Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer - Magnificent 7x57

For those looking for the article, it is in the May,2015 issue of Guns magazine, which is the current issue as of today, March 18.

Go figure.

I had a tang saftey Ruger 77 in 7x57 that would not come closer than 200 fps. with Nosler load data to what was in the book. I took it to Bill Wiseman and had him chamber cast it and the dimensons were way large with a very long throat. I tried adding powder until I got to published velocity but the gun wouldn't group. Eventually I rebarreled it to .270 and still shoot it. Ruger really ran some dogs out in that era. I don't know if it was a barrel problem, reamer wear problem, or just really poor quality control.

Well, that rules me out for ever going to the "Dark Continent." I don't have a taste for gin. Irish whiskey, on the other hand....

I don't remember ever seeing a bottle or Irish whiskey in a safari camp, and I would have if one had been there. Plenty of Scotch--and gin.

Well, John, we'd just have to bring some class to the place. There's nothing like a nip of Black Bush by the fire.

I too am enamored of the 7x57, and like Ingwe, I prefer the heavy 175gr bullets. There is just no other bullet weight to compare with it for terminal performance and accuracy in a wide spectrum of rifles with varying chamber/throat geometries.

My first 7x57 was a pre-warning tang Ruger M77R. My load of choice at one time was the 160gr Speer Hot Cor over 50gr of H4350. When I acquired my M77R MkII I promptly chambered one of those rounds and fired it only to find the bolt locked quite tightly. I was able to open it only with help from a rubber mallet. Subsequent load development showed that my chosen max charge in the MkII was just 45 grains. This points out the extreme variability of rifles chambered in 7x57, even within one manufacturer.

I have other 7x57 rifles now and have been "playing around" with the 154gr Hornady bullets with fairly good terminal performance and flatter trajectory than provided with the 175 grainers. Even so, nothing beats those magnificent 175gr spitzers, and the Hornady Interlock Spire Point might just be the best of the standard-grade cup-and-core choices.

Hmmm..

Dennis Hall didn't mention a rubber mallet in the linked article, but from some of his load data, bet he needed one...

DF

I had good luck with H450 in my m77 7x57 using 139 and 154 hornadys.Too bad it is no longer available.

That H450 must have been some wonderful stuff. It appears on almost every page of my older Hornady loading manual. That may a slight exageration. When I was younger, my neighbor gave me a pound of the stuff leftover from his reloading phase years prior. Stupidly, I poured it on the sidewalk and lit it thinking it might be too old, or something. It was black and shiny and smelled like every other powder, but I burned it anyway. I regret that smooth move.

Does anybody know the difference between H450 and H4350?

4350 is extruded. Wasn't 450 a ball powder?

BTW, great article by JB, as always.

Lots of time and work went into that piece.

Thanks for all your efforts, John.

DF

I have 300 Hornady 7mm 162 GR A-Max bullets that should arrive today and i will be working up a load with Hod 4831SC in my 7x57 . I presently have been using the Sierra 160 gr BTHP with 49.0 gr of 4831SC and should be able to use the same powder charge with the Hornady bullet. My rifle seems to prefer 4831 over 4350, but will also try Hod 4350 working up to 47 gr.'s with the 162 gr A-Max. The A-Max 162 gr will become my go to bullet in the 7x57 if it groups well in my rifle.

bea,have you run your sierra 160 load over the crono? I am getting 2600 ave.fps with the sierra 160btsp over 50.5 gr. of h4831sc in a ppu case,r-p 91/2 primers and 3.135 oal.in my cz550 with a 23.6 inch tube.

This from a 24 inch barrel , i have now shorten the barrel to 21 inch and re-crowned and will now have to repeat chronographing the load .

Nice work bea175. There is a whole lotta huntin' you can do and game you can kill with that load right there.

with this load and my 7x57 with 24 inch barrel

It didnt bounce off!

yes it did and i had to finish him off with a big rock.

"Bouncing off"...

This is a 7x57, not a .270...

DF

Older tang safety Ruger I seat 150 nosler BT just off the lands, with IMR 4350. Medium pressure load and it has never let me down in 25 years. The bullets are seated way out on the case.