8×56mmR
| 8×56mmR Steyr / Hungarian | ||||||||||||
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Commercial cartridge with a soft-point bullet.
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| Type | Rifle | |||||||||||
| Place of origin |
 Austria
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| Service history | ||||||||||||
| In service | 1930-1945 | |||||||||||
| Used by | Austria, Hungary, Germany | |||||||||||
| Wars | World War II | |||||||||||
| Production history | ||||||||||||
| Designed | 1930 | |||||||||||
| Produced | 1930-Present (commercial) | |||||||||||
| Specifications | ||||||||||||
| Parent case | 8×50mmR Mannlicher | |||||||||||
| Case type | Rimmed, bottleneck | |||||||||||
| Bullet diameter | 8.35 mm (0.329 in) | |||||||||||
| Neck diameter | 9.20 mm (0.362 in) | |||||||||||
| Shoulder diameter | 12.00 mm (0.472 in) | |||||||||||
| Base diameter | 12.47 mm (0.491 in) | |||||||||||
| Rim diameter | 14.05 mm (0.553 in) | |||||||||||
| Rim thickness | 1.37 mm (0.054 in) | |||||||||||
| Case length | 55.63 mm (2.190 in) | |||||||||||
| Overall length | 75.91 mm (2.989 in) | |||||||||||
| Rifling twist | 255 mm (1 in 10 in) | |||||||||||
| Primer type | Berdan or Boxer Large Rifle | |||||||||||
| Maximum pressure | 355 MPa (51,500 psi) | |||||||||||
| Ballistic performance | ||||||||||||
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| Source(s): Lee Precision Surplus Rifle |
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The 8×56mmR or 8×56mmR M30S (C.I.P. civil designation) cartridge was adopted in the year 1930 by Austria and in 1931 by the Kingdom of Hungary as a replacement for the 8×50mmR Mannlicher cartridge.
It was originally created for the Steyr-Solothurn light machine gun as the M30. Later the cartridge was adopted for use in rifles in 1931 as the M31 to replace the 8×50mmR Mannlicher cartridge. The updated cartridge coincided with an update to the Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 rifle in which the barrel length was reduced and the chamber re-cut to accept the new cartridge, and was the cartridge chosen by Hungary for the 35M rifle as a replacement for the Mannlicher M1895. The 8×56mmR was also used in updated versions of Austrian and Hungarian machine guns such as the Solothurn 31M and Schwarzlose 07/31M. From 1934 on it was the standard military cartridge of Kingdom of Bulgaria.
This ammunition was made at a variety of plants as well as countries, including Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia.
The 8×56mmR is currently produced by Hornady and Prvi Partizan for commercial sales. It is no longer in use by any organized military forces. While many Stutzen Model 1895/30 were brought into the United States and sold at retailers such as Big-5, the price of the round still remains much higher than most other surplus rifle rounds such as 7.62×54mmR and .30-06 (7.62×63mm), making 8×56mmR very uneconomical to shoot for the average shooter.
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Wikipedia