Rarest 8mm mauser ammo?

[VKT1941]

Jw what is the rarest 8mm mauser and what's the head stamp?

[Junk Yard Dog]

What kind of 8mm ammo did you want to know about? 8mm can apply to everything from 7.92x57mm Mauser used in many German Model 98 Mauser's to 8x50r Lebel used by the French, 7.92×33mm Kurz, 8mm Nambu used in Japanese pistols and so on. 8mm is just a generic term used to describe bullets in the .323 diameter range.

If I had to pick a rare 8mm, that would be the original German M88 round designed in 1888 for the GEW88 Commission rifles.

[VKT1941]

What would be the rarest 7.92x57?

[Junk Yard Dog]

That would be the most common of all. Every GEW98, and K98k Germany used in both world wars.

[Greasemonkey]

So many makers of 8mm, stuff like Ecuadorian or Venezuelan is pretty hard to find, usually not worth anything other than components or collectibles. Then there are a bunch of contract ammo's, I think Italy made some for Egypt at some point. FN was another big contract ammo maker.
Probably the hardest to find I would guess, is something along the lines of an original Mauser S Patrone cartridge from 1905, or true specialty rounds like phosphorus or incendiary rounds

[Junk Yard Dog]

The original 8mm French Lebel would be most rare, the Germans stole it's bullet and smokeless powder to make their 8mm's, all other smokeless powder cartridges came after the 8mm Lebel, it was the first.

[VKT1941]

Would the box increase the value on the Ecuadorean 8mm? How rare are yugo tracers?

[Junk Yard Dog]

To an ammunition collector the original box would always be interesting, how much more so in terms of money I don't know. I shot a lot of that Ecuadorian ammo, it was about 90% good with some hangfires, and a few outright duds.

[VKT1941]

A surplus dealer around here has a couple thousand rounds of 15 for $5 some are loose some are in the box are they worth more than that?

[Junk Yard Dog]

Not without knowing what exactly they are, worth at least five bucks, I would pay slightly more for Yugo of Turk ammo, slightly less for Ecuadorian, or Persian because I know there might be some hangfires or duds.

[VKT1941]

There nickel plated bullets I thought they were Turkish but then I saw the head stamp it didnt match the other Turk ammo I had but I found out they were ecudorean. I did like to find an unopened box of German brass 8mm mauser.

[Greasemonkey]

The Ecuadorian stuff I saw had the cupro-nickle bullets, mid 50's I think it was, but with out a headstamp, it's hard to I.D.

Any unopened boxes would be worth it just for stashing away, I'd buy a couple to stash, but thats me, especially the unopened German if you were a collector. If your just a shooter, I would recommend like JYD said, Yugo, Turk or other known sure fire stuff. Hang fires suck, and can be a real pain.

[VKT1941]

Well thank you all for the help.

[etprescottazusa91]

There nickel plated bullets I thought they were Turkish but then I saw the head stamp it didn't match the other Turk ammo I had but I found out they were Ecuadorean. I did like to find an unopened box of German brass 8mm Mauser.

The German stuff is around still, saw some in a pawnshop recently. I shot a bunch when available in the early part of the last decade, ripped those vintage boxes open and fired away. Very hot 8mm Mauser, the bullets are copper coated by the way. Amazing that stuff was captured in North Africa, ended up in Egypt and was stored all those years.
Sometimes you never know what you'll find, had a friend open a crate and tin of 8mm Turk production. The stuff was loaded on 20 or 30 round strippers for a Hotchkiss type machine gun, black tipped bullet, friend sold it for $$$, should have talked him out of a stripper when I had the chance.

[Junk Yard Dog]

There nickel plated bullets I thought they were Turkish but then I saw the head stamp it didnt match the other Turk ammo I had but I found out they were ecudorean. I did like to find an unopened box of German brass 8mm mauser.

The silver looking bullets are probably cupronickle.

[VKT1941]

Is the core lead in the cupronickel bullets?

[Longcolt44]

I bought 240 rounds of 1945 Portuguese 8mm a couple month ago.

[VKT1941]

A dealer has 2 German battle packs of 8mm but it's out of my price range I'd like to have them..

[Junk Yard Dog]

Is the core lead in the cupronickel bullets?

Possibly, but steel can also be involved.

[VKT1941]

Is the ecudorean cupronickel projectile a lighter grain they don't seem as wide as other 8mm mauser projectiles that I have.