Would an 8mm Mauser rifle be adequate for deer hunting this fall?

I was invited to go hunting this fall by a friend up where he lives. I was out of hunting for a few years because where I live now isn't so hot for it. Most of my guns are back home before I moved out of the house. All I have on me now is an open-site WWII Mauser and a Ruger .22. It's been very dependable and accurate for plink-shooting, but it may be all I will have to take with me.Would an 8mm Mauser rifle be adequate for deer hunting this fall?
With proper soft-point hunting ammo, it should be more than sufficient. . . .





Loaded with military ball, German 8mm's killed 1000's of Allied troops in W W I I. . . . .Would an 8mm Mauser rifle be adequate for deer hunting this fall?
As the others have said, YES. VERY YES. The Mauser is a rifle handed down from On High, blessed with the strongest and safest bolt action ever designed. It lobs a round in the rough direction of ';thataway'; with the voice of an angry God, hitting with the force of a sledgehammer.





It won't just kill deer, you can take on small BEARS (like, black bears and the like) with the thing. Though, for SMALL game, use the Ruger. The Mauser will vaporize rabbits and squirrels.





Yes, vaporize. As in, reduce to a fine red mist. Try it, sometime, if yer' so inclined!
You should do fine with the Mauser just like it is. Every deer that I've shot has been within 100 yards.


All the high dollar rifles and scopes are usually overkill. I sold the last rifle I purchased (Remington 7mm mag w/sniper scope all stainless) I ended up selling for much less than I paid. I'm getting a 30/30 Winchester with open sights and will probably use it 'till I die..
Excellent caliber.* You will never have to buy another big game rifle when you have an 8MM.*
8mm will work just fine, the heavy bullet drops fast so you don't get as much range as you would with .270 or 7mm Mag but it will work OK at modest ranges. Get some good, current production ammunition, surplus is not precision made and the powder is so old it doesn't burn as even.... for hunting I suggest Federal Hydrashok, it is $1.17 per round but it is good stuff.
yeah, go ahead and use the 8mm. it wouldn't be considered perfect but will do the job with in reason. just know its and your, limits.
Yes, yes, yes!!! Paul Mauser's brainchild will put anything on the north american continent in the stew pot without breaking into a sweat. I discovered and started collecting Mausers some time ago. American loaded ammo is downsized in power to shoot in the weakest action ever made; European ammo has more oomph; you can reload to European specs if you know your rifle. My FAV is a Persian Mauser; mfg by BRNO in Czechoslovakia; designated the 98/29 in 8mm Mauser; it has the smoothest action I have ever seen and with open sights you can hit whatever in excess of a thousand yards. One drawback is that the barrel is so long you have trouble getting it into some of the smaller pickups; but since I prefer large supercab models it is not an issue.
great gun for hunting.lots of knock down power.
An 8mm would do just fine! Don't let anyone tell you that it's overkill. It is comparable to a 30-06, but probably shoots a little farther. Regular military sights will do fine as long as you are proficient with them.


Hope this helps!


Good luck hunting!
8mm Mauser rifle is an awsome gun don't worry about overkill because remember you want to kill what ever you're shootin' unless you want it to suffer as it dies, slowly and painfully as I do.
Heck yeah!!!





If the crank yanking the trigger holds it right, it will put meat on the ground!





Doc
Your 8 mm will do fine. It has plenty of power to take down any deer in North America.





Good luck and hunt safe.
With US-manufactured factory loads, it'll be more than adequate. With European loads or handloads, it's even better. Think in these terms: it has a bigger hole in the end than a 308, and you can compare the 170 grain bullet to the 165 grain bullet in the 308 at about the same velocity.


Until I made the mistake of loaning it out to one of my children, a 98 sporter with peep sight was my ';rainy day'; deer rifle of choice. Now I have another 8x57, and I'm looking forward to hitting the loading bench with the 195 grain Hornady's.
It is certainly adequate for most deer hunting. My brother had one. He used softpoint loads for hunting and military surpus for practice. It is not quite as powerful as the .30-06 but is comparable.
I was in something of the same position you find yourself in with only a old Mauser to shoot and deer season coming. Not a problem at 200 yards, but that was back when I could see 200 yards. As long as you can hit your target the 8 will do the job.
that caliber can kill a deer with great ease
With the 8mm Mauser, if you can see it, it'll work.
as long as you practice an are able to shoot it accurately a 8mm mauser is a good deer rifle, possibly go home and get another rifle
Wow, I actually find someone else on here who would like to take out their 8mm this deer season. Yes, it will be just fine. I can not wait to take my 8mm out this year either. My grandpa has killed plenty of deer with his old 8mm, now I own it, and can not wait to hunt with it. Best of luck.
8MM would almost be overkill, next step up would be a shoulder fired howitzer. So to answer your question yes it would work.





Whoda thunkit is spot on, you don't have to have the biggest and badest, and a thudy thudy is perfect, I have one of those too.
acmeraven, Good to see a fellow Mauser collector. I too have a bunch of Mauser's from the Commission rifle (not a real Mauser) to the commercial.


And to answer the question YES the 8mm x 57mm Mauser round is an excellent cartridge for hunting anything you want in the USA And the gun itself is very strong.


Sarge
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