Bought one of these today! I traded in a long misbehaving Ruger M77 MkII .30-06. I won't bash Ruger here, because every manufacturer can turn out a lemon once in awhile, and from what I hear most folks who have Rugers don't have the accuracy problems I had. I worked on that rifle for 3 years, trying everything imagineable on the rifle and with handloads to no avail[>:], so it is time to let someone else get a good deal and have a crack at it. Too bad; that was a pretty rifle, just couldn't shoot it in public[&o]. Always had to bring one of my other rifles to convince me that it wasn't just me.[:@]

Anyway, I get to pick up the classic in ten days. It is a beautiful rifle, more like my Ruger was in appearance than my 700 BDL. It has a 24" barrel, a bit longer than most of the standard caliber rifles these days. Of course with 8mm Mauser factory loads it will be the ballistic equivalent of the .30-30 so I will neeed ot handload for it to realize it's potential. This should be fun.

Like I said, it breaks my heart to part with my Ruger, but this one rifle must have been born bad. I plan to save up for another Ruger someday, perhaps in 7x57 or some other interesting caliber.

Does anybody have a favorite load for their 8mm Mauser?