Turkish 8mm pull down options

[KneverKnew]

I have several hundred Turkish 8 mm Mauser rounds that I plan on pulling down. The plan is to load the powder and bullet into new boxer, primed brass. My question is, isn’t the Turkish 8 mm supposed to be rather hot? I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to reduce the powder charge by a few percentage points. Any thoughts or recommendations with regard to my endeavor?

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[Sapper740]

Here's another free 2 cents worth of opinion (isn't that an oxymoron?): I wouldn't risk damaging an expensive milsurp to save the price of a pound or two of powder. That's just me. I picked up a couple of hundred rounds of surplus 7.65 X 53 Argentine at a Flea Market for ten bucks and broke a bunch down. They had dates going all the way back to 1910 and some of the powder looked like it had spider webs holding the pellets together in clumps while in other cartridges the powder had turned into solidified chunks. Would it have been dangerous to shoot? I didn't care to find out.

[browningautorifle]

it had spider webs holding the pellets together in clumps while in other cartridges the powder had turned into solidified chunks.

I lucked in to about one hundred 30-40 Krag military at a show once from an acquaintance. The dates were everything from 1899 to much later in the '30s. I pulled all of them apart to at least change the primers. I decided to change all the powder AND the primers because even though there were a few crisp clean cases with fresh looking powder, some were clumpy and solid. Some had turned back to liquid.

[KneverKnew]

Here's another free 2 cents worth of opinion (isn't that an oxymoron?): I wouldn't risk damaging an expensive milsurp to save the price of a pound or two of powder. That's just me. I picked up a couple of hundred rounds of surplus 7.65 X 53 Argentine at a Flea Market for ten bucks and broke a bunch down. They had dates going all the way back to 1910 and some of the powder looked like it had spider webs holding the pellets together in clumps while in other cartridges the powder had turned into solidified chunks. Would it have been dangerous to shoot? I didn't care to find out.

If the powder in my Turk ammo looks like that I would toss it in the garden as well. But if it looks good, I’d think it’s okay. Broke down 8mm Lebel rounds with grey silvery square flake powder. Shoots great.

[TankerDon]

I pulled and reloaded 100rd. of this Turk last year to get away from the corrosive primers. Powder chg. averaged 47g. I backed it down to 42.5g and set the bullet a little deeper so the Lee crimp die got a better grip. Shoots ok in my Yugo M48.

[MAC702]

A lot of us use Turkish 8mm ammo here in Las Vegas at our thrice monthly shoots. I run it as-is in my Persian often. A few of the guys break it down, reduce the powder charge by about 10%, and recharge the exact same primed case. They just want a bit less recoil because, yes, it is a hotter than average load. We don't run it in our semi-automatics or machine guns.

[usabaker]

I have several hundred Turkish 8 mm Mauser rounds that I plan on pulling down.

I would have to echo the others here and say replace the powder using modern powders. Thats a lot of work (and primer expense) to not have good shooting and reliable ammo. But I do have one question, why are you taking them down in the first place? If the power id good enough to re-use that why go to all the trouble of breaking them down and reloading them?

[KneverKnew]

I would have to echo the others here and say replace the powder using modern powders. Thats a lot of work (and primer expense) to not have good shooting and reliable ammo. But I do have one question, why are you taking them down in the first place? If the power id good enough to re-use that why go to all the trouble of breaking them down and reloading them?

What I’ve heard is lots of hang fires or FTF. Also want to reduce hot loads to more tolerable levels for my shoulder as well as my guns.

[usabaker]

What I’ve heard is lots of hang fires or FTF. Also want to reduce hot loads to more tolerable levels for my shoulder as well as my guns.

Ah.. okay I understand why you want to go to the trouble. It's interesting, though, to hear others have a lot of misfires. I've not really had issues with Turkish ammo, I've maybe had a couple of duds, but no hangfires that I can recall. I do prefer the Greek stuff though

[MAC702]

I've never seen hang-fires with it, but I've seen maybe 0.5% misfires (1/200). It's just not worth addressing it. All the matches I shoot with it have plenty of time to make up the shot. The ammo is already accurate enough to win if I do my part. Use a rifle with a good firing pin spring.