Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm-08 to 7x57 comparison

Didn't Mule Deer write a piece comparing the 7mm 08 to the 7x57 in a "relatively" recent issue of Rifle, Handloader or Successful Hunting? I'd swear to it, but can't find it in my back issues. Am I dreaming this??

Want to say April 2007?

It has a picture of two Ruger Redhawks on the cover.

The article I'm thinking of wasn't exactly a comparison of the two. But he talk about it a bit.


Travis

Sounds about right. I'll see if I canfind it. Thanks.

You may be thinking of the article that John Haviland (a.k.a. "Elk") wrote on the 7x57 in the April 2008 issue of Handloader.

Well, as it turns out, JB does mention the 7mm-08 in that 7x57 feature story in the April 2007 issue, and that may be what triggered me. But- for some reason - I keep thinking there's a full blown feature out there comparing the two in depth - ballistics, loads, nuances - blah, blah, blah.

Might just be an overactive imagination...

I'm currently being urged to get a Ruger M77 in 7X57. What do you think a comparison of the two ctgs would find?

The 7 x 57 holds more powder and is faster, but only if you handload. Factory rounds are anemic.

That they are two of the most practical, wonderful cartridges that exist? :-)

-jeff

Do they make a 210gr for the 7X57---heh,heh.

Well, there's also JB's Feb 2008 article on the .280 AI in Handloader with a mention or two of the 7x57...

Not sure the 7x57 is faster - can you share your source for this? I seem to remember the 08 always being a little faster in every handloading reference I can find. Thanks.

Reloading manuals reflect the fact that the 7mm Mauser has a 46K CUP limit, while the 7-08 has a 53K CUP limit. Apparently there are too many pre-98 Mausers out there to risk publishing snortier loads. The 7mm Mauser has a trifle more case capacity than the '08, so if both cartridges are loaded to equal pressures, the bigger cartridge will edge out the little one-----and a little more visible with the heavier bullet weights.

In actuality, the biggest difference between the two cartridges is in their history. The 7 Mauser nostalgia dripping off of it, while the 7-08 is only about 30 yrs old. That kind of thing is important to gun looneys.

The 7-08 and 7x57 are so close to one another that the between-rifle variation is probably as much as the between-cartridge variation. And there isn't enough difference to matter to a hill of beans, anyway.

But some years ago, Ken Waters did a Pet Loads write-up on the 7x57, and then another on the 7-08. He had, as I recall, a Remington 700 with the same barrel length for each caliber. He found across all bullet weights that the 7-08 got slightly higher velocities for the same pressure signs than did the 7-08. He was surprised by the result, as was I when I read it. I had always bought into the slightly bigger capacity/slightly higher velocity correlation. Maybe the case shape issue accounts for the difference, but maybe it was the between-gun variation. But regardless, no one I know is a meticulous and thorough a ballistics tester than Ken.

But whatever the case, there still is no functional difference between them. I have a 7-08 short action Remington, and a 7x57 in a Ruger #1 RSI, and think both are grand.

JB did a really nice article on "Modern 7mm's" back in August 2000 Handloader. It is one of my favorites. The 7x57 generates a lot of articles. More so, I believe, than the 7mm08. I have a Ruger M77 7x57 and am really pleased with it. I'd like to pick up a 7mm08 as well.

Utah: somewhere in those articles he mentions that published 7x57 load data must held to its SAAMI pressure threshold. No flies on Ken, here, in any way.

For reasons unknown but guessable, my hunting 7x57 beats out three 7-08s with the very same load. That shouldn't happen considering the little xtra case capacity, but who knows--throats, slight barrel dimension differences, chamber....I am just fine with it. Am a rifle slut, but wouldn't sell that one.

Agree with the functional side of things.

I think that the 7x57 can be an advantage in the longer action but not in the short action--to a careful handloader. Certain famous gunwriters may disagree with that...

What 222Rem said. More powder equals more speed in most cases.

Curious- where is this urging coming from? Might be more of an apt question here. Do you handload? To address your main question there is very little difference, to the point of no real world effect on game, between the two cartridges.

What I have found in handloading both rounds and in shooting factory loads in 21-22" barreled rifles is that there really isn't any practical difference. Even the "anemic" 7x57 factory loads chronographed within 50 fps or so of 7mm-08 factory loads, and in handloads the diffence is even less.

I might be wrong but can't the bullet be seated farther out in a short action in a 7mm-08 than a 7X57

I haven't seen a 7X57 in a short action yet. Plus they usually have long throats so you can get the bullet way out on them.