 35 Newton had a following, the 33 Newton died.

The 8mm Rem Mag is an excellent cartridge in the Rem 700 BDL just never sold well

photos show the Newton family and some of Keith's wildcats from years ago

[bob q]

I have hunted with it for years . It has the flat shooting range of the 300 WM but the hitting power of the .338 . There are a lot more bullets available now than there was . It is my go to rifle for important hunts when you need all the advantages . With the heavier bullets I get almost no meat damage on smaller game like whitetails . It has the same hitting power at 500 yards as the 308 does at muzzle . Brass is hard to find and ammo is not cheap .

[usabaker]

The 8mm Rem Mag is an excellent cartridge in the Rem 700 BDL just never sold well

Thanks! I saw 700 BDL in this caliber pop up on GunBroker and was pondering bidding on it. Still might if the price stays down. Interesting cartridge.

---------- Post added at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

Brass is hard to find and ammo is not cheap

Bob, I gathered that from looking into the ammo for it. I suppose I could fire form some 300 H&H brass to fit it.

[CINDERS]

The 8mm Mag is based on a full length 375 H&H case blown out, the cartridge was announced by Remington in 1978 there were 2 loads for it originally 185Gn at 3080Fps and a 220Gn at 2830Fps the latter has been dropped.

However there were some even before Elmer Keith or Newton made their Wildcats; Similar development preceded it, the 8x68mm (S) originated in Germany in 1940, plus a number of Wildcat Magnums the 8mm Ernst, 8x62 Durham, .323 Hollis and 8mm PMM all date back to the 50's - 60's. (Source cartridges of the world 14th Ed. Pg 143 it also gives current loads for it.)

[usabaker]

Source cartridges of the world 14th Ed. Pg 143 it also gives current loads for it.

I guess this will be the next book I buy... Thank you Cinders

[CINDERS]

Well worth the investment I am always looking at different info in there its jam packed with everything up to 20mm - current - obsolete/discontinued - rim fire - metric - pistol - shot gun shells - black powder - English, and has good short write ups on each round.

[MasterChief]

Useless trivia: I remember Sundra necked this cartridge (back) up to .375 and got some good results, but I don't recall that it ever caught on with anyone else.

[RCS]

I know by the 10th Edition of Cartridges of the World, they were still using a photo of my 450 Alaskan cartridge. Years ago my friend at Gun Digest (H. Murtz) asked me to loan him some cartridges from my collection for photos in Frank Barnes' book. Most of the photos were replaced over the years but my 450 Alaskan stayed a long time. In the photo, it had a 405 gr lead bullet which was used to fire-form the cartridge.

My friend had purchased a Winchester Model 71 rifle which was converted to 450 Alaskan by a gunsmith in Chicago, George Pearsall (they had gunsmiths in Chicago years ago)

I helped him form the cases from 348 WCF into 450 and work-up loads using 3031 powder,
you have to use a flat nose bullet because of the magazine. My friend took this rifle to Canada hunting.

[browningautorifle]

What a thumper, nice bear cartridge.