Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters New 7X57

Thanks for the picture help !
i just picked this one up at a hawk shop for a good price.
It's a yougo 98 with a 23.5 inch barrel in 7X57. (anydody know if they made yougos in 7X57 ? if not it is likly an after market barrel.)
The stock is (I have been told) an old fajen aristocrat.
I now have my Ruger #1 a custom in the works and this new 7X57.
The new one has a good long throat, long enough the mag box is to short to get me very close to the lands.
But I have had lots of rifles shoot well that way.
The stock is really not my style with an exagerated roll over cheek piece , and the wood looks like it might be maple but it's dark for maple and light for walnut for sure.
I will let you know how she shoots.
...tj3006

Yes, they made 7x57's. I built a semi-custom rifle for a friend close to 20 years ago on a 7x57 barreled action purchased from Brownells.

That's an interesting stock. That style was all the rage when I was a kid, and these days I'm growing more tolerant of them again,in fact picked up an old Herter's stock fo that style last year to put on a Yugo Mauser of my own. Must admit they still look better to me than a synthetic stock of any style or make....

So they made the yougo in 7X57.
Nothing rong with a military barrel but it may have been throated for a particular load.
Most of the mexican 7X57 were throated for a 175 grain RN.
Mule deer, did the one you helped build shoot ok ?
this toick might grow on me but i like the stock on the one i am building alot, I will try and post a picture of it.
I don't mind synthetics, but I prefer wood.
...tj3006

I once had an FN commercial action with a 7X57 barrel that shot pretty well (for 1960) at 2.5" groups. It has a rollover stock similar to the once above - man, it was the cat's meow then, but not now.

To improve its looks, I heavily sanded the stock, removing the roll-over comb, grip flare and cap, and generally thinning the lines. I am certainly not Al Beisen (who I tried to emulate) and while it looked better than the original, it was not a classic, by any means!

About 2.5" groups being fairly good - today's run-of-the-mill rifles are so much better quality than the 1950's and �60�s that many younger shooters do not appreciate how far we've come.

Every 7x57 I've owned has shot an inch or less at 100 yards, with at least something. They range from M95 and M98 Mausers to Mk 10's (my wife's, actually) to Ruger #1's (two 1A's and a #1 RSI). The #1's all shot very well, but no better than the very first 7x57 I ever had, a sporterized M95 with a 3X Leupold that shot 139 gr Federal ammo to half an inch or less every time. I've never had a problem getting 139-140-145 gr bullets to shoot in the military barrels, either.

If I could only have one big game hunting rifle, the 7x57 would be one of the final two or three cartridges I would strain over. (Fortunately, the problem is somewhat in reverse... .)

Dennis

Tj3006,

I am about 99% sure that stock is not a Fajen Aristocrat.It is a ROBERTS California rollover sporter stock.

If you go to the Great American Gunstocks website- they have current renditions of that style pictured there as they bought out the origional Roberts company many years ago.The current stock have a butt thick edge to the rollover but they are the same stock.

The Fajen stocks had a lower comb than that one and more "roll" on the side. The Roberts stock is kind of unique in that most of them have a comb that flares upward to the right and above the cocking peice when you withdraw the bolt.

It is about has high as you can get a comb on a bolt action rifle without going to an adjustable cheekpeice or raising it so high you have to make a cut out on the comb nose for the cocking peice.

They make a great stock for folks who like Monte Carlos..

If the stock is solid with no cracks etc, I have seen them go for $200 or more on FleaBay..

A very nice find......and I thought my gunroom needed some TLC.

Doc

Oh heck DR,
That is about the cleanest part of my world, except my camp trailer.
It is a little meesy about now cause i have a bunch of non gun projects going on in there too.
As for that stock, I will shoot the rifle as is acouple of times. It looks to be prety well bedded , and the previuos owner put a dayton traystar trigger on it.
I might have somebody reshape the stock, I think a guy could probably shave at leas a 1/4 lb of wood off it.
...tj3006

Preach on brother, preach on.

Tom that is a beautiful 7x57 man! I have to say that that style stock has grown on me since I bought your SR'98.

Stocks without a comb and cheek piece are without character, without romance, without splendor, without beauty, without grace, without elegance, and without Promise.

They are dull, gloomy, and unexciting.

I'm blessed that ALL my hunting rifles have Combs and cheek pieces. Including a recently sporterized 1935 Chilean Mauser 98, in 7x57.

I don't have one with a rollover, but that is the Ultimate, IMO.

Such stocks are making a comeback with discriminating riflemen, and other riff-raff.

Smitty of the North

well , efw how is your project commoing along !
I know quality takes time. ...tj3006

Its coming along VERY slowly but not the 'smith's fault...

I'm hoping to have it all finished by June so I can do load work-up over the summer and hunt with it in the fall.

I forgot to mention that the 2.5" groups were achieved using open sights and a 20" barrel (sight radius of about 15"). I later installed a Lyman 57 peep sight and could hold 2" groups at 100 yards.

Nice rifle, too bad it's not a 6.5X55.

I wish I could keep my bench that neat.

It's good to read these postings regarding work bench organization; I thought only I was not organized. Too much stuff and too little space!

Awe geez, that's inspection-ready compared to my bench. I'd be ashamed to post a picture. There's all kinds of stuff laying all over the place, on and off the bench, on tables, carts, chairs, floor, shelves, you name it. But I pretty much know where most everything is. If my wife cleaned it I would not be happy. She tends to throw things away that don't appear to be of worth in HER mind - my stuff!

That's a nice 7x57 by the way, and the stock design works very well for "scope only" rifles. Hunt it a couple times before chopping on it. You might like it.

-

That stock design is kind of like a car. First it's a valuable new car, then it's just an old car with little value, and if you keep it long enough it becomes a classic.

That rifle looks a little like a Herters J9 or U9 I forget which. They had two models and one was pure Mauser on the Yugo or Santa Barbara rendition.

The give away would be the signature lightening bolt white line spacer on the butt pad. Those stocks work especially well from the bench or for fixed station shooting. The wood may be Myrtle with some age darkening.

That other stock is nice, although I would go back and forth on removing the raised action panels.