Is 8mm Mauser corrosive?

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Darker Loaf

New member
I was recently able to get my hands on a few cases of 8mm Mauser all in 5 round stripper clips and in cloth bandoleers. The gun I intended to shoot it through is a family war trophy from WW II complete with papers and it's original box. Now, before you decry me for shooting a family relic: it's been done already... a lot. My uncles have been using this gun for hunting white tail for decades.

But, that being said, it isn't badly worn from the hunting use and it looks like it saw most of its use during WW II. I think it is an occupation Mauser, because the markings are in Cyrillic. I can post pictures of it if people are interested in it, and I may want to start another thread on identifying the gun. So, I don't want to trash the gun. I'm nervous about the 8mm ammo I have being corrosive. If it is corrosive, I wouldn't want to shoot any of it out of the gun, period. I have no reason to think the ammo is corrosive, but having had a bad experience with corrosive ammo, I don't want to take any chances.

Is there anybody out there who can identify this ammo based on the head stamp? Also, my uncle implied to me that the Germans (or anybody) never made corrosive ammo but he is often full of it, and I thought to ask TFL.
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
Almost all 8mm Mauser military surplus ammo is corrosive. Post the headstamp and someone will almost certainly be able to identify your ammo for you.

Shooting corrosive ammo in a bolt gun isn't an issue as long as you know it's corrosive and clean accordingly. It can be a pain in a gas operated gun where you can't get to all the nooks & crannies to clean it thoroughly. But in a bolt gun it's a pretty simple cleaning job. It's not even that it's harder than cleaning for non-corrosive--just different.

That's Turkish 8mm ammo made in 1951. It's corrosive.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
That's what I was afraid of. Thank you for your response. I guess if the gun is already well-used, I could just learn how to clean it better if I decide I want to shoot it.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
Ah! You just edited your response? Or maybe I just missed the answer on my first read. Thanks! I appreciate knowing. Now, is there anywhere I could buy a Mauser that I could feel better about abusing?
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
I'd just shoot the gun you have and clean it according to the rules for corrosive. It was intended for use with corrosive ammo, after all.
 
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Dufus

New member
I do what I do with my black powder guns. HOT soapy water. Takes all the corrosive salts out with not a problem, then a couple of solvent patches, dry patches and then oil up the bore lightly.

Swab it out before you shoot again.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
Thanks for the advice! I'll have to get used to that regiment as I have cases of the stuff.

RE John: I suppose if it was intended to be done with the gun in the first place, and I'm not ruining the gun because I'm cleaning it properly. And it isn't a wall-hanger already, so I can't feel too bad about using a field gun.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
Any idea how much this is worth? I haven't paid for it yet, but I basically bought a large number of guns and ammunition from an estate sale from a friend. I kind of just want to buy it from him to help him out, and he'll give me a good price. I don't want to screw him or myself. What is fair per bullet for corrosive 1951 Turkish surplus?
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
Regarding black powder cleaning regiment: The dead guy that I am getting all this from was into black powder firearms so he was probably used to cleaning his guns like that.
 
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mapsjanhere

New member
Just a quick reminder, "corrosive" doesn't mean you're shooting acid through the gun. Corrosive refers to potassium chlorate primer that leaves potassium chloride residue in the gun. This in turn attracts water, and the resulting brine is the corrosive part. So as long as you rinse with hot water after shooting and then reoil you're just as fine as shooting modern ammo. It's not like guns in WWII suddenly dropped their barrels due to rust.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
It just isn't that hard to form 30-06 cases into 8mm Mauser cases.
Click to expand...

No, its not that hard, just a pain in the hands, unless you have some kind of power trimmer.

If you don't trimming the 1/4" off 06 brass in any quantity with regular case trimmer is something you'll remember for a while.

Personally, have made 8mm and 7.7mmJap from 06 brass, I'd rather BUY it.
 
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kilimanjaro

New member
Bulgaria and Jugoslavia kept the 8mm Mauser for decades after the war, so lots of Cyrillic headstamps.

Most surplus ammo is corrosive priming, just clean as outlined above, you'll be OK. Whatever you do, DO NOT fail to clean the rifle for as little as one night. Get used to the idea of using and cleaning in the same session.

As far as ammo goes, I gave up shooting surplus years ago, it's mainly Berdan priming and unreloadable. You can buy Prvi Partisan 8mm Mauser for $0.75 a round, and reload it, it's good Boxer-primed non-corrosive ammo.

I used to put the tea kettle on as soon as I got back from the range, had boiling water in minutes and a spout to pour from.

A fair price for Turkish surplus ammo is ten to fifteen cents a round, if you ask me. Commercial vendors get more.
 
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gyvel

New member
Markings in Cyrillic . I would be interested in seeing photos of the gun and markings.
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Cyrillic stampings would most likely indicate a Yugoslavian Mauser which, at the current time are still relatively plentiful as surplus weapons.
 
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Darker Loaf

New member
RE Cyrillic markings: It might be a Yugo K98, but it is a WW II war trophy. We have the papers for it. Of course, who am I to say it isn't a Yugo? I don't know much about the matter other than it is in Russian and it was brought back during WW II. I'll take pictures and post the proof marks. Thanks for all your comments.
 
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