should be 8mm mauser.....you can buy factory loads for it...though may be hard to find.....my dad runs military ammo through his mausers..(i had the first mauser in the house...he collects them now though) we have a local gunshop that is big into military guns ect and they get in 8mm military ammo often..some is weaker then others....the US made stuff is very weak as already said.....i forget what stuff he shot that was really accurate and he thought it was alot hotter(powerful) then anything else he shot....i want to say it was egyptian made...or maybe made by Olympic....i forget...i heard if you handload them with good brass you can load them up pretty hot and get some good shooting rounds....but the factory rounds will all go bang and pack enough for deer+......