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I looked it up for you in a draft article I wrote that I've yet to submit for publication:

The pre-war style H-Mantel bullet for this calibre was reintroduced in 1957 but in 1966, the 33,5mm long H-Mantel, copper capped, spitzer bullet was reworked to become a 30 mm long semi-pointed design. This meant the new loaded round could now be chambered in standard (84mm) long actions. But what exactly is an H-Mantel? It was the inspiration for John Nosler’s very similar partition bullet. In 1960, a full metal jacket, round-nosed bullet was released especially for thick-skinned game. This has been used in the Central African Republic, (where calibers smaller than .375” and 9,3mm are legal on large dangerous game), to successfully take elephant.

After the war, Roy Weatherby made the hunting world sit up and take notice with rounds such as the .300 Weatherby developed in 1948. Cartridges in the .300 Weatherby and .338 Winchester magnum class were proving to have the advantage over older metric cartridge favourites in terms of flat shooting and energy for certain types of big game European hunting. Against this background, the excitement over the 8x68S really began in 1967 when it was “reinvigorated” by RWS with a sensational new bullet. A totally new design called the “KS” (Cone-Point) was then released for the equally new 5,6x57 RWS, a close metric equivalent of the .220 Swift. With the new bullet, this high-velocity 5,6mm (.22”) cartridge was far better suited for shooting the European roe deer and chamois than the standard Swift with varmint bullets had ever been. This was made possible by the double interlock-type bullet design which prevented core shedding even at very high velocity. The 8x68S was the very next round to be released with a one-interlock version of this sensational new KS bullet.

Until recently the 4 classic RWS loadings for the 8x68S were:

• A 187 grn H-Mantel at 3,180 fps produces 4,195 ft/pds energy at the muzzle.
• A 180 grn Cone-Point at 3,250 fps produces 4040 ft/pds.
• A heavier 224 grn Cone-Point at 2,850 fps provides 4,440
• A 196 gn Full Jacket at 3,050 fps provides 4045 ft/pds.

The FMJ bullet doesn’t make the 8x68S a classic “stopping rifle”, but noted Aussie gun-writer Nick Harvey had this to say:

“The 8x68S with solid bullets has never let me down even on the biggest (Australian water) buffalo bull. Typical of its performance capability was a shot taken by Heimo Petzl on a trophy bull standing nicely side on at 150 m. The RWS solid broke both shoulders and dumped the huge beast dead on the spot!”

In fact, I had the honour of talking to the Maestro in person about this cartridge’s performance on buffs. Follow-up shots, Harvey told me, were never needed.

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