I always pull surplus european 8mm mauser ammo, reduce the powder charge by at least 4.5 grains then reassemble the ammo. The reduced loads are pleasant to shoot, with manageable recoil, and stocks dont break. With Turkish 154 grain ammo, the powder charge ends up being 42 grains of the original powder. With the Greek 198 grain, the powder charge is reduced to 40 grains. I notice the powder in the Turkish and Greek ammo looks identical.
Bought a ton of the Turkish stuff 10-15 years ago. If memory serves it ranges from 1939 to 1943~. It shoots ok from what I remember. Definitely kicks a little harder than the other surplus ammo.
I have a bit of a theory myself on this matter. I have four different batches of Turkish 8mm. One from 1938, 1941, 1947, and 1954. The ‘38 & ‘54 shoot EXTREMELY similar to Romanian 8mm. It’s the stuff from the war and post war era that shoots differently. I suspect that in the bidding war that the Allies conducted behind the scenes to keep Germany from getting the high quality raw materials it needed to keep quality up during a war economy. Turkey went through a massive rearmament program during the early years of the war from fear or German or allied invasion. I think in their rush for rearmament they had the same problems Germany had in locating the necessary raw materials to make sufficient quality powders they were used to. And so when the war ended they were able to procure the materials necessary to make better powder but decided to use up the poorer powder before making the switch. I have no documentation or sources to back this theory up but that’s what I think might have happened.
I've shot through about 13,000 rounds of 1930s Turkish 8mm. Personally, I don't think it's all that hot. One range setting, we also ate through a 900 round tin of Bulgarian light ball & 400rd case of FN, and didn't notice any difference at all. Personally, I think the Portuguese heavy ball kicks much more. Sadly, I've burned through the 8,000 rounds I had. Only have a few left. Nothing has thumped me more than S&B 196gr SPCE loaded to CIP specs. That stuff is hot 🔥
The S&B stuff is really spicy. I’m not sure if the 30’s stuff is as hot as the more common 40’s stuff. I’m going to try and do a review of all Turkish ammo (every year of production) but I’m missing a few years. Can you send an email to 8mmmauserman@gmail.com?
I had two bandoleers of that ammo in the early 2000's. I ended up giving it to a friend of mine. He told me the ammo was dirty when fired, had higher recoil, had issues with hang fire/no fire, had issues with case splitting and head case separation.
Ironically Turkish 8mm *would have been* one of the best options for use in Gewehr 88’s… if it wasn’t so overpressured. The reason being is it is a copy of the older German S cartridge, equipped with a .321 diameter bullet which was designed for the original .321 barrels on Gewehr 88’s up until mid 1896 when they switched to .323 barrels. All Gewehr 98’s were made with the slightly larger .323 barrels as they were manufactured after mid 1886. After WWI, the Germans adopted the S.s. cartridge to replace the S cartridge… a .323 diameter bullet originally designed for airplane machine guns. The Germans discovered it had far less muzzle flash in carbines than the earlier S cartridge. Typically the S cartridge was a .321 diameter, 154~ grain bullet (Turkish and Romanian are ‘S’ copies) while S.s. was .323 diameter, 196-198 grain.
I have some 1941 and 47 dated turkish , it is hot. although i have loaded 150 grain bullets to just shy of 3000 fps with no cratering and i think the primers on the turkish stuff are a bit soft as well
The Turks used that stuff in all their 8mm rifles and they used M88s, M91s, M93s, M1903s and M38s. When they used the M91s they were in 7.65x53 all the way through the M1903s then they changed calibers, don't know when, to standerdize the ammo. Now you need to get a long barreled Turkish M38 to find out the velocity in a 29 inch barrel. Good video.
I’ve had no experience with the ammo, but I got 50 clips for a good deal and I’ve heard a bit of complaints about them. I’ve had no issues so far anyway Cool video as always
Interesting that so many batches across so many different tests have similar max fps and similar grain weights to always be considered having "gone bad". As opposed to being manufactured that way. Were they were all in one big storage area.
I have some ideas in mind to figure this out, but the only way to find out is to continue collecting and test ammo with similar bullet weights and compare them. I think it is a good assumption that the ammo has gone bad since it can damage rifles, and in particular the stocks of guns that it was issued with. It’s still an assumption though, and I’d like to verify that.
There are 3 german ball rounds that were developed and used excluding specialty ammo like SMK and SMK L Spur etc. Patrone S 154 grain bullet at 2,880 FPS Patronen s.S 198 grain bullet at 2,550 FPS Patrone S.M.E iron core bullet 177 grains at 2,520 FPS (these are numbers from memory of a book currently at home and im on night shift atm, will edit info as needed when i'm off but from memory the numbers above are accurate to the best of my knowledge)
@@8mmmauserman S patrone 154.3 grain bullet 860 M/s (2,820) s.S. Patrone 197.5 grain bullet 780 M/s (2,560) S.m.E Patrone 178.2 grain bullet 770 m/s (2,520) If you want some iron core ammo to shoot (east german 8mm) look around GB for lots of 500 rounds of 8mm starting at a penny, the page is STAauctions
@@DireAvenger001 no unfortunately, I still need to have the rifle inspected by a gunsmith as it was never fired by the previous owner. Plus I ran out of money so it might be a while until I can get that done. I'll be sure to update when I do fire it though
I'm fairly new to surplus and just bought a really nice Yugo M48A. Would you say that it would be safe to shoot through that rifle with no major issues? I found a really good deal on Turkish 8mm and it's tempting but I'm nervous. Should I buy the Turkish ammo or spend twice as much and get some Yugo ammo?
You won’t have any safety issues, but some people have cracked stocks. Both of my rifles aren’t in immaculate shape anyway, so I don’t usually mind, but I wouldn’t shoot it in anything extremely valuable. If you have the equipment, some people will buy this ammo and pull some of the powder.
Howdy .. i just got some 8 MM Romanian on striper clips 154 gr bullet 1950 stuff . have you heard any thing about that ammo ? i am gonna shoot it in my 1943 Spanish bolt action rifle. THANKS Steve
my grandpa left a ammo box of this stuff and it looks way different then yours. the writing on the rim of the cartridge looks like it was written in Turkish instead of the F.S. and actual numbers, and some of the rounds actually have visible corrosion on them. I shot 13 of them yesterday and had 2 duds. the rest of them either fired correctly or had a millisecond of delay. edit: turns out I have Persian and some other middle eastern round.
@@8mmmauserman east german one I heard good enough also. Try also to get the FN made too. If you found Iranian, just use it for component only.I think 8×57 is much better MG ammo than 30 06. Not too long, not too short.
You think turkey is a desert country right? in fact you can experience 4 seasons in turkey through out year,sometimes looking at the world map is a good thing.
I’m not an expert in geography. I spent a bit of time in a country near Turkey in the summer and I’ve seen pictures and assumed it was a mostly arid country. It’s definitely still quite a bit warmer generally than where I live. Forgive my misunderstanding.
I just saw this vid you made on Turk ammo. One of my mauser platforms is a super great shape 1940 K. Kale, one of the first made in Turkey itself. Anyway, I really enjoyed this vid and thank you for the info. 8mm Turk is known to run hot and I believe it was loaded that way and maybe some degrading of the powder happened but in general its just hot. One factor is the mountains in that area called for LONG shots and a hot round gave that little edge over other ammo's range. Just a theory but it makes sense. I like the shoulder saver!! Low tech solutions work just fine. Stay safe.
Once again you have opened the door to the history of the 7,92 and the 154 Gr FMJ. Thank you for taking the time for a very informative video.
Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment. It helps me out a lot
You’re very welcome and keep up the great work 👍🏿
I always pull surplus european 8mm mauser ammo, reduce the powder charge by at least 4.5 grains then reassemble the ammo. The reduced loads are pleasant to shoot, with manageable recoil, and stocks dont break. With Turkish 154 grain ammo, the powder charge ends up being 42 grains of the original powder. With the Greek 198 grain, the powder charge is reduced to 40 grains. I notice the powder in the Turkish and Greek ammo looks identical.
That's probably a good call. A lot of work, but worth it for some.
Bought a ton of the Turkish stuff 10-15 years ago. If memory serves it ranges from 1939 to 1943~. It shoots ok from what I remember. Definitely kicks a little harder than the other surplus ammo.
It’s usually pretty hot. I’m trying to get my hands on every year for testing.
I have a bit of a theory myself on this matter. I have four different batches of Turkish 8mm. One from 1938, 1941, 1947, and 1954. The ‘38 & ‘54 shoot EXTREMELY similar to Romanian 8mm. It’s the stuff from the war and post war era that shoots differently. I suspect that in the bidding war that the Allies conducted behind the scenes to keep Germany from getting the high quality raw materials it needed to keep quality up during a war economy. Turkey went through a massive rearmament program during the early years of the war from fear or German or allied invasion. I think in their rush for rearmament they had the same problems Germany had in locating the necessary raw materials to make sufficient quality powders they were used to. And so when the war ended they were able to procure the materials necessary to make better powder but decided to use up the poorer powder before making the switch. I have no documentation or sources to back this theory up but that’s what I think might have happened.
That’s interesting!
I've shot through about 13,000 rounds of 1930s Turkish 8mm. Personally, I don't think it's all that hot. One range setting, we also ate through a 900 round tin of Bulgarian light ball & 400rd case of FN, and didn't notice any difference at all. Personally, I think the Portuguese heavy ball kicks much more. Sadly, I've burned through the 8,000 rounds I had. Only have a few left.
Nothing has thumped me more than S&B 196gr SPCE loaded to CIP specs. That stuff is hot 🔥
The S&B stuff is really spicy. I’m not sure if the 30’s stuff is as hot as the more common 40’s stuff. I’m going to try and do a review of all Turkish ammo (every year of production) but I’m missing a few years. Can you send an email to 8mmmauserman@gmail.com?
I had two bandoleers of that ammo in the early 2000's. I ended up giving it to a friend of mine. He told me the ammo was dirty when fired, had higher recoil, had issues with hang fire/no fire, had issues with case splitting and head case separation.
I didn’t have any of those issues with mine. That’s just the standard variation with milsurp ammo.
That was my experience with it. Highly corrosive too.
Nice video as always, I did notice you made one mistake, the T C actually means Turkish Republic in Turkish, its marked on the Turkish rifles too.
Ironically Turkish 8mm *would have been* one of the best options for use in Gewehr 88’s… if it wasn’t so overpressured. The reason being is it is a copy of the older German S cartridge, equipped with a .321 diameter bullet which was designed for the original .321 barrels on Gewehr 88’s up until mid 1896 when they switched to .323 barrels. All Gewehr 98’s were made with the slightly larger .323 barrels as they were manufactured after mid 1886. After WWI, the Germans adopted the S.s. cartridge to replace the S cartridge… a .323 diameter bullet originally designed for airplane machine guns. The Germans discovered it had far less muzzle flash in carbines than the earlier S cartridge. Typically the S cartridge was a .321 diameter, 154~ grain bullet (Turkish and Romanian are ‘S’ copies) while S.s. was .323 diameter, 196-198 grain.
I have some 1941 and 47 dated turkish , it is hot. although i have loaded 150 grain bullets to just shy of 3000 fps with no cratering and i think the primers on the turkish stuff are a bit soft as well
That’s possible, especially since this ammo had no problems in my rifle with a less than consistent firing pin.
The Turks used that stuff in all their 8mm rifles and they used M88s, M91s, M93s, M1903s and M38s. When they used the M91s they were in 7.65x53 all the way through the M1903s then they changed calibers, don't know when, to standerdize the ammo. Now you need to get a long barreled Turkish M38 to find out the velocity in a 29 inch barrel. Good video.
Yeah! I'd really like to test it out in one. This stuff is really flying
I’ve had no experience with the ammo, but I got 50 clips for a good deal and I’ve heard a bit of complaints about them. I’ve had no issues so far anyway
Cool video as always
Hey, thanks. I think as long as you’re careful and aware of what you have, this is good Ammo.
Interesting that so many batches across so many different tests have similar max fps and similar grain weights to always be considered having "gone bad". As opposed to being manufactured that way. Were they were all in one big storage area.
I have some ideas in mind to figure this out, but the only way to find out is to continue collecting and test ammo with similar bullet weights and compare them.
I think it is a good assumption that the ammo has gone bad since it can damage rifles, and in particular the stocks of guns that it was issued with. It’s still an assumption though, and I’d like to verify that.
There are 3 german ball rounds that were developed and used excluding specialty ammo like SMK and SMK L Spur etc.
Patrone S 154 grain bullet at 2,880 FPS
Patronen s.S 198 grain bullet at 2,550 FPS
Patrone S.M.E iron core bullet 177 grains at 2,520 FPS (these are numbers from memory of a book currently at home and im on night shift atm, will edit info as needed when i'm off but from memory the numbers above are accurate to the best of my knowledge)
Could you send me the title of that book when you get the chance?
@@8mmmauserman forgot to update
Title is "7.9x57 Mauser Ammunition for the collector" Volume 1: german WWII second edition by
Geremy M. Chubbuck
@@8mmmauserman S patrone 154.3 grain bullet 860 M/s (2,820)
s.S. Patrone 197.5 grain bullet 780 M/s (2,560)
S.m.E Patrone 178.2 grain bullet 770 m/s (2,520)
If you want some iron core ammo to shoot (east german 8mm) look around GB for lots of 500 rounds of 8mm starting at a penny, the page is STAauctions
Absolutely love the makeshift butt pad
Thanks lol. When I film these videos, I will sometimes film 7-8 range sessions at a time. After about 70 rounds of 8mm, you start to feel it.
Do you think it would be a bad idea to fire Turkish 1940's 8mm ammo in a Yugoslavian M48A?
Personally, I think it’s ok as long as it’s in good shape. I shot this in an M24/47
@@8mmmauserman Thank you for the reply! I appreciate that
Any updates on how it fired through the M48A?
@@DireAvenger001 no unfortunately, I still need to have the rifle inspected by a gunsmith as it was never fired by the previous owner. Plus I ran out of money so it might be a while until I can get that done. I'll be sure to update when I do fire it though
@@SkyeFergus understandable. Thanks
I'm fairly new to surplus and just bought a really nice Yugo M48A. Would you say that it would be safe to shoot through that rifle with no major issues? I found a really good deal on Turkish 8mm and it's tempting but I'm nervous. Should I buy the Turkish ammo or spend twice as much and get some Yugo ammo?
You won’t have any safety issues, but some people have cracked stocks. Both of my rifles aren’t in immaculate shape anyway, so I don’t usually mind, but I wouldn’t shoot it in anything extremely valuable.
If you have the equipment, some people will buy this ammo and pull some of the powder.
Howdy .. i just got some 8 MM Romanian on striper clips 154 gr bullet 1950 stuff . have you heard any thing about that ammo ? i am gonna shoot it in my 1943 Spanish bolt action rifle. THANKS Steve
Sorry. No experience with it
@@8mmmauserman THANKS
I bet this could penetrate 7.62 rated vest and have more power than 30 06
That’d be in interesting test.
@@8mmmauserman try to get german ww2 AP round. (The normal pressure one not that V munition)
YES.
my grandpa left a ammo box of this stuff and it looks way different then yours. the writing on the rim of the cartridge looks like it was written in Turkish instead of the F.S. and actual numbers, and some of the rounds actually have visible corrosion on them. I shot 13 of them yesterday and had 2 duds. the rest of them either fired correctly or had a millisecond of delay.
edit: turns out I have Persian and some other middle eastern round.
If you send a picture of the other round to my email, I can see if I can ID it for you. 8mmmauserman@gmail.com
I have a few boxes of Ecuadorian.
Would you please send an email to the link in the description?
I bought probably 100 something rounds of this yesterday in bandoliers. Kinda scared to shoot it out of my VZ24
I personally feel comfortable with it in 98 pattern bolt guns, but use at your own risk
2 best I've ever tried was Israeli and yugo. Other then that just some store bought ppu and my handloads
I love the Yugo stuff, but Israeli is good too.
I have 1940 Turkish ammo it seems hot to me got a whole case it seems ok in my FN bolt rifle .
It is pretty hot. I wouldn’t use it in anything other than a strong Mauser bolt action
Turkish also had heavy ball. But less common
That sounds cool. If I can find some, I’ll test it.
@@8mmmauserman east german one I heard good enough also. Try also to get the FN made too. If you found Iranian, just use it for component only.I think 8×57 is much better MG ammo than 30 06. Not too long, not too short.
@@junglehunteryautja5490 I have 2 years of East German, but many videos before then. I do not have FN 8mm. I do have FN 7.62x51
@@8mmmauserman ethiopian don't do that unless you just want their bullet.
I personally love the turkish ammo. Shoots better than any other surplus I've run through my m38.
I did just buy almost 500 more rounds. It’s crazy stuff
Spicy stuff guaranteed to zing up your Mauser.
Yeah. I don’t plan on firing too much more through it
I have some 1926 turkish 8mm
Nice. I’m getting a big order of Turkish ammo soon
good
Glad you liked it!
TC means Turkish Republic
Thanks!
How much PPU soft point do you need for your testing?
I need at least 20 rounds, but I like to have 30-40 for future testing.
You think turkey is a desert country right? in fact you can experience 4 seasons in turkey through out year,sometimes looking at the world map is a good thing.
I’m not an expert in geography. I spent a bit of time in a country near Turkey in the summer and I’ve seen pictures and assumed it was a mostly arid country. It’s definitely still quite a bit warmer generally than where I live.
Forgive my misunderstanding.
Just because it's called a butt stock, doesn't mean ya put a diaper on it...
On some occasions when I shoot through the chronograph on this channel, I fire a number of ammos I need to test. My shoulder get's sore after time
I just saw this vid you made on Turk ammo. One of my mauser platforms is a super great shape 1940 K. Kale, one of the first made in Turkey itself. Anyway, I really enjoyed this vid and thank you for the info. 8mm Turk is known to run hot and I believe it was loaded that way and maybe some degrading of the powder happened but in general its just hot. One factor is the mountains in that area called for LONG shots and a hot round gave that little edge over other ammo's range. Just a theory but it makes sense. I like the shoulder saver!! Low tech solutions work just fine. Stay safe.
Yeah. I agree on “maybe just loaded hot”. I’m trying to collect Turkish ammo from every year of manufacture to test and assess.
Not loaded hot at all
🇦🇺😎👍
Thanks for the comment!
Ian gets various fps.he gets cratering also and cracks the wrist of the stock.
ruclips.net/video/AunvMjcJPHY/видео.html
I watched that video when getting mine ready as well. He makes great stuff
To bad he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about