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Created on 15th May 2009

Laurie Holland on the 6.5 and 8mm Schüler/RWS cartridge - a powerful German case which goes by several names

The years preceding World War I saw considerable innovation in, and competition between, the German and British sporting rifle trades. Both countries produced many small-to-medium-sized outfits, the names of some of which found their way onto cartridges - Holland & Holland, Rigby, Vom Hofe, Brenneke, and the more obscure Schüler. This was a business founded by one August Schüler and located in the great German sporting gunmaking region around Suhl.

New cartridge designs

The cooperation of a major indigenous ammunition manufacturer was a key factor in the ability of riflemakers to specify new cartridge designs, and Kynoch and RWS developed concepts into production numbers. RWS' role in the development of the Schüler cartridge gives rise to controversy nowadays as to who did what, or even what the cartridges should be called, being variously described as 6.5X68mm, 6.5X68 RWS, 6.5X68 Schüler. The 8mm version can carry all of these names along with another couple: 8X68S and 8X68mm S. Some authorities insist the 8mm version, launched by RWS in 1939, was that company's design; others disagree, saying RWS had picked up Schüler's work. The 6.5mm version followed in 1940, unchanged apart from the neck diameter.

M1898

The military Mauser ‘98 rifle action was the favoured starting point for bespoke bolt-action sporting arms throughout much of the last century. While this strong action would take high pressures its dimensions, which were based around the 7.9X57mm Mauser, limited the size and length of cartridges that could be chambered. The RWS/Schülers were among many German cartridges that appeared in the first half of the last century which increased performance while still fitting the action, although this required substantial reworking of a standard M1898 and its magazine. As the designation suggests, case length was increased by 20% to just under 68mm (2.657") and the cartridge overall length was also increased by just under 2/10 of an inch. The case is fatter too, the diameter of the case-head and body just ahead of the web increasing from a little below 12mm to a shade above 13mm.

Top performance

This is a big, strong case by any standards and when allied to high pressure it provides top performance. Despite a fair degree of body taper and shallow 14.5º angle shoulders, allied to heavy construction (ie thick case walls especially in the case-head and web areas), all of which reduces internal room, case capacity remains substantial, the 6.5mm having over 20% more than the 6.5-284 Norma when both are loaded to standard COALs with a 140gn bullet. Pressures were very high too for the period, current CIP MAP values being set at 440 MPa (63,817psi) compared to the 7.92X57IS's 390 MPa (56,564psi).

With a light-bullet version which approached 4,000fps, the 6.5 Schüler/RWS challenged Winchester's .220 Swift for production cartridge speed, and far outperformed medium bore competitors. This cartridge in its standard 127gn loading was intended for use by Alpen Jäger, taking long shots at mountain sheep and goats. The 8mm version was, and is, capable of taking any game in Europe and Scandinavia, and would undoubtedly have gained a following in Africa for plains game if its introduction hadn't coincided with the outbreak of World War II.

Record breaker

The two Schüler/RWS cartridges now survive only in the RWS line-up, though they were also available until recently from another member of the RUAG Ammotec group, Hirtenberger. They are mostly used in continental Europe, with only a handful of users here and in the USA. Despite companies importing rifles and ammunition into North America in the 1950s-70s, Winchester and Remington had to reinvent their own versions of this particular wheel with the .264 Winchester Magnum of 1959 and 8mm Remington Magnum of 1977. Both gave an almost identical performance to the equivalent German cartridge. In line with contemporary American sporting cartridge convention, both ‘Magnums' had belted cases - a technically inferior form compared to the rimless RWS number.

This feature of the RWS case, allied to its reputation for superb manufacturing quality and great inbuilt strength, has seen the growth of a substantial niche market for new, unprimed Schüler/RWS brass despite its considerable cost - to be used as the starting points for ‘wildcats' in every calibre from .25" to .416". It's reported that some such are loaded to produce around 70,000psi and cases still last a reasonable number of loadings. The case taper and shallow shoulders disappear in such reincarnations of course, fireformed to give even more case capacity as well as an ‘improved' shape. One such that has seen use here in long-range precision shooting is the 7mm Boo-Boo. Steve Dunn used it to take the UK 1,000yd benchrest group record (which stood for some time until Vince Bottomley captured it with a 7WSM), and Peter Wilson took the 2006 F-Class national championship with this cartridge. The Boo-Boo will easily exceed 3,000fps with a 180gn bullet, giving impressive long-range ballistics as well as superb accuracy, although 7mm numbers based on the WSMs are currently more fashionable.

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