Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer - Magnificent 7x57

I too am enamored of the 7x57, and like Ingwe, I prefer the heavy 175gr bullets. There is just no other bullet weight to compare with it for terminal performance and accuracy in a wide spectrum of rifles with varying chamber/throat geometries.

My first 7x57 was a pre-warning tang Ruger M77R. My load of choice at one time was the 160gr Speer Hot Cor over 50gr of H4350. When I acquired my M77R MkII I promptly chambered one of those rounds and fired it only to find the bolt locked quite tightly. I was able to open it only with help from a rubber mallet. Subsequent load development showed that my chosen max charge in the MkII was just 45 grains. This points out the extreme variability of rifles chambered in 7x57, even within one manufacturer.

I have other 7x57 rifles now and have been "playing around" with the 154gr Hornady bullets with fairly good terminal performance and flatter trajectory than provided with the 175 grainers. Even so, nothing beats those magnificent 175gr spitzers, and the Hornady Interlock Spire Point might just be the best of the standard-grade cup-and-core choices.