Bear Bums – Bear Hunting

One crisp October afternoon in 1966 I remember staring at a huge mule deer buck in the back of our horse trailer. Dad had just returned from Mike Harris Canyon, on the Idaho/Wyoming border, from a one day hunt. He caught the buck sunning on the east slope of a steep deep canyon we kind of claim as a family “secret spot”.

With his 8mm he hammered this big old deer. We still have the B&C score sheet showing the buck’s score at 189 6/8. A great trophy in most anyone’s book.

The 8mm brought home a lot of game. Deer mostly, but also antelope, elk (from the Selway river) and at least one bear. Dad got the 8mm just post WWll and I received it after his death. Now my son has that rifle.

I called Mitchell Mauser earlier this year and purchased a German military, stored since WWll, rifle that looks almost new. It came with a thick coat of grease, but with a quick clean it shoots like I can’t believe. It’s already harvested a porcupine and a few prairie dogs. This gun’s action is the famous Mauser German action we should all covet. Here’s a Mauser/8mm brief history.

Mauser, based in Germany, is a manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols. Mauser has been in business since 1870 and the majority of their designs were built for the German armed forces. Mauser has also been exported and licensed to a number of countries since the late 19th century and early 20th century. Mauser’s are also a very popular civilian firearm as well as their military firearms.

The later years of the 19th century saw an arms race develop in the improvement of small arms. The French Army introduced the Lebel Model 1886 (in the year 1886), which used smokeless powder. The Lebel Model 1886 allowed for smaller diameter rounds, higher velocity, and accuracy up to 1,000 yards. Theses enhancements made most other military rifles obsolete. The disadvantage to the Lebel was a slow-to-load tube magazine.

In 1888, the German Army adopted the best features of the Lebel to the Gewehr 88, along with a modified Mauser action and a Mannlicher style box magazine. The 8mm Mauser came into existence in 1905 when the 7.92x57J was upgraded with a 154 grain spitzer bullet with a diameter of .323. This was also the primary round used by the German Army during both World Wars. This is the cartridge that is commonly known today as the “8mm Mauser” as it was later used in Mauser rifle models.

The 8mm Mauser is widely chambered in European sporting rifles, but American gunmakers have not adopted it as a standard sporting caliber. American cartridge companies only put out one loading, the 170-grain bullet at 2360 fps. If loaded by European companies such as Norma or RWS, it is in the same class as our 30-06. The “J” or “I” in the name denotes infantry ammunition. The German capital “I” was mistaken for a capital “J” by U.S. military interpreters after World War I and the “J” misnomer came into common use here and even in Europe thereafter!

The 8mm Mauser was not very popular in the United States prior to WWII. This has since changed with the large number of surplus 8mm military rifles sold since the end of the war and the uses have increased substantially. The 8mm Mauser is adequate for any North America big game hunting if the proper bullets and full loadings are used. There are a large variety of good .323-inch bullets available for the individual hand loader and this is a huge advantage for the American shooter in the use of the 8mm Mauser.