Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Loads for 1895 Chileano Mauser 7x57

Like the title says, looking for safe handloads for this rifle. Been completely sporterized, but, still a '95. Bullets I'll be using will be Hornady Interlock 139 spitzer.
I have plenty of manuals, old and new,but, data is really all over the place. I bought this rifle in '74, had it worked on, and handloaded for it using those 139's. Haven't shot it in years and cannot find any of my notes telling me what the heck I loaded. So, any help here would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Lot of wives tales of weakness in '93's and '95's...and they are just that, wives tales. Good strong actions but poor gas escape abilities.
I have sporterized a few for customers, no reported problems at all. One old gentleman insists I handload for his 1895 Loewe, so I do so.
139 gr Hornadys or 145 gr Speers over 42 gr of IMR 4895 is very accurate. I chopped his barrel to 25", but it still gets about 2700 which he likes because it doesn't bloodshot meat.
Watch the internal capacity of some brass, Federal for instance, you may need to back off a grain or so.

What flintlocke said--plus a note on why data is all over the place. It isn't just due to varying strength of actions (though that can be a factor) but the length of the chamber's throat. Those have been all over the place over the past 132 years, which can definitely affect pressure.

Rifle Tom, If you are nervous about my quoted load, Mauser and RWS had 2,900 fps loads with a 154.9 gr bullet at 2900 fps.... in 1919.
I tried a lot of components trying to get accuracy in military barrels and chambers (chambers were designed for the original 175 round nose plus some more free bore). Working with the intent to get good velocity with minimum pressure...I tried all the slower powders first starting with 4831...to no avail accuracy wise. Ended up with 4895 after trying 4350, H414 (promising, but always that one damn flyer), 4320, H380.

flintlocke, not nervous about your quoted loads at all. Simply looking for some info on loading, as I cannot find any of my older notes on this. If I can get my hands on any IMR 4895, I will certainly give that a try. I appreciate the help. Thank you very much.

414 has worked best for me when pushed up right near the top. That medium stick powders like 4895 are more tolerant. So; aa2015, imr3031, Varget, sw Precision, 4064, and others I have not used are worth a try if you have access to them.
F01

Rifle powders I have on hand are: IMR4064, H4350, H4831sc, Varget and Win 748. Damn, even have a lb of IMR SR4759! Maybe try 4064 till I get some IMR4895.
Or, I can just wait.

I'd bet almost anything 4064 will be your huckleberry. I have a BRNO with the original long throat, '98 in 7x57, 139 to 145 gr and 40 to 43 gr of 4064 or Varget gets around 2700 fps in 23 5/8 bbl with 5 shot groups hovering around 1 inch.
The only reason I recommended 4895 is it worked in more than 3 rifles in the 1895 model, and hoped it would save you some load development.

4064 works well in the 7x57s I have.

flintlocke and Craigster, many thanks. I'll give 4064 a whirl as it does look promising in my Lyman #50 as well. Thanks again.

+1 on 4064. Has always worked well in my 7x57s and other rifles as has IMR 4895.

I have no doubts concerning the strength of your rifle. One, IM don't think any country buying rifles for their military would be using nothing less that state of the art firearms of the day. Two, I seriously doubt the company making the rifles were producing defective, that is unsafe weapons.

However, there is the issue of poor gas handling in the case of a blown primer or full or partial case head separation so I would keep that in mind

I haven't used any of the powders you have on have in the 7x57 but I have done some work with W750 and RL17 mainly with the 140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip (W760) and 150 gr. Nosler Partition (RL17). Velocity and accuracy were very good but the 140 gr. load was definitely showing signs of very high pressure at 2880 FPS. It just could be too hot of a load or they fact that is was a very hot day. (110 in the shade) I do most of my load work up during our very hot summers. Any stiff load that is safe at 110 or so will most likely be OK during deer and elk seasons. I use a chronograph as a way of determining pressure. Most powders are linear in nature and any radical departure at the upper level of pressure say time to back off. I've used it that way for years.
PJ

Check your throat length using one of those 139 gr sp to determine seating depth. If it was throated for 175 rn you may not be able to seat that long. I have a hard time thinking h4350 could be improved upon. Mb

Although I'm not a reloader I do own a Spanish Mauser model 93 which has been sportsterized. It had food accuracy with the 172 grain bullets but the lighter 139's were all over the place. I read an old Gunsmithing book from the 1950's which said that the older 93 to 96 actions were made for the heavier 172 bullets. The lighter bullets not only didn't give very good accuracy but also caused throat erosion because they were meant to be fired with the longer 172 grain bullets. So I use the 173 bullet weight (Sellier & Bellot factory) at it shoots quite well with that loading. I see an article here on the 7X57 and loadings for it you might find interesting.
https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/3-temp-stable-max-loads-for-modern-7x57mm-mauser.120972/

I'm assuming that's NOT a typo, in which case I love the description!

I noticed that as well. I've alway read that the original load for the 7x57 was a 173 gr. round nose as that was what Bell said he used on elephants, I don't guess one grain plus or minus maked much difference. I've use 170 gr. Sierras with good results way back when before Sierra dropped them. I called them about making a run and the gut I talked to reacted as if I'd made his mother an indecent proposition. Tried Hornady 175 gr. RNs but didn't like them all that much. While on an elk hunt, I stopped into a small gun shop and they had some of the waay too long gone Sierras on the shelf. I asked the guy what he'd take for the whole pile and he said $10 per box. Best $60 I ever spent He told me they'd been on the shelf for years and no one was interested. I told him I'd been looking for some for a very long time and was glad I'd found what he had. I've been working with three different rifles in 7x57, the oldest being a 1950's FN Mauser running 7-08 loads. Velocity and accuracy have been very good so far so those 170 gr. bullets should prove to be very interesting to about 250 yards or a bit more.
PJ

i have a sporterized '16 Spanish Mauser ('93 Mauser look-a-like) that my gunsmith put on a Numrich 6.5x55 barrel. i gave that one to my youngest son and he thinks it great. i loaded 120gr Nosler BT and a medium load of IMR4350 that goes about 2700fps and he kills deer with it. the '16 Spanish Mauser does have a hole that gas can escape, but i never tried it.




i have another '16 Spanish that needs to rebarreled to the 257 Roberts. i have a '95 Chilean Mauser action too. i have a sporterized '91 Argentine Mauser with a Lyman aperture sight in 7.65x53. also i have a Husqvarna m46 ('96 Swedish Mauser) in 9.3x57.