Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7x57 bullet question for Mule Deer

Bob,

I wasn't thinking you were reading anything into it--and I'm not reading anything into my finding 3 140 Partitions, except that every one I found had gone a lot farther than through the front end of the deer where the vital stuff is!

John: We're saying the same thing...they go a long ways


GO CELTS! 3 OT'S

Hey John,

I am interested in the non-plastic tip bonded bullets. Curious why you like the Oryx over the Woodleigh. Both bonded non-partition type bullets. Was there an instance that makes you choose one over the other?

I like the Oryx but the BC is rather low in comparison to the woodleigh (or most any spire points for that matter). Surely that doesn't mean a lot but if I have a choice I'll pick the better BC.

Truer words are rarely spoken.

I have never tried a Woodleigh in the 7x57. Probably they would work just fine, but I just happen to have a good supply of the Oryxes.

Neither the Woodleigh or Oryx has a particularly high BC, but that doesn't matter as far at the ranges I shoot things with the 7x57. In fact you could compare the trajectory of the 160 Sierra GameKing and the 156 Oryx at 400 yards and not see enough difference to make a difference.

I use the 160 partitions, and the 175 gr. Woodleighs and Partitions in my 7x57s along with my favorite deer bullet the 130 gr. Speer..In my 7x57 they all shoot very close to the same POI fortunatly..the 130 is 3" high at 100 yds., the 160 and 175s shoot to the same POI at two inches high at 100 yds...Good gun!

Wow, my 280 Rem loads are doing 2820 fps average. Do I have a magnum ?

I originally started long gun reloading as a speed freak. Always had to have the fastest. I have hunted with a single shot all my days, 1983 to date. Somewhere around 2002 I decided I wanted a bolt gun. Bought me a Ruger All Weather in 280 Remington. It became my primary hunting rig because it was like a trusty old .22, just throw it up, pull the trigger & collect your kill. In fact, it worked so good I never wanted to chrono the commercial loads I used in it. I did about 6 months ago & found them to be doing 2820 average. I have collected over 40 head of game with it and four of those ranged 289, 300, 330 & 389 yards. The 389 yard shot was a running pig. I swung on him like a bird & rolled him like a flat tire. I was shocked at the 280's performance.

I am a 280 Rem man forever. So, I can't disagree with the 2700 fps theory. Look at the 308 Win and how many short barreled guns it has taken game cleanly with. Definitely some truth there.

You got that right. My two longest shots on deer were with rifles chambered to the .308. The first was with a Remington 660 (20" barrel) at 427 paces. (Distance was paced off by three people and averaged.) Game was a Mule Deer. Bullet was a 150 gr. Sierra Pro-hunter, velocity unknown. The year was 1973.

The second was at 250 yards, laser measured, the rifle a Ruger RSI with 18.5" barrel. Bullet was a 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core at 2550 FPS. Deer was taken about 5 years ago as I recall.

The .308 is one of my all time favorite cartridges. However as we're discussing the 7x57, I've used mostly the 140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2800 FPS in a Winchester M70 Featherweight. Seems to be a decent load, at least for deer. I got lucky at a recent gun show and score bullets in the 150 to 160 gr. range, some Speers and some Noslers. I haven't had a chance to work up anything with them yet, but I've seen some interesting comments in this thread and will be following it.
Since I trashed my right shoulder in a fall, the hard kickers are not as much fun as they used to be, although I still shoot them every once in a while. Never know when I might get lucky and draw another elk tag. Didn't get one this year.
Paul B.

I do most of my 'normal' hunting with the 7x57 and use the 160 partition and 140 TSX pretty much exclusively. The 2700 fps rule is a pretty good one, at least for larger animals, and gives you enough range for any reasonable distance. I shot quite a bit of plains game up to kudu size with the 160 partition at 2750 fps or so, and they all died fast.

4x and 6x scopes, 2700 FPS? I'll be damn the cream is finally rising to the top in gundome town!

These figures always seemed to work for me..Mostly because 2700/2800 FPS doesn't put a lot of strain on conventional bullets, less expansion gives more penetration, penetration gets in the good stuff and kill'um, and therein lies the "magic". Fact is those velocities make premiums work even premium-errrr ( a good thang )

I love to experiment, and my 7x57 and 257 Robts. have long magazines and long throats and I get 2913 with a 160 Nosler in my 7x57 and H414 powder and I can scare the 275 Robts. and 25-06 to death with my long throated 257, but I don't do that when I go hunting I shoot my hunting loads at the 2700/2800 FPS or even a tad less in some cases..Why? because it works.

I guess I must edit and take issue with Mule Deer who I have a world of respect for, but I don't see why he needs a 6X scope! I'll make that a 3x and 4x! :):):), but would never deny him choice!

Ray,

Evidently your eyesight is better than mine!

Well Well to say that a 140 to 180 gr bullet traveling between 2700 to 2800 fps with a fix 4 or 6 power scope is about perfect, who would have though let along write such a thing. The Mule has it right as usual, the problem with us as hunters and well loons in general, it that if we really admit to this bit of physics, a couple of things would happen, one The Mule would never sell any writing and would have to get a real job, two, they would end up only making one rifle and cartridge scope combo. And the rest would be dealing with the DT's for 10 months out of the year. Or this could be just what old guys need, and people who don't shoot need to shoot accurate enough to kill the deer most of us shoot. I saw 5 of them today around 2:30 after some thundershowers just eating like white tails do this time of year. I am so far gone, it beyond loon stage.

I prefer the 150 gr Barnes TSX BT bullet for anything/everything
I hunt with the 7x57. With a Pac-Nor 22" barrel fitted for the
M70 action, the cartridge does very well with 120-160 gr bullets,
in terms of both accuracy and velocity. But the 150gr TSX is my
solution over a lightweight bullet that gets pushed around a bit
at 300+ distances, and certainly has no difficulty staying together and finding it's way to the vitals, regardless of distances.

We are a 7x57 family, and about 20 years ago switched to 140 grain Nosler Partitions exclusively. Since then, no more lost Deer, which was the issue back then.

I have always been on the heavy end of the bullet choice with the 160gn Woodleigh at 2700fps but have spent some time lately studying on the GS Custom HV bullet and after another talkfest with the supplier will try either the 116 with BC .468 at 3350fps or the 120gn with BC.390 at 3200fps. Will post results when they are to hand.

Von Gruff.

I have a hunting buddy that shoots everything with a 145gr Grand Slam. His 7x57 works very, very well for him on deer and elk.

I just put together some loads for my 7x57. I used 140gr Barnes TTSX (Blue Tips.

I used H414 with CCI Benchrest primers. Load data shows 44.0-46.5 gr for 414 so I loaded 20 of each at 44, 45 and 46gr. Pleasant to shoot. Right at ~2700 Fps, I haven't found the most accurate of the 3 yet. I have some phone books saved and one day I am going to soak them and check penetration at 50, 75 and 100 yards.

I had a smallish deer stop a 175 grain Hornady last week from my early Ruger M77 in 7x57. Deer was quartering toward me and I caught her in the shoulder. Bullet broke the hip and stopped in the opposite side rear leg. Oh, the deer died alright. I was just surprised the bullet didn't exit.

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How come we don't hear more about the Grand slams or are the hunters who use them just happy and....well, quiet.
I've never used them but the hotcors have long been a favourite of mine in a number of calibres.