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Finn Aagaard, who grew up in Kenya, wrote "Guns of the Kenya Settlers" in the Guns & Ammo 1986 Annual. Quote: " When I started hunting I the late '40s, the picture was still much the same. My first rifle was a Mauserwerke type B sporter that an uncle had liberated during the Ethiopian campaign, chambered for te 8x60mm cartridge that used a 196 gr round nose or solid bullet at a supposed 2,360 fps. It was my only big-game rifle for about 10 years and bagged a lot of game for me, including one buffalo –broke it's neck- and a 4,000 - pound hippo.I found it absolutely reliable on plains game such as zebra, wildebeest and all the antelope including four big eland that I took with it. Amongst my hunting companions' arms were a sporterized .303 Lee-Enfield, a couple of 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbines, a 7mm Mauser, an 8x56 M-S, several 8x60s, one .400/.350 Rigby, two 9.3x62mm's and one double-barreled Husqarna in 9.3x74R. Scope sights were unkown. I have still never seen a .318 Westley Richards or a .333 Jeffery, nor had I laid eyes on a .375 H&H until a chap whose coffee crop had come in lent me his new Cogswell & Harrison in that caliber for a buffalo hunt in 1957." So much for the use of the 8x60 in Africa, even by non-German farmers. Here are the 8x60 loads offered by the German ammo companies in the 1930s, data converted by me to imperial units for the sake of most readers: DWM 1934 handbook "Patrone u.Schuß" (26" barrel): 226 gr rn, 48 gr W1919, 2390 fps 196 gr rn, 46 gr R5, 2585 fps 157 gr rn, 48.6 gr R5, 2785 fps 157 gr rn, 51.6 gr R5, 2972 fps 198 gr copper jacket flat n, 46 gr R5, 2582 fps 154 gr psp, 48.6 gr R5, 2920 fps 154 gr psp, 52.5 gr R4, 3018 fps 196 gr rn strong jacket, 46 gr R5, 2580 fps 185 gr rn strong jacket boat tail, 54 gr special p., 2680 fps 8x60 Magnum Bombe load: 185 gr rn strong jacket boat tail, 57 gr special p., 2923 fps RWS 1940 Handbuch (24" barrel); 196 gr H-jacket, 47 gr R5, 2585 fps 177 gr D-jacket, 50 gr T39, 2677 fps 227 gr rn, 48 gr T39, 2415 fps 196 gr rn, 49 gr R5, 2677 fps 154 gr psp, 51 gr R4, 2956 fps 187 gr H-jacket, 57 gr special p., 2811 fps Quite a selection! |