Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7x57 / Varget / NBT 120

I am looking for help regarding a suggested accuracy load using Varget and Nosler's 120gr BT, if you can help.

So far I have tried with N203B and N204 and the best this bullet has done has been 1.6" for four shots at 109 yds.

This bullets gets so many good comments that I would like to insist and see if I can get to the kind of accuracy the rifle is showing with other bullets.

Rifle is a Blaser K95, with the typical CIP long throat.

chamois

Do you know the diameter of the throat? If it's tight then the bullet can still maintain good alignment even in a long throat.

http://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/7x57mm-mauser/

From Nosler regarding Varget, might find interesting..

Does it shoot other boat tail bullets okay?

Norma 204 (RL19) and 203B (RL25) are a bit to slow for this bullet. Varget, RL15, IMR4320, or even CFE 223 would be a better fit.

Norma 203B is NOT Reloder 25. In fact, if it isn't Reloder 15 it's so close I can't find any difference.

Thank you for your replies.

mathman: No, I do not know the exact diameter of the throat but, typically, Blaser’s chamber dimensions are on the tight side. I do not believe this to be the problem, since the rifle shoots quite accurately other bullets that still have to make a big jump before engaging the rifling, due to the looong CIP throat.

Jedi: I had checked Nosler’s data, but was looking for something more accord with modern times. The Blaser K95 has a very strong tilting block action, and I am using new Norma brass, my safe maximum speed standards being 3,075fps with 120gr bullets, 2,900 with 140, 2,775 with 150 qne 2675 with 160.

10gauge: Yes, it does. So far, the most accurate combination has been with RWS Evo Green 127gr bullet, which wears a long boat tail, and Nosler’s 140gr NBT.

Prwlr: Like Mule deer, I have found Norma 203B identical to Re15. I am with you that N204 is on the slow side with 120gr bullets. Not too slow, but slowish.

Mule Deer: In the BB of GG you do not show any loads with 120gr NBT in your long throated VZ-24 and Ruger nr. 1… I used your Custom Remington load with N203B instead of Re15 as a starting load and worked up from there up to where I got 3,050fps but none of the loads showed any promise. I think I will do the same with Varget and the load you show from your Kilimanjaro/Montana, or even use 1,5gr more as my starting load given the short throat of your rifle and the moderate speed it gave you. Varget is very scarce here and I was looking to save some experimentation.

By the way, this has been my last hunt with my 7x57R, a Red Deer stag hunted in the Carpathian Mts. in Rumania, just last week, during the rut.

I shot it in the heart with a 140gr Barnes MRX from 45 yds. In spite of the (slightly) on-quartering angle, the MRX is still flying

Beautiful stag! They have some big ones in that part of the world....

Beautiful animal, congratulations

Hi chamois,

A great Red Deer!! Did you weighted the head, clean?

Congratulations!!

PH

WOW!

WOW x2!!

That is a great looking animal. Are the dark horns and lighter colors tips are really something.

Thank You, Sirs!

Mule Deer: Yes, they do have big ones, and all as a matter of “natural selection” in a territory where the tough winters and the large number of wolves only allow the very best to survive. They do have beatiful forests, too, old and pristine. I really enjoyed it!

Patagonia hunter: Yes we did, 24hr after boiling it it tipped the scale at 10,1 kilos. It was aged at 9 years and scored 223,31 CIC.


chamois

Very impressive stag, sir.

Beautiful Stag chamois, well done. I also shoot a K95 but mine is in 7mm-08.

who killed the FAWN?

Here is photo of the rifle, OSU_sig:



Dressed for the ocasion with a Leica ER-i 3-12x50

chamois

WOW!

I have had good results with IMR 4320 in my R#1, 7x57 using 120BTs.

Beautiful rifle and a great Stag chamois

MD I will amend my list accordingly, thanks.

The stag and the rifle go together like PB&J; dripping class.

What a stunning stag!!!!!

What are you looking to change from 145 MRX to 120 NBT?

That gun is so pretty it puts on a leather work glove just to touch a tree!!!!!!!

efw: A red stag is a big animal for such a medium cartridge like the 7x57R. I knew I would be hunting inside the forest and might need to shoot at a bad angle and chose a bullet that would penetrate deeply. I will now be hunting Roe Deer, and my next hunts in October and November will be for Chamois. Both are small animals and I will rather hunt them with a conventional bullet. Chamois sometimes require long shots (even by traditional standards, not by the more modern sniping trend) and at expected reduced speeds I'd rather shoot a cc bullet than a monolithic.

wyoming260: It is the central-European version of the blue tape I often see in the photos here. Wool and leather instead of plastic

VARGET did it!

46.0gr in Norma once fired cases and RWS 5333 standard primers.

The two first shots with the Magneto attatched touched each other and read 2,935 and 2,948 fps, the first being shot through a clean barrel. They printed about ten inches high, by the way, and missed the paper.

The next four went into 0,61" at my range's 109 yards.

I don't think I'll go through the trouble of working the load up to the desired 3,050 fps or so...

Sweet!!

Awesome rifle and stag by the way!!