Iv got one and it has made a good hunting rifel you just have to spend the mony to get there and the 8 mm like take any thing you will hunt in north america

The site below will give you a pretty good idea of what loads/ballistics are available for the 8mm Mauser if you buy custom loads rather than factory loads from US companies:

http://www.cpcartridge.com/8mmmauser-B.htm

European ammo companies such as S&B or Norma will also provide factory loads with ballistics similar to those listed on the site above.

The 8X57JS Mauser is an excellent hunting round-if you don' t use American made factory ammo in it! Get RWS or Norma ammo, or load it yourself so you can use its' full potential. We have never fully appreciated this round here in the U.S., but it is as popular as ever for huinting in the European countries.

RE: A " scout scope" !! With all due respect to Col. Cooper, I have tried this arrangement on a couple of my own Mausers, and a hunting buddy has one of the " real" Scout Rifles in .308 made by Steyr Mannlicher. His is not too bad, but sticking a scope up on the barrel of a regular Mauser produces a clumsy, unhandy, poorly balanced, abortion of a sighting/rifle arrangement. Put your scope on top of the receiver, where it belongs!! I changed both of mine back to what they should have been to start with, and I can' t afford the Steyr!!

I thought about the scout scope for mausers too, but it looks like it would be more trouble than its worth. Unlike alot of people, I don' t find mauser sights to be all that bad. I can hit milk jugs with my M48 at 200 yards and objects about half the size with my Swedish m96' s at the same distance without breaking a sweat. Its just a matter of getting the object which is narrower than the front sight centered on the front sight.

i' ve got an old navy mauser in 8mm mauser , and i' ve used it for deer and black bear , it' s a decent cartridge but depending on the shape of your rifle , the best ammo for big game would be from norma , or even hansen , for better power , the old military mausers though aren' t as accurate as newer rifles today but , those old military rifles were never meant to be tack drivers