Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Good 7x57 Mauser loads

Well, I've been playing with the 7x57 off and on since about 1973. In better than 60 years of deer hunting, I've only lost two, both shot with the 7x57.

First one was with a neat customized 1893 Mauser. Whoever built it like the 275 Rigby style and that's what the rifle looked like. At the time i lived in a small Nevada cow town and the only ammo the local hardware store had was the 175 gr. round nose by Federal. I shot a deer about 8 in the morning, shot maybe 75 yards and the deer took off. The wife and I looked for that deer until it was too dark to see anymore. I found what the coyotes had left by the birds. That deer had run over 200 yards from where it was shot. Years later I chronographed that ammo in a different rifle (Winchester M70 Featherweight) and found velocity was only 2000 FPS, nowhere near the advertised 2400 FPS. I sectioned a couple of bullets and think the jackets were way too thick for the velocity. Cause of the loss most likely poor bullet selection and too low a velocity.

Second loss was an eating size Desert Mule Deer shot about 50 miles north of Wilcox Arizona. Shot was about 100 yards and the hit was a solid right behind the shoulder as I sow red at the point of impact. The deer left the the herd which ran up hill while the one I shot ran down into a gully. To get to where the deer ran down I first had to go up to the top of a ridge to look down into the gully for the deer. On the way up my foot turned one way on the loose rocky ground and the rest of me went the other way. No more right knee. This deer was shot with the 140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip, early version which was supposed to be on the fragile side moving out at 2800 FPS. I believe the bullet hit a bone on impact. My son in law and his son refused to go find the deer preferring to carry me off the hill and to the hospital in Wilcox. The knee only hurt when I tried to stand or walk so I could have sat on the hill till they found the deer. I haven't hunted with them since.

So much for the tales of woe. You'd think I'd give up on the 7x57 but not yet. These days I no longer hunt deer, only elk. I hunt a private ranch and have had so far 100 percent success rate although last year almost came to a bust. One elk with a 30-06 and 6 with the .35 Whelen. This year I'm probably courting disaster but I think I'll be using one of my 7x57's at least one day on the hunt. One load I'm considering is the 150 gr. Nosler partition at 2700 FPS using Re17, Winchester brass and WLR primer. Another consideration will be seeing what I can work up with the 160 gr. Speer hot Core. Seems the late great Jack O'Connor and his wife liked that bullet and the lady took almost all her big game in the world with the 7x57 and that Speer bullet. I've used the 165 gr. Speer HC bullet in several rifles chambered to the .308 Win. and meat damage was not bad I've shot deer with that bullet at 2550 FPS MV (Long story) from 35 feet to 250 yards and deer died. A bit messy if a shoulder was hit but nowhere near as bad as when from a Sierra. You should be able to reach about 2600 FPS with the 160 gr. Speer using one of the 4350's. I'm going to try and work with Re17 as it worked so well with the 150 gr. bullet.
Paul B.