7X57 Mauser

[303carbine]

I have a 7x57 sporter (markX) and even being a more modern rifle has the loooong throat. I'd be surprised if many rifles were made to shoot 140's rather than the 175 fmj's. IMO that long long throat is a part of the 7x57's secret sauce.

My Remington 700 7x57 is long throated, I can seat 150 grain Noslers to an overall length of 3.115 inches, the manual loads to 3.000 inches.
I have loaded dummy rounds of each bullet I shoot, they don't touch any rifling, so there is no over pressure problems.
Accuracy is superb with the little 7, everything I shoot hits the dirt.
The wannabe 7mm-08 can't be loaded as hot and it has no history, no cool factor, no chance of ever making me sell my 7x57 to buy one.

[Whiterabbit]

No Pedigree (the -08). I am comfortable coming out full-snob over the 7x57. What a great cartridge.

[303Guy]

Mmm .... the 257 Roberts is another strangely not so popular caliber. If my 25-303 is anything to go by the 257 should be a real winner. Mind you, the 250 Savage is a great number too. I like the idea of a 35 Whelen too. But then there's the 358 Win, 35-303.

Anyway, my question is, how good is a 7x57 for cast boolits? It sounds like it's not too bad. Better than the 303 Brit maybe?

[MtGun44]

IF you can get them big enough . . . . .

Bill

[Bret4207]

Anyway, my question is, how good is a 7x57 for cast boolits? It sounds like it's not too bad. Better than the 303 Brit maybe?

Lie Bill said, it's all about fit. FIT IS KING! Ina commercial 7x57 it's not hard to do. In ex-military, 1890's-1920's rifles.....it going to depend on just what you can find. It's the same with lots of other calibers. I use a 270 mould for one of my 6.5's!

[Ben]

I think that getting the " fit " correct is MUCH easier done with a commercial 7 X 57 mm rifle.
Here are some groups fired at 50 yards with my Ruger Model 77 stainless 7 X 57 mm rifle. The Lee Soup Can 7 mm cast bullet has been super accurate in my particular rifle. In a military rifle, I couldn't say ? Many have VERY long ( and worn ) throats.






In the targets below, inner circle is .480 ", the outer dia. of the orange is .890".
50 yards, 5 round groups.
Ben's Lube, bullets sized .2862 " with Hornady gas checks.

[atr]

Attachment 89460

7x57 Using a Ruger #1 .... 10 shots at 50 yds

[rattletrap1970]

What was the seating depth on that? COAL or Jump to lands?

Attachment 89460

7x57 Using a Ruger #1 .... 10 shots at 50 yds

[Ben]

atr

WOW, 10 rounds @ 50 yds. ! !

Very Impressive !

And they tell you that a Ruger #1 ( I have 4 of them ) isn't an accurate rifle..................

[atr]

I was using this Lovern boolit.....and had it seated just to the lands....
Attachment 89470

and I remember shooting that day....I shot 2 groups of 5....after the first 5 I was very surprised at the accuracy.....then I shot the last 5 and got real nervous about the last shot wondering if I was going to have an "opps" shot....

PS..don't ask me to repeat this string of shots because I doubt if I could !

[Ben]

PS..don't ask me to repeat this string of shots because I doubt if I could !

_________________

I would not want to bet against you.

Ben

[303Guy]

Clearly there is nothing wrong with the 7x57 as a cartridge. Nothing wrong with the bullet design either. I guess that answers my question.

Well, that gives me something to do - to see whether I can approach that with a Brit. I have a mint barrel candidate and an over size bore on a low pressure action (bearing on one lug only - max pressure would be 22,000 CUP).

But I still have a barrel-less action that seems to be looking for a 7x57 barrel.

[rattletrap1970]

I have a Lyman 7mmSC (Soup can) weighs in at 140.4gr with loob and GC. With H4895 I'm figuring 30.0 gr as a starting load in 7x57 to make an FN49 function. Can anyone give me some quickload data or something to just let me know if my figurings are correct.

I also have a Lyman 287346AV (rounder nose, same weight to the grain).

And a Saeco 070 that looks like an RCBS 7mm-SIL (weights in at 148).

Any reassurance would be appreciated.. LOL

[rjathon]

I have had great luck with a 7mm mold made by Veral Smith. It throws a 160 gr bullet at ~.289 which is super accurate in my "sporterized" 1895 Chilean which is 1895 hardware in a sporter stock. The barrel length, trigger, safety, etc are all original. The first load that I tried, 20 gr of 5744, will shoot sub inch reliably. The bullets fall out of the mold with ease. My only regret is that it is a 2 cavity mold instead of 4.

[rattletrap1970]

Yeah, I just have to have the action cycle reliably. 4895 is generally a good one for that

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

I have it on reasonably good authority that the reason the 7x57 didn't "take the world by storm" is because it wasn't deemed suitable for the machine guns that quickly dominated the battlefield soon after its inception.

I resurrected the 7x57 in an old M1908 Brazilian Mauser a couple years ago and it has been a delight ever since.

I shoot the RCBS 7mm-168-SIL over 28.3 gr 4895 as a standard load forever.

Good evening,
Forrest

[ColColt]

Way back in 1969 I had a 30-06 on a Czech BRNO Mauser action. What I'd give now to have that rifle again and fit a 7x57 barrel to it.

[MT Gianni]

I think if the US military had gone with the 7x57 to replace the Krag it would have taken the numero uno spot the '06 took. I don't think there's all that much practical difference. Commercially, why the 7x57 isn't more popular is the same reason the 6.5x55, 257 Roberts, 8x57, 280 Rem, 35 Whelen, etc aren't more popular. The buying public is a fickle minded crowd that wants the latest, newest, baddest stuff out there. That's why we have 25 or more 30 cal rounds that are within spitting distance of each other. NEW!!! IMPROVED!!! And they don't do one thing any better than the 06 or 300 H+H.

Bret, I seem to remember that the 30-03 & 06 came about because using the 8x57 or the 7x57 would have resulted in paying for a patent infringement to the Germans. With the world climate being what it was around th eturn of the cnetury the US military backed out. The story could be just a story but it made sense to me.

[Larry Gibson]

The 30-03 came about because the arsenals were already making 30 cal barrels and 220 gr bullets for the M1892 30-40. The 30-40 was not effective at 1000 yards. Ordnance wanted a cartridge to deliver the same 220 gr RN with effective accuracy to 1000 yards. With the powders available in this country (patent infringements did play a part) it to the case capacity of the 30-03 cartridge to achieve the desired velocity with in reasonable pressures. The 30-06 was merely the adaptation of the 30-03 case to the 150 gr spritzer bullet. Whelen explains it all in his earlier writing as does Hatcher. There was no serious consideration of changing calibers back then from .30 caliber.

Larry Gibson

[Multigunner]

Also since the British, the French, the Germans, the Belgians, the Russians , and Argentina, chose bores of 7.62 on up to 7.92, why would the U S sticking with 7.62 be considered at all unusual?

Remember also that despite the proven mechanical advantage of the 1893-95 Mausers at the time the 7X57 in military FMJ form was noted for being a poor manstopper.
If you read up on evaluation of battle wounds during the Spanish American War you'll find many of those men wounded by the 7mm round nose bullets survived when those wounded in the same spot by a .30 or larger caliber did not, and that among the Cuban guerillas many of the wounded survived chest wounds without any medical care to speak of.
The 7mm 174 gr FMJ was accurate and had greater penetration on obstacles, but was so stable bullets that didn't hit bone passed straight through with little disruption of tissue.
IIRC there's an X-ray in one of the Military medical journals of a man with a 7mm round nose lodged in his brain, the bullet remained there for many years with no further ill effects.
The heavier and larger bullets of other military calibers were also less effective than hoped but did cause a bit more damage than the 7mm.

Bullets smaller than .30 did not achieve great killing power till the spritzer bullets came along just before WW1. With a spritzer even the 6.5 became a better killer of men.