8 x 50 mmR
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Austrian 8x50R is an old cartridge dating back to the days of blackpowder. The 8x50R 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 innitial incarnation, the round was given the designation 8mm 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 1,750fps 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 8mm 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 1,950fps 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 8mm 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 balistics slightly to 2,035fps out of the long M.88/90 and later M.95 long rifles, it was about 200fps less out of the Repetier-Carabiner M.90 & M.95.
