8x50mmR

The Austrian 8x50mmR is an old cartridge dating back to the days of blackpowder. The 8x50mmR cartridge was first introduced in 1888 for the Mannlicher Repetier-Gewehr M.88. The rifle was an updated version of the Mannlicher M.86, the M.88 (and later M.88/90) used a slightly updated version of the "wedge-lock" bolt system that the earlier M.86 rifle used. In its initial incarnation, the round was given the designation 8 mm M.1888 scharfe Patrone. It was loaded with a 244gr round nosed bullet and a 62gr charge of compressed black powder. This gave the bullet an approximate velocity of 1750 ft/s out of the M.88's 30" barrel. In approximately 1890 the Austro-Hungarian empire converted the round into a semi-smokeless cartridge, following upon the heels of France's 8 mm Lebel cartridge, the first smokeless military round. This new round was designated 8 mm M.1890 scharfe Patrone or "Nitro-Patrone". It was loaded with the same 244gr bullet but carried a 43gr charge of "Gewehrpulver" (Austria-Hungary's name for their version of smokeless powder, which was actually a "semi-smokeless" powder). The new semi-smokeless loading pushed the bullet to a clip of 1950 ft/s in the converted M.88/90 Mannlicher rifles. In 1893 the loading was once again updated with the perfection of a completely smokeless powder by the Austro-Hungarians. This new loading was designated 8 mm M.1893 scharfe Patrone, it was loaded with the same bullet as the two previous loadings but used a 43gr charge of the new Gewehrepulver M.1892. This improved ballistics slightly to 2035 ft/s out of the long M.88/90 and later M.95 long rifles, it was about 200 ft/s less out of the Repetier-Carabiner M.90 & M.95.