https://thegreatmodel8.net/

I have a question, that has something of a speculative nature. Considering the limitations of the action of the Remington 8 and 81, for what other cartridges COULD and SHOULD the Remington 8 and 81 been chambered for? It appears the limit for the power of the cartridge used was reached with the .300 Savage. This is about 2300 ft/lbs. So I would limit speculation to those cartridges of that power and below. Also to be taken into account is the length of the action. It appears that the longest cartridge our action can handle is about 2 inches or 52mm long.

So what other cartridges could and should the Remington 8 and 81 have been chambered for? Could it have been modified to handle rimmed cartridges, like say the .30-30 WCF or .303 Savage? How about .250 Savage? And my favorite speculation, I know it borders on sacrilege....how about a Remington 8 in .401 WSL?

Anyone have any other ideas? Any military type cartridges?

Hey Walt,

I bought a model 81 in a collection that was chambered for a 22-250. I had it checked by my gunsmith and he indeed verified the caliber. Whoever did the conversion kept the barrel receiver marked as a .300 SAV.

I have not shot the rifle so I can not verify to accuracy or recoil or even function for that matter. All the springs appear to be the same as it was for the 300 savage.

Regards,

Jack

It would be quite a job to convert to .22-250, as the entire barrel would somehow have to be converted. Was it done by a barrel liner? I sort of doubt it would function with a .22-250. By my crude calculations, bullet weight (gr) X muzzle velocity (ftr/sec) would have to be in the neighborhood of at least 275-300,000 for functioning. Big question is why anyone would go to that much expense and trouble for a caliber of so little use potential in a M8/81.

Rimmed cartridges would not work too well in the M8/81 due to magazine feeding problems. At best, there would necessarily be a lot of magazine modification required to handle a rimmed case. By the way, the maximum cartridge length to work through the M8/81 magazine is 2.5", not 2".

If you have enough money and time to perform the conversion (and don't worry much about coming up with a good reason to do so), there are probably many cartridges that could be adapted to the M8/81. I'd think an especially good one to start with would be the 6.8 mm Remington SPC, as it's already a factory round based on the .30 Rem case.

.50 Beowulf