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From: gmk@falstaff.mae.cwru.edu (Geoff Kotzar)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: novice wants advice
Message-ID: <35949@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 24 Jun 91 22:58:09 GMT
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In article <35915@mimsy.umd.edu> bercov@bevsun.bev.lbl.gov (John Bercovitz) writes:
##In article <35897@mimsy.umd.edu> MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu 
##(Michael Edelman) writes:
##But be careful of the 8mm Mausers. It's a fine cartridge, but there
##are *two* different 8mm bores! Modern ammunition is generally sized
##for the smaller bore, which means if you shoot it in a gun with the
##larger bore you'll have pretty rotten accuracy. 
#
#_CAUTION_
#I'm sure this is t'other way round.  The earlier guns (88s) had the 
#J bore which was .318.  The later ones have the S bore which is .323.  
#Modern ammo is .323.  If you fire modern ammo in one of the older rifles 
#with the tighter bore, something will likely give.  Even early '98s had
#the J bore.  Later, most or all of the 98s were re-barreled to .323.
#But the J-bore 88s are still around, waiting to be blown up by modern
#ammo.  If I'm wrong, flame me.  But please check it out first.  Thanks.
#
#     JHBercovitz@lbl.gov    (John Bercovitz)
#
#PS: Also, the allowable chamber pressure in the 88s may well be lower than 
#in the 98s making this doubly dangerous. 

I can not comment on the allowable chamber pressures but with regards to
the rest, John is correct. According to "Cartridges of the World", in
German 'J' and 'I' are interchangable and the 'I' stood for Infantrie.
In 1905 they changed both the bullet diameter and shape and added an 'S'
which stood for Spitzer. So you have the J's and the JS's. As the others
have said, if you are new to these things ask for help from someone who
knows about them.

Picked up an FN 49 this weekend in 8mm so I have been scanning the liter-
ature for info on the cartridge.

Geoff Kotzar