Greeting guys,
I have a good friend who has a 8mm Kropatschek model M1886/89 Infantry rifle,Colonial rifle. I think the rifle shoots
8x60 Rimmed cartridges. The gun has CE.W.F.G.STEYR 1886 engraved on receiver. Our question on this would be where could surplus type ammo be obtained for this gun and if it is not available what dies can be purchased to reload our own ammo. The barrel rifling seems to be in very good condition.

He purchased some ammo from a gentleman a while back and the primer seems to back out slightly (about 10 thousands of an inch) after it was fired. Any input from you guys that might have one of these old gems would be appreciated. Also please comment on if lead bullets must be poured or if off the shelf bullets can be used. It would also be appreciated if any reload information can be obtained for this gun.

Thanks a bunch and Happy New Year.

If it were mine, I'd have the chamber cast and the barrel slugged to get all the pertinent dimensions. Plus have it checked out for potential problems.

How's the headspace?

Sounds like a low pressure round. Somebody out there might have some load info. I'd be very careful.

Greeting guys,
I have a good friend who has a 8mm Kropatschek model M1886/89 Infantry rifle,Colonial rifle. I think the rifle shoots
8x60 Rimmed cartridges. The gun has CE.W.F.G.STEYR 1886 engraved on receiver. Our question on this would be where could surplus type ammo be obtained for this gun and if it is not available what dies can be purchased to reload our own ammo. The barrel rifling seems to be in very good condition.

He purchased some ammo from a gentleman a while back and the primer seems to back out slightly (about 10 thousands of an inch) after it was fired. Any input from you guys that might have one of these old gems would be appreciated. Also please comment on if lead bullets must be poured or if off the shelf bullets can be used. It would also be appreciated if any reload information can be obtained for this gun.

Thanks a bunch and Happy New Year.

This one could be fun:
There are two cartridges listed for the Kropatschek rifle, one is listed as 8 X 60 mm for the Gueds rifle, while the one listed for the 1886 rifle is listed as 8 x56R. Both require making the case from the 450 NE case. both list the rim dia at .618". the rim thickness for the 60 mm case is listed as .065' while the 56 mm case is listed as .075" thick while the .450NE is listed as .045" thick The handloaders manual of cartridge conversions by John J. Donnelly says to turn the rims to proper thickness, and thicken the rims. I guess the cases could be sized to headspace on the sholder and eliminate that step. It also lists forming the 56mm case using 8 x 50 mm Lebel sizing dies being careful to watch the location of the sholder, trim to length and fireform the cases. That should work as long as they are set up to headspace on the sholder. At any rate I would recommend having a chamber cast made before undertaking this for either case, both show the same sholder diameter, but the base to sholder dimension is longer on the 56 mm case.

Since the 60 mm case uses a .318 " dia bullet, and the 56 mm case uses a .323 bullet, you could possibly have closed the bolt on a 60 mm case causing the neck to be driven into the bore of a 56 M chamber thus allowing the primer to back out. remember that the rim is .010" thicker on the 56 mm case as opposed to the .065" thickness for the 60 mm case.

Whatever you do to fire the rifle, I would recommend a trip to a good gunsmith before further fireing. Lee L.

These threads might be helpful:

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=85165

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33062