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Old November 5, 2011, 01:43 PM   #10
David_S
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 11, 2008
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 149
Major, you must be a man of discernment - all you need now is a 6.5x55

I really like the 7x57 - great hunting calibre, modest recoil, relatively flat shooting and can shoot a wide range of projectiles. And it is nice to shoot a round with over a hundred years of history behind it - even if your country was on the receiving end in the Spanish-American War and mine during the Boer War (NZ sent 10 contingents to the 2nd Boer War).

My 7x57 is a 1980's Model 70 Featherweight and everything I point it at out to 300 yards seems to fall over, even though it is not what I consider a super accurate (<0.75 MOA) rifle. Just manages around 1.5MOA which is perfectly adequate for a hunting rifle.

As for reloading

For the 7x57 I use 139gr Hornady SP, BTSP and SST projectiles, ADI AR2209 powder, Winchester WLR primers and a mixture of Federal (for SP), Norma (BTSP) and Winchester (SST) cases. Bullet is seated 0.6mm off lands for SP and BTSP and 1.5mm for SST (SST governed by magazine length). The mixture of cases is a reflection of the availability (or non-availability) of factory ammo which finally convinced me to reload. (I also have PMC, S&B, & PPU cases!!)

I had good success with a load of 44.45gr for the SP:- 2550fps and <1MOA.
For the BTSP 46.75gr gave 2,600fps and 1.2MOA. And for the SST 46.75gr gave 2615fps and a best group of 0.6MOA.

I changed to the SSTs as my son had very good results in the 6.5x55 but I am not sure if the SPs are not better in the 7x57. One factor against the SSTs is that their long profile means I cannot seat them close to the lands as they don't fit the magazine if I do.

I then messed everything up by fitting a Timney trigger, new scope (Zeiss), bedding the action and free floating the barrel, and am back at square one.

For the 270 WSM I am trying 130gr SSTs, Winchester cases, WLRM primers (yes I have pulled the WLRs), AR2209 powder and bullet seating 0.6mm (20 thou) off lands. A slower powder such as AR2213SC (= Hodgdon H4831SC) is probably better but I am trying to standardise my powders as far as possible, and don't need another.

I hope that is of help to you, Major.

David
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