7x57mm Mauser

[richhodg66]

I cast about six pots of them when I started with it, sized to .287 and with ten grains of Green Dot and now 10 grains of 700X since I ran out of Green Dot, it has been my practice loads and I've used up a 1K count box of gas checks in the past few months shooting them through this rifle. I haven't given the soup can a serious accuracy test yet, I was looking for a good practice bullet I could easily cast in quantity, but with the nose profile it has, I'm beginning to think it would work OK.

[Texas by God]

I cast some C309113f this weekend to try in my Glenfield 30-30. Speaking of soupcans. If I get good accuracy around 2300 fps darn right I'd shoot a close range deer with it. Rich, got a pic of one of your loads?

[richhodg66]

That 113 grain soup can seems a popular bullet. I used some Dad cast up as a small game bullet, works well.

I'll try to get a picture of before and after bullets.

[nekshot]

Congrats! Nice deer, gun, and a 7x57 at that. Love it.

[richhodg66]

Not a very good picture, left to right, loaded round, 287308 lubed and checked, 166 grains, recovered bullet after going almost lengthwise through the deer, 79 grains retained weight.

[Texas by God]

Very good. Proof of concept or whatever it is they say. It worked perfectly!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[richhodg66]

Could have worked different if the range were farther, the shot was better, etc., but killed quickly which is the important thing. I never found the gas check.

[waksupi]

Not a very good picture, left to right, loaded round, 287308 lubed and checked, 166 grains, recovered bullet after going almost lengthwise through the deer, 79 grains retained weight.

I would consider trying a bit softer alloy. I think they should retain more original weight than that. However, you can't argue with your results!

[zymguy]

Not a very good picture, left to right, loaded round, 287308 lubed and checked, 166 grains, recovered bullet after going almost lengthwise through the deer, 79 grains retained weight.

Thanks for the photo and congratulations on the deer ! your alloy is half clip on wheel weights and half pure lead with 2% of the wheel weight tin ?
" I cast these up from Larry's alloy, 50/50 COWW to pure with 2% of the wheel weight added "

Does the gun have a generous throat? I have to seat that bullet probably 1/4 inch deeper in a 280 rem case
How'd you cook the tenderloins?

[rockydoc]

Hunting season doesn’t open until Thanksgiving here in Northwest Florida. I live in PanamaCity. Hurricane Michael is right on top of my home right now. I evacuated to Auburn, AL where at the moment it is only sprinkling rain. I left my guns at home when I left there at 2:00 AM. If my 7X57mm Winchester M 70 survives the hurricane I will be hunting with the Lee 130 grain flat nose soup can. I just received a photo of my son’s house, a tree has fallen on his roof. I was in that house at 1:00AM this morning when we decided to leave.

[richhodg66]

Thanks for the photo and congratulations on the deer ! your alloy is half clip on wheel weights and half pure lead with 2% of the wheel weight tin ?
" I cast these up from Larry's alloy, 50/50 COWW to pure with 2% of the wheel weight added "

Does the gun have a generous throat? I have to seat that bullet probably 1/4 inch deeper in a 280 rem case
How'd you cook the tenderloins?

It does have a generous throat, that bullet base is still in the case neck and it feeds through the magazine slick as glass. That is the alloy I use, I think I would slow it down a bit if I do it again, but maybe not. This wasn't the best shot angle, a broadside would probably have done better, though this still put the deer down quickly.

[TCLouis]

Congrats on putting one in the freezer.
If I missed it, sorry but what load data/velocity do you get with that load.
Maybe I need to cast and 1/16" HP some 50/50/02 soupcans to try through the 7-08.

[Petrol & Powder]

It does have a generous throat, that bullet base is still in the case neck and it feeds through the magazine slick as glass. That is the alloy I use, I think I would slow it down a bit if I do it again, but maybe not. This wasn't the best shot angle, a broadside would probably have done better, though this still put the deer down quickly.

I wonder what it would do without the hollowpoint at all? Or maybe just a very shallow flat pin instead of a hollowpoint.

[richhodg66]

If I missed it, sorry but what load data/velocity do you get with that load.
Maybe I need to cast and 1/16" HP some 50/50/02 soupcans to try through the 7-08.

This was 30 grains of IMR 3031. I got the data from the RCBS cast bullet manual for their 168 grain bullet. According to their data, should be a little over 1900 FPS.

I've been shooting a lot of the soup cans through this rifle for practice. I figured heavier would be better, but kind of wonder now. Cast properly, that soup can bullet should work fine.

[OnHoPr]

Congrats on the viddles. I don't think that bullet would have loss that much weight if it was a double lunger. Even if you would have hit one or possibly both shoulders you probably would not have found the boollit. The 7x57 is an excellent cartridge IMO. I wanted to nicely bubba build one on a 98 action back in my late teens as customing a mauser back then was the in thing. Never got around to it. I did acquire a 7x57 spanish that was bubbaed in the late 80s that I used for a couple of years before I gave it to a significant others kid of age if he got all Cs or better on his report card. That spanish 7x57 had a 17.5" barrel and seemed fitting for a hardwoods ridge rifle when most shots were near 100 yds, but 200 yd down and/or across the ridge shots could have been common. Something like the Remington model 7. Though, I don't think I would have trusted 275 Rigby loads in it. Back a few years ago I seen one at a gun show and thought that one of those rebored and rechambered to the 9.3x57 would have been fine cast boolits rifle.

[TheGrimReaper]

The 7mm Mauser was used to take all of the most dangerous game in Africa at one point in time

Yes Sir!

[Rick Hodges]

My soupcan mold is from Midsouth and they come in at 135gr. with my alloy PC'd and gaschecked. Too late to work up for this deer season. Should be fun to play with.

[richhodg66]

My soupcan mold is from Midsouth and they come in at 135gr. with my alloy PC'd and gaschecked. Too late to work up for this deer season. Should be fun to play with.

It's a good bullet for what I've done with it. I'd be curious to see how it works on game, I kind of figured it was too light, but after seeing how well this bulle that was only 30 grains heavier penetrated, the soup can might work fine.

[Kosh75287]

The original military loading was a 173gr. FMJ bullet at 2274 or 2300 f/s, which dispatched all manor of animals, the whole story of which, we'll never have. Your 30.0/IMR-3031/165gr. load seems like about an 80% approximation of that, with a better-behaving projectile, so I would be unsurprised at its effect on white tail & similar game! Well done!

I'm not a veteran caster, but I wonder if the addition of 0.5% (or even less) by weight of Arsenic or 1%-2% more Antimony might decrease some of the tendency of the projectile to break into pieces. I'm not QUITE sure of the rationale, but sometimes, dumb moves render "not so dumb" results.

I once "inherited" a big load of "unknown lead alloy" the composition of which was difficult to characterize, and would not always fill the molds at any temperature (mold OR melt). By the time I added enough Tin to fix this, it made bullets that were hard to the point of nearly being brittle. A portly, cigar-smoking, civilian jump-suit wearing old veteran of more shooting competitions than I'LL ever see, overheard my lamentations and said,
"Kid, just drop them things, in a bucket of water, straight from the mold." I looked at him quizzically.
"I thought that doing that would make them harder. Do you mean, like drop them in HOT water, or something?"
He shook his head, slowly and emphatically enough to broadcast cigar ashes in a wide arc in front of him.
"Just a bucket a clean tap water, kid," He said. (I was 23, b.t.w). "It won't make 'em where you can BEND them, but they'll stay together on a steel plate, well enough." Shooting steel was all I was doing

I tried it with 50 of them and loaded them up, thinking that I'd "respected my elders" by so doing, and could so indicate, the next time I saw him. They shot quite well. I asked around about the man who gave me the dubious advice and he was well known. A few shooters rolled their eyes & said the fellow always had some "backwards" idea on fixing a problem. About twice as many people as the detractors, however, said they'd done as I had, followed his advice, and were surprised by the obtained results. The gentleman passed away before I ever got to thank him, but it made me wonder, in the face of all else, if doing the "Sensible" thing isn't working, perhaps going in the other direction is worth pondering.

[JDL]

Congrats on your deer Rich and thanks for the in-depth report. 7x57 is probably my most favorite chambering but, when using cast for hunting, I always default to my .358 Winchester. Your report is making me rethink this and I have the 287308 mould in inventory.