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Paul B. · May 13, 2013, 04:46 PM

I have to wonder why Savage99 speaks so disparagingly of the 7x57? Not just on this site but he's done so on several other as well. Every time someone mentions the 7x57, he has to bad mouth the round.
Sorry savage but that's truth and you know it.

I've been playing with one 7x57 or another of and on since 1973 when I bought my first one two or three days before deer season. I could only find two boxes of Gederal 175 gr. round nose ammo rated at 2400 FPS. The gun was already sighted in when I checked it out so took it hunting. My wife was with me. About 7:30 AM I shot a nice Mule Deer 3 pointer western count and at the hit, it took off as deer sometimes do. There was very little blood trail and was there was petered out very quickly. My wife and I looked for that deer until it got too dark to look any more. I went out the next morning and finally found what the coyotes had left by the birds. I hunted the rest of the season with a different rifle. A big mistake was selling off the sweet light handly rifle some small British gun maker had put together on a small ring Mauser.
Fast foreward to about 7 or 8 years ago when I bought a Winchester M70 Featherweight push feed in 7x57. Severe arthritis in my right shoulder precludes me from doing much shooting even with the 30-06. No problem when shooting it, it's the day after when I feel it. While cruising a gun shop, I found a few more boxes of that Federal 175 gr. RN ammo so picked some up and ran what little I had left from the 1973 box and comparing it with current manufacture, I found that their advertised 2400 FPS was a pipe dream, at least in my rifles. I pulled a couple of bullets and sectioned them and the jackets, while fairly soft were IMHO way too thick to allow the bullets to open properly on game. Not a bad cartridge, I just used the wrong load.
Currently, along with my M70, I have a Ruger #1A and a custom Mauser built on an FN action. All three rifles are incredibly accurate. All are great fun to shoot and whoever said getting off a second shot with a single shot rifle isn't all that hard; well no it's not. I can keep up doing aimed fire with mine against most average bolt action shooters. Problem is, I haven't had to. To keep thing totally honest, I have only lost two deer in over 50 plus years of hunting. Both times I was carrying a 7x57.

You've heard the first and in the second case, again, it was not the gun's/cartridge's fault. I'd shot the deer and was climbing up tp tag and gut it when my foot rolled on some loose rock, plenty of that stuff in the southern Arizona desert, and my foot went one way and the rest of me ther other and I heard a ripping noise and was flat on the ground feeling immense pain. That hunt was 8 years ago and I've walked with a limp ever since. My hunting partners efused to go get the deer as they wanted to get me to a doctor fast.

Yeah, I'm still mad.

My right knee no longer has a menicus and it still hurts to walk.
As far as reloading the round, I like W760 with the 140 gr. ballistic Tip. I get 2800 FPS with it and no pressure signs. The load is safe in the M70 and Ruger #1 but the Mauser has a match grade chamber and barrel and that one will spit factory ammo out almost 100 FPS faster that the two commercial guns. The only reason the 7x57 is hadicapped is because the liability lawyers like it that way.

Oh and BTW, There is a short article in one of the early American Rifleman explaining the problem with the rolling block rifles. Seems some were made with an entirely different headspacing. The chambers are a bit too long for SAAMI standard cartridges.

(Page 31 April, 1956 issue if you want to chase it down.)
Paul B.

May 13, 2013, 04:46 PM	#56
Paul B. Senior Member Join Date: March 28, 1999 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 3,802	I have to wonder why Savage99 speaks so disparagingly of the 7x57? Not just on this site but he's done so on several other as well. Every time someone mentions the 7x57, he has to bad mouth the round. Sorry savage but that's truth and you know it. I've been playing with one 7x57 or another of and on since 1973 when I bought my first one two or three days before deer season. I could only find two boxes of Gederal 175 gr. round nose ammo rated at 2400 FPS. The gun was already sighted in when I checked it out so took it hunting. My wife was with me. About 7:30 AM I shot a nice Mule Deer 3 pointer western count and at the hit, it took off as deer sometimes do. There was very little blood trail and was there was petered out very quickly. My wife and I looked for that deer until it got too dark to look any more. I went out the next morning and finally found what the coyotes had left by the birds. I hunted the rest of the season with a different rifle. A big mistake was selling off the sweet light handly rifle some small British gun maker had put together on a small ring Mauser. Fast foreward to about 7 or 8 years ago when I bought a Winchester M70 Featherweight push feed in 7x57. Severe arthritis in my right shoulder precludes me from doing much shooting even with the 30-06. No problem when shooting it, it's the day after when I feel it. While cruising a gun shop, I found a few more boxes of that Federal 175 gr. RN ammo so picked some up and ran what little I had left from the 1973 box and comparing it with current manufacture, I found that their advertised 2400 FPS was a pipe dream, at least in my rifles. I pulled a couple of bullets and sectioned them and the jackets, while fairly soft were IMHO way too thick to allow the bullets to open properly on game. Not a bad cartridge, I just used the wrong load. Currently, along with my M70, I have a Ruger #1A and a custom Mauser built on an FN action. All three rifles are incredibly accurate. All are great fun to shoot and whoever said getting off a second shot with a single shot rifle isn't all that hard; well no it's not. I can keep up doing aimed fire with mine against most average bolt action shooters. Problem is, I haven't had to. To keep thing totally honest, I have only lost two deer in over 50 plus years of hunting. Both times I was carrying a 7x57. You've heard the first and in the second case, again, it was not the gun's/cartridge's fault. I'd shot the deer and was climbing up tp tag and gut it when my foot rolled on some loose rock, plenty of that stuff in the southern Arizona desert, and my foot went one way and the rest of me ther other and I heard a ripping noise and was flat on the ground feeling immense pain. That hunt was 8 years ago and I've walked with a limp ever since. My hunting partners efused to go get the deer as they wanted to get me to a doctor fast. Yeah, I'm still mad. My right knee no longer has a menicus and it still hurts to walk. As far as reloading the round, I like W760 with the 140 gr. ballistic Tip. I get 2800 FPS with it and no pressure signs. The load is safe in the M70 and Ruger #1 but the Mauser has a match grade chamber and barrel and that one will spit factory ammo out almost 100 FPS faster that the two commercial guns. The only reason the 7x57 is hadicapped is because the liability lawyers like it that way. Oh and BTW, There is a short article in one of the early American Rifleman explaining the problem with the rolling block rifles. Seems some were made with an entirely different headspacing. The chambers are a bit too long for SAAMI standard cartridges. (Page 31 April, 1956 issue if you want to chase it down.) Paul B. __________________ COMPROMISE IS NOT AN OPTION!