A friend showed me his grandfather's 1905 8mm Mauser and he is anxious to use it on a hog. He asked me if I could reload for his rifle and I looked over the rifle, it has that German Eagle insignia on it and by golly that rifle is old. I am reluctant to handload for that particular rifle since handloads is mostly for modern firearms differ in CUP pressure and the last thing I want is for that old rifle to blow up and injure someone that will use it. I did some research on it and it has two different bores, .318 for the earlier rifles and .323 for the later rifles.

What do you recommend? I recommend that he cleans the rifle real good and use it for a wall hanger. Opinions appreciated. Thanks

I sure wouldn't do it, for a number of reasons.

Take it to a gunsmith.

Post pictures.

I found this on the CMP forums; it pretty much summarizes everything. BUT the caveat here is this should only be used as a 'rule of thumb' and also doesn't take into account a rebarreling:

"The Gewehr 88 or 1888 Commission Rifle was chambered for the 0.318" diameter 8x57I or 8x57IS cartridge.

The Gewehr 98 or G98 rifle from WW1 as wells as the 98a and 98b (Karabiner 98a and Karabiner 98b) were all chambered for the 0.323" diameter 8x57JS cartridge.

The K98 descended from the 98b in 1935 and was likewise chambered for 0.323" diameter cartridges and bullets. Assuming original or arsenal replacement barrel, it is most certainly 0.323"."

I would slug the barrel: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

I would probably steer clear of reloading this for this rifle if you are not experienced with this gun in particular. Like TDS stated, you have to be certain on what cartridge should be used, among other things. I have one of these and it doesn't get fired very often because ammo for it is difficult to get at a reasonable price. (which is probably why he asked you to reload for him) I would also be interested to see if the rifle has been modified or any parts have been replaced, which is a fairly common practice on these rifles and could cause you and the owner some headaches.

In all honesty, casting the chamber is the only 100% safe thing to do.

If its in 100% military configuration and is a 98 Mauser action (not a GEW 88) its probably safe if its not rusty or corroded, BUT, there are too many "ifs" and "buts" to worry about on this.

Look at Graf's for euro ammo. They import Privi directly and usualy the best source for this kind of stuff. I've used their brass in a 6.5x55 & 9.3x62 and never had a problem as it's better than current WW brass for sure, and about like Hornady for lengevity.

Take it to a GOOD gunsmith is the best advice you can get. Have him deep clean it, slug the barrel yadda yadda and HIM shoot it so you can see a piece of fired brass ** IF the gunsmith won't shoot it then it's game over & time to give it up as it's not worth fixing anything that is unsafe to shoot, BTDT on a nice 7x57 that had been sporterized and needed the barrel set back a couple threads ...that woulda cost double what I paid for the gun. The dealer took it back, set the barrel back on his dime, and sold it again for more money as he could prove that it was a safe shooter, meanwhile I bought a new Ruger 77 for the same total investment. Oh Well

If the gunsmiths fired brass looks OK then YOU then go shoot it in factory ammo for a box or two....and then & only then think about reloading for it. 8x57 is a good deer caliber.
Ron

Thanks folks for the advice. I recently was given an old rifle from my grandfather as well, I gave it a thorough cleaning and sold it. It was not worth it spending money on an old rifle, possibly worn tube, refinish and other variables plus gunsmith labor costs. Better off buying a new rifle.

The rifle sounds like a standard German Gew-98 battle rifle . One of the best ever made . To be sure, you need to post what it says on the left side and top of the receiver . If it is original it is a regular 8x57mm mauser ( 7.92 ), has a regular .323 groove barrel . Any US made 8x57mm ammo will be fine , all 7.92 surplus will be loaded hotter , but also fine . Shooting one is fine as well as selling it to a collector .

This, 'zactly.

I've been loading for all my 8mm's for years. Have the rifle checked out by a competent 'smith first. I love my '96's, '98's, 24/47's and M48's. Hand loading the 8x57mm for them REALLY brings out the potential in these rifles. For the most part it's an accurate, hard hitting cartridge.

To each his own, but I wouldn't sell anything my GF gave me.

x2

x3

X 4

I think it's pretty much unanimous.

All 98s after 1904 were .323 bore. Your good to go there. What you or the gunsmith mostly needs to check is headspace to make sure it is within safe limits. A common caliber like that I usually just buy a No GO and or Field gauge from someplace like Midway and check it myself. It is usually cheaper than having a gunsmith do it and I then have the gauges on hand for the next rifle. If it closes on Field, don't shoot.

All Gew-98 rifles were made with a .323 groove bore , ALL . The 1904 - 1905 date is internet myth . The GERMAN military rifle testing board clearly states the bore size was changed to .323 in 1896 1/2 , it give the date of august 12 .Since NO Gew-98 rifle were made before 8-12-96 , a Gew-98 can not have a smaller bore . You will never find a Gew-98 with anything but a .323 , I have 12 pre 05 rifles with original barrels .

I had forgot about it, but vaguely remember having this debate with someone before and later finding I was wrong. I believe you would be correct.

Thank you . Since I have over 400 German 98 rifles [ all bores sized ] and 56 Gew-88's , , 1000's of rounds of original ammo [ from 1892 - 1945 ] and have done real research with a friend for 20 years . My friend has a masters in Imperial German from a German university and has spent a lot of time with the original German military documents . All of our rifles match what the documents say . I do feel that I am correct . The bad info will not go away if it keeps getting repeated .

Wow, I don't guess you would like to get rid of some of the '98's would you?

Sorry , not yet . It was a major project that took 20 years to complete . Some of them so rare I could only find one example with years of searching . My Japanese type 99 rifle collection is even worse . Every maker [ 8 ] , every series [ 31 ] , one of every 10,000 serial number block [ of 100,000 per series ]. Missing a few serial number blocks as it seem a few block all went down with some sunken shipments .

I probably only have about 50 mixed mausers.

Wow! I have a Mannlicher Schoenauer 6.5x54 and 7x57. Eventually hope to add an 8mm and 9mm.