Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7x57...a little hot?

I shoot my 7/08 with 140TSXs over H414 from a 24" barrel at 3050fps all day long with no pressure signs. And I am sure my 35P is right on regarding MV. My 7x57 Ruger#1 shoots about the same.

I like the 154's myself, but I use 48 grains of IMR4350 for just over 2700 fps. Just over 1" groups, great game performance, easy to hit with.

Perfection since 1892

Mark gave good advice when he suggested you use case life as your way of gauging reasonable pressure. Try loading and firing the same three cases, if you can get half dozen shots before primer pockets get loose you're likely O.K. Gotta say your reporter velocities do sound a little high. That's about what I'd expect from a .280Rem.

How far was the chronograph from your muzzle?

-Bob F.

Ten or fifteen feet.

Sometimes muzzle blast will change Chronograph readings.
To rule that out try it at 12 feet and 15 ft see if theres a
difference. ten feet is a tad close with a slower powder like 4350.
Good Luck!

Cossat: What kind of barrel is it?

My Rigby likes 51gns of 760 for right on 2800fps with that bullet so it may pay to drop a grain or two and shoot more groups?

JW

It is probably closer to fifteen.

Bob Hagel book,Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for the American Hunter, list the 160 gr Nosler PT with 52 grs of 4350 at 2816 mv in Ruger 77, 22" barrel. I have use that load and got 2800 fps in the same rifle, never had any problems.
Jack O' Connor's book the Hunting Rifle. Lists 154 Hornady, 160 Speer, Sierra or Nosler with 52 grs of 4831. Velocity in 22" barreled custom rifle of 2650 fps. This was his wife's go to load
for Elk and African Antelope. He said it worked very well. I killed a Bull Elk in 1995 with the Hagel load using a Hawk 160. About 150 yards braodside thru both lungs and out the other side, lungs jellied. Scored 313. It was a hoot.

Most of Bob Hagel's loads were pretty darn hot. I never could come close to any of them in any of my rifles. I'm also wondering it O'Connor's load for the 7x57 was with milsurp Hodgden's 4831. Nice job on the elk though. I might tale a 7x57 for elk this year, if I can daw damned tag. If not I'll try for a deer tag. I'm getting too damned old for this haave to graw a damned tag BS.
Paul B.

On that trip in 1995. It was my first and only guided hunt. My cuz Paul and I went to Montana, near Dell and packed in for 8 days. The night before we went in, we stayed at the headquarters of the outfitter at Lakeview. We had supper and visited with hunters that packed out that day and were going home the next. Sitting around the big round table eating, the conversation turned to rifles. The hunters that were leaving were from California and were knowledgable hunters and riflemen. One used a 338x06 he had made, and the other iirc had a 300 Win Mag. They asked what we were going to use, I replied 7x57 Msr and Paul had a 25x06. The guy with the 338-06 said," I have a BRNO 7x57, that killed everything I ever pointed it at, and I don't know why I quit using it". And that included Elk. It tickeled me at the time and my old 7x57 has killed everything I ever pointed it at to.

I've shot that exact recipe out of my 7x57; a 20" barrel Ruger #1. I averaged about 2,875fps. As some say, maybe you are just fortunate. Still, I would shoot it again to make sure. Chrony could not be opened all the way perhaps. Also, are you using mag primers or regular. I was using Fed 210s and the chrony was 15ft from the muzzle.

I use Winchester WLR. I don't have the exact data in front of me, but the first was a shade over 2800 and the second just a tad under. Could have been warmer one day than the other. It's just a great cartridge.

JW, I messed around with that powder and bullet combination until I was blue in the face. Varied seating depth, primers and used a Lee crimping die, also. The only thing I did not do was change brass manufacture. Also, tried 139 and 140gr bullets with 760 and did not get satisfactory results. I guess I can take a hint...that gun will not shoot with 760.

Nice score on that elk, Luke...I just wanted to echo Paul B's comment about the Bob Hagel load. I too, have not been able duplicate it or come close. The best I can do with the 160gr Nosler PT is with a new batch of H4350 - 48grs at 2706fps. The old batch of H4350 shot 2660fps. Do not understand the disparity in the velocity, but do understand when you get a new batch of powder it is always good to start a couple of grains below old data.

Hate do hijack Cossatotjoe's excellent thread here, but just had to ask...trying to learn something here...
Atkinson, are you saying loading H414 rather than 4350, plus the gun design (throat & magazine box) is allowing you to attain the velocities stated? Just thinking out loud here...wondering how the chamber/throat and magazine box compares to a M77 TS?

Another thing I find interesting is the 3200fps velocity you get with a 130gr Speer puts it up there in the company of the 270 Winchester. In a 1989 Outdoor Life, Jack O'Connor quoted a 7x57 load with a 130gr Speer and 50grs IMR4320 at 3100 fps. I tried to duplicate that load in a VZ24 action with a 24" McGowen bbl put together by Charlie Cournoyer of South Milw WI and a Ruger M77 TS. I so wanted to tell the boys at the range my 7x57's can shoot like a 270 Winchester. My loads did not break the 3000fps threshold. 52grs of Win760 came close in both rifles with lousy accuracy in the M77 and good accuracy in the VZ24. Did not try H414 so maybe I should take another run at it with that powder...BTW, Atkinson do you use magnum primers?

Something sounds a bit off - that load should generate about 2800 fps. If the chrony is right (I'd suspect it first), you're likely getting too much pressure that isn't showing up obviously.