Any value ? WWII 8x57

[Will]

1938 manufacture with cartouche stamp in cardboard box, clip 10 rds. Excellent condition. Was given to me for assisting a friend clear/move his late grandparents stuff.

Thanks

Information

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[Will]

The ammo is 8mm M. 30 scharfe S-Patronen. A handwritten note says Steyr 8x56R. IF I could find my camera I'd post pics.
HTH,

[Bruce McAskill]

That is for the 1895 Austrian Steyr rifle or carbine not the 98 Mauser. It is a 220 gr FMJ rimmed round in 5 round Mannlicher clips. There is some of it floating around now but not too many people are into the 95 model rifles which are being offered for sale. I think it was last used by Austrain troops on the Eastern Front against the Russians during WW2 before they were rearmed with the 98 Mauser and the standard 8x57mm ammo.

[ReloaderNY]

The clips may be more valuble then the ammo. They are required to load/shoot the gun unless used as a single shot.

[sfoster]

This stuff is going for about $15.00 for a 10 cartridge box, with clips, when sold by people who know what it is. 3 years ago, it was selling for $3.00 for the same box, so sometimes you can find it cheaper. Obviously, it is drying up, and getting more expensive, over time.

[smellie]

Hang onto the stuff; you never know when you might need it. I had a rifle for almost 25 years before any ammo showed up in this country (Canada).

This stuff is loaded with a square-flake powder and a 208-grain FMJBT bullet of .330 diameter.... and recoil is murder.

This was the official cartridge of Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria in the years after the Great War. Cartridge was developed about 1929 and adopted in the 1930/31 period. Most of the rifles were WWI Mannlicher straight-pull Model 95s with the barrels reamed and re-rifled and rechambered: cheaper than new barrels for countries which formerly had been rich, now were poor because their armaments industries had been handed over to new countries. Ammo was made in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and I think that was about 'it'. Bulgaria made the stuff until well into 1944. Bulgarian ammo was marked with what looks like a dancing bear but actually is a lion rampant and headstamp lettering is Cyrillic, so it's not hard to spot. Primers are shockingly corrosive on the Bulgarian ammo, too. I can't say for the Austrian as I haven't shot any and I only have a single Hungarian round, so it isn't getting fired.

A new rifle was developed for this round in 1933, a turnbolt with a 2-piece stock, split-bridge receiver, typical Mannlicher bolt, using the same ammo and the same clips. BTW, the clips will work in any 8mm Mannlicher straight-pull and it is entirely likely that they will work in the older 11mm Mannlicher straight-pull rifles, but I don't have one with which to test this. Just the clips, for many years, were utter unobtainium in this country.

After the Anschluss of 1938, the Austrian ammunition started to be marked with an eagle-and-swastika headstamp, as were the clips. It is possible thus to date your ammo pre- or post-Aschluss.

You have a minor, but historically interesting, find.

Do hope this helps.

Have fun!
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