Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New Toy - Lipsey's Ruger RSI International SS 7x57

Picked up my latest toy yesterday from the transfer dealer. I bought it on GunBroker.

It is a Lipsey's Ruger RSI International, stainless, in 7x57. This one has a 1:8.75 inch twist, an 18.5 inch barrel, and is built on the M77 Hawkeye action.

I will try to post some pictures...











It has been over 28 years since I have owned a 7x57.

I am thinking about stoking it with Hornady 139 grain GMX and Nosler 175 grain Partitions. Can anyone recommend favorite powders for these bullet weights?

I am hoping to get 2500 - 2600 fps with the 139 grain bullets and 2350 fps with the 175 grain bullets.

very nice.

Oh, my.

I'd be tempted to Cerakote it, just to darken up the metal, but...

it's damn nice as is.

I took the pictures this afternoon under an overcast sky. It is a bit shiny. I am tempted to have it bead-blasted for less glare.

I like that

Nice short rifle, like ss/walnut and like FL stocks.

Think 2750-2800 with 139-145 class. Do all you need as far as you can hold a steady vitals hold. Powders....I would suspect it would respond similar to a 7/08, 4064, Varget, RL17/19, 4350s. 4320 may also be a good one.

Alot of 'Rigby' owners here can chime in, it will perhaps optimize with a powder a tad different in burn rate than the SA 7/08 round. Use the same powders as in a longer tubed rifle for your carbine IIRC for top speeds.

That's a great looking rifle. I just picked one up in .308, tang safety model built in 1984, never fired...until I got a hold of it These rifles are sweet shooters and carry great in the woods. I'm tempted to ditch the 4x scope and go irons only!

I like shorter rifles, normally in the 18 to 20 inch barrel range. Or Ruger #1 in the 20 to 22 inch barrel range. You would probably never guess that from my screen name...

It would be cool if the same powders that I use in my 375s would work well enough in the 7x57. My first 7x57 was an Interarms Mark V and it shot bug holes with the Nosler 175 grain Partition. I estimated the velocity at 2450 fps based upon reloading manual data. Some years later I bought an Oehler 33, and found they were only a little under 2300 fps. That load was mild on the shoulder and killed everything well, but the chrono ruined the rifle for me. So, I traded it off. Later, Finn Aagaard's writing changed my mind on that. Live and learn.

I plan to put a 2.5x Leupold Compact on it in the near future. If I can get 1.5 inch or less 3 shot groups out of it, then I will be satisfied. Of course, I will accept bug holes, too!

This is my second RSI, I have a Mark II in .243 Winchester that is waiting for my grandson to grow a little.

I really like this rifle, yet it does have some warts. It is too shiny for my taste but that can be fixed. The fit of the front and rear sight bases is not good, there are gaps under and around both. The front sight base has rough gouges on the barrel band. It really scratches the brass hard with the feed rails, from about the middle of the case to the end. The barrel channel is sloppy and has some wood splinters sticking out on one side. The gas relief hole on the side of the receiver is not completely round, it looks like a sizable burr was just pushed over into the hole during polishing.

My .243 RSI has none of those poor workmanship issues. (Shiny is not workmanship, just a matter of preference.) I have owned several Ruger rifles over the years and this is the most poorly finished one that I have ever seen. My stainless 375 H&H Ruger #1 was flawless in fit and finish.

I wonder if something in Ruger's assembly process is gouging the front sight base since my Alaskan has very similar marks in just about the same place.

Perfect gun for the caliber!

Now dats a nice rig, love the cal. Course I'm kind of weird in that I'd prefer it to be blued...I know weirdo.

Dober

Short Rifle fan,
what does your RSI weigh in at??
I can probably source a RSI in 7x57 in my neck of the woods, and it would make a sweet stalking rifle (too add to the ever growing collection).

Life's too short to hunt with ugly rifles!!

Gus

The M77 Internationals are very nice rifles indeed, esp in a classic chambering like 7mm Mauser. Topping that with a XVIII 1.5x5 would be perfect.

The only critique I would have for the rifle is I'd like to see it in a 20" bbl with the forend and bbl trimmed down to maintain balance and not look so chubby up front as it does.

Anybody that smokes Davidoff Grand Cru cigars doesn't need a Ruger of any stripe, but a nice Westley Richards would do.

SRF,

Great combo rifle/cartridge. Let us know how it shoots.

Wayne

Supercub, echo your 20" comment.

OP - If you are not happy overall w/that rifle, I'd just pack it up or call Ruger and ask if they will send a call tag, and let them address each and every concern/issue. I am sure they will return it to your satisfaction, and at NC of course.

Later you can no doubt do a bead blast on it to cut glare for hunting. Blued rifles glare to if polished vs. matte but a fine bead SS is nice and functional.

Getting 1.5 or better MOA using a 2.5x is not unreasonable, that is a good goal for that combo, but it may well do better.

BTW, someone like JB/MuleDeer can chime in, but IIRC, Ruger cut chambers deeper in the throat on 7x57s on early mfg. guns, often doing great with longer heavies, your new one might have a shorter throat, maybe not, no doubt the twist rate should be the same although your Interarms may have had a longer bbl and higher speed, unless your not loading max. 2350 I would think is very doable in that rifle, as IIRC, my 7BR 21" did near that with 175 MKs, drilling thru 12-15" of hardwood - talk about penetration!

Nice rifle but, I'd have to darken the metal for my taste. I'm a blue steel/walnut kind of looney.
As far as powders go, 4350 will give you everything you need but, I've found the 7x57 works well with any powder and used burning rates from IMR-3031 through MR-3100 with great success.

I've owned a few Ruger 77s in 7x57, all tang safety style actions, and they all had deep throats. I have shot quite a few Hornady 139, 154, and 175 grain bullets from them and didn't notice that the deeper throat caused the lighter/shorter bullets not to shoot as well as the rifle and shooter could do.

Having owned several of both the short and long action 77 RSI, I think that the long action rifles balance a little better than the short action rifles, even though they share the 18.5" barrel length and contour. I'd agree that a 20" barrel, like the Husqvarna mannlicher stocked rifles have, would improve their balance, but WBR, Sr., didn't ask for my input.

JEff

I think throating matters most..negatively, when its so deep/long i.e. a short action/round and when you cant get close, often accuracy is not to its max potential.

No doubt lighter bullets can do fine in longer throats, and probably do best when seated out the closest possible to the lands, though its not a rule per se.

I have a Ruger 77 RSI parts gun in 280 that has the shorter standard SAAMI 280 throat and it doesn't shoot any better, or any worse, with the 139, 154, and 175 grain Hornadys than have the factory specs Ruger 77s in 7x57 that I've owned and/or shot.

JEff

I would expect a difference if you had two different throat lengths, and used the same COL for both.

I do recall Ruger 7x57s according to owners, showing a preference towards certain bullet weights, depending on throating that IIRC was changed in production from the older vs. newer mfg. rifles. It's possible they were using factory ammo, not sure.

I have had 'BUGHOLE' accuracy i.e. in two 6mm BRs, both 8" ROT, but one had a very short throat, vs. another with a longer throat made for 105-108s. BOTH shot bughole groups when either light or heavy spectrum bullets were seated into lands.

Yet, most every rifle I had loaded for, showed a distinct preference for being at or into the lands. Often the difference was significant, but always noticeable vs. being short of lands.