I own a Ruger M77 TS 7x57 that gets no respect from many in the hunting and shooting community. The Ruger has been accused of not shooting tight groups out of the box, trigger needs a gunsmith's help, barrel needs to be free floated, barrels are no good and it has a long throat. In a sentence it is a piece of crap.

Many of the young-ns at the club range ask what is a 7x57, sir? Many in the older crowd wonder why I shoot that ancient cartridge when there is so many new and better ones available. Hunting guides cringe when you show up in elk camp with it and hunters look down their noses at the mention of the caliber. One guide at a Western US deer/antelope hunting camp suggested I might want to bring a bigger/faster rifle next time. I replied: "Ok, sure, just make sure the heads and capes of those animals over there are sent to the taxidermist sooner rather than later."

A picture of the sad piece of crap can be seen below. Anyone else have a rifle that does not get respect?

I got the same dang one...

I hope it collects hide and heads. I haven't shot it yet. I can't post the dang pics though because my photobucket is goofy.

I like yours too.

Nice rifle!

I've always preferred the tang safety to any other type and the 7x57 is just about the perfect cartridge and one of my very favorite.

Many/most Savages get little respect despite being accurate, dependable rifles.

I do think the Savage locknut is ugly as heck but I took care of that by fitting a traditional shouldered barrel to my 338-06 LH 110.

Those early Rugers often sported very nice walnut and superlative bluing as well.

wasn't his name Rodney?

I have one of these:



getting rebuilt as a 7x57 with open sights for my wife's PG rifle when we go to Africa.

I figure if an old fart like Ingwe can drop some critters with one, she oughta do okay.

You are correct he was Rodney...I edited and changed...thanks.

Make sure you try Eleanor O'Connor's Dark Continent loads in that 7x57

Tzone...my 7x57 was built in 1984 and I purchased it sometime in 1985. Put your rifle through its paces and have fun.

Regarding photobucket...I have had some difficulty also. Used to just hover on the photo and drop down bar would show...clicked on IMG Code...right click on box to the righ and click copy. Now I left click on the photo and a enlarged photo comes up with the drop down bar off to the left. I kept left clicking on the IMG Code box until it said "copied." Then I could paste to the forum.

I got the same dang one too! Everybody gives me the same load of crap that you get. Then I show them the engraving on the barrel: "Made in the 200th year of American Liberty." Ruger put this on their guns made in 1976, so its a collector's gun of sorts. Then they want to buy it off me! They'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers.....

But, my main Rodney Daingerfield gun is a beater/truck Ruger Ranch Rifle. It shoots 3-4" groups all day long if I do my part, so I don't care how dirty or beat up it gets. It's lots of fun hosing down a running coyote with that minute-of-a-barn-door outfit!

No photos of it but I have a M1938 Husqvarna in 6.5x55 that was my go to bear deer moose and grouse gun for fifteen years. It like yours did not have the power/ penetration/ tragectory or accuracy to gain any respect. One year that useless rifle harvested 60 grouse(head shot) a bull and cow moose(the bull came to a call at 30 meters, the cow was 150 meters) a half dozen rabbits and a timer wolf.

Those old Rugers are a joy to shoot and carry. I have a tang safety 338 winmag that is like your 7x57 for reliable and comfort. Calling down a 7x57 is like calling down the 30-06. they are both reliable, but I think the 7x57 more user friendly, and the longer for calibre bullets sure penetrate.
Randy

Randy

round oak: Good thread!

You may be surprised that the 270 gets the same cold shoulder from a lot of the younger hunters today,and to listen to them, you would think that bullets from the 270 (and the 7x57)would not kill a bull butterfly.......

I have had these guys look at me earnestly and tell me you are playing fast and loose with your expensive Alberta whitetail tag(they get really BIG uo there!)if you use a 270 instead of a 300 Uber Mag;or you will leave the Wyoming countryside littered with wounded elk if you bring a 270 on your hunt.....

Pretty funny,really.....

A friend of mine is a very macho type of guy, the .270 and .30-06 weren't "enough" gun for him. He's currently hunting with a .300 RUM, using the managed recoil loads of the .30-06 power level....Makes me smile everytime he bad mouths the good old '06.

Bob, they obviously haven't hunted/killed much yet....(grin)

The 270 Winchester has got to be about the best mule deer(and western whitetail) cartridge of all-time.

I bought one in 1972 when Ruger made a limited run of them. Carried and hunted it along with a couple of magnums until 2001 when I "improved it." Those magnums, BTW, are long gone.
Was a the most reliable rifle I had ever known. Took a real chance turning into a full custom .280. That old rifle would shoot everything from 115 gr. HP at over 3000 fps. to factory 175 RN's into the same 3 inch group at 100 yds. For all of the time I had it, it only changed zero once. Turned out that when I fell on the rifle, hitting the ground upside down, i.e. that means scope first, I loosend the front scope ring. That was all. Yes, I still own the scope, an old 4X B&L. Good reliable scopes are not to be sold for "better" scopes.
I tried alot loads in it. Had one with Nosler's 140 gr. Partition over 47 gr.s of IMR 4350 that did all sorts of critters in, including a B&C Pronghorn. Never shot any better or worse than 1.5 inches at 100 yds. Not the most accurate load I shot with that rifle, but plenty good enough.
I was really happy about how well I could shoot it. Three inch groups, off hand at 100 yds were common. Because I could adviously shoot it better, I kept it and sold the magnums.
The trigger is fully adjustable and easy to keep clean. That action easily ejected a case once that was so hot the primer was blown completely out of the case..... What more can one ask of a rifle ?
It's now a .280 and it still keeps all of it's loads very close. And it is still as reliable a rifle as one could ask. E

That is funny .

Randy was the lesser known and even less respected of the Dangerfields

Love Ruger rifles. I always had "thing" for the 7x57. Some day I will get one. I do have 7x57's little brother. The 257 Roberts which would probably gets even less respect in deer camps.

I've got the same rifle and I consider it my poor man's Griffin & Howe.

One of the sweetest shooting rifles bar none was 7X57.

If the only rifle a man had to hunt with was 7X57 he would be in hog heaven.

Have one made in '72. Was pretty much like new when I traded for it 6 or 7 yrs ago. Thought I had my final deer rifle. Son couldn't keep his hands off it whenever the safe was open so it and a Burris 3-9 turned into a Christmas present when he was about 12.

I agree that the 7x57mm get little respect from the younger crowd (IF they even know what it is).

That's always seemed odd to me since the 7mm-08 is often praised by this same group as the best thing since sliced bread.......Hmmmmmmmm.

Get the same reaction when I carry my mid-50's vintage Savage 99 chambered for the .300 Savage. Some think it's some kind of magnum.....or don't have any idea what it is.....or look down on it as "underpowered" and antique.

Then I carry my mid-50's vintage Savage 99 chambered in .308 Win. the next hunt and they think it is GREAT.

Seems idiots will never cease to amaze with their "logic".

I live in Alberta and have killed some large bodied deer. Every one of them I've used a 25-06. According to some, it's a "gopher" gun. Seems it kills deer dead.

I must admit, that if I hunted more timbered areas more, I would likely shoot a 30-06, 308 or 300WSM.

But for me, the 25-06 has been my deer/antelope killer.

Think I had my timeline off just a little. Must have been close to 10 yrs ago when I traded because son is a freshman in college now. Anyway, from the time he got it he's obviously taken pleasure in "educating" friends, etc in the particlars of the 7x57 and his "old rifle". Glad he has it. Hell, it's a 100 yr old cartridge in a rifle made 18 yrs before he was born. All younguns need a little history to hang on to.

AB: Agreed....some could not shoot the big guns...IME Alberta whitetails die just like other deer

My "Rodney" rifle is a S&W 1500 308 Win sporter. Made by Howa for S&W in the early 1980's. It now has a Boyds JRS laminate stock, and sports a B&L Scopechief VI fixed 4x scope (which is crystal clear with outstanding resolution and edge-edge crisp image). That is my Rodney Dangerfield scope, and it's on a "Rodney rifle." A perfect match.

The action is silky smooth. It shoots any bullet up to 200 grains well (200 grain Speer hotcors sub 2 moa, 150-180 grainers = ~ 0.75- 1.5 moa). Trigger is nice. Points well.

I was going to call my JC Higgins M50 30-06 with 4x Leupold a "Rodney rifle;" however, those that realize it is a commercial FN Mauser 98 action (with Timney trigger, and Bell and Carlson Medalist stock), more than make up for those who can't get past the "Sears Roebuck" barrel stamp.

Rodney rules.

Can I borrow that line when you are not using it?

Try not to surround yourself with idiots. That should take care of the problem. I own a 7mm-08 only because every 7X57 I tried to order was gone. A long throated 7X57 would be about perfect in my book. My Rodney Dangerfield rifle is a 30-06 #1 RSI. Boring 30-06 with a short barrel and too much wood blah, blah, blah. Kills like the hammer of Thor and carries like a 28 ga. bird gun. I try not to tell my secret.

Rodney (no respect) Dangerfield rifles can also apply to the more modern Rugers too. I believe that I happen to have just the rifle that qualifies in that dept, which amongst most wouldn`t get any respect and is under-estimated when it comes to sheer ballistic horsepower. As far as I know, I`m the only one on this forum that owns one,,,which is all fine, well and good with me!.....Sorry! But no pics!

A Ruger Frontier compact carbine chambered in a 300 WSM??? They say! "A 300 mag with only a 16.5" barrel?" "Why, you gotta be kiddin!" "There`s no purpose for that!" "You`re losing your azz in velocity!" "Shoulda just bought a full sized 308; same damn thing!"

And as it has occured on three elk trips now, the laughs and smirks at `lil junior always come to pass. "Little" do they know is, is that junior (aka "mighty mouse"), can provide 26" 30-06 AI ballistics!!

The problem with most, is that they quickly judge a book by its cover (1st impression), without reading the book or inquiring by asking some basic questions and reading between the lines.

The bull elk kill using this little rifle last Nov, even impressed my guide. Afterall, nobody ever shows up to elk camp with a ridiculous looking "no respect" shorty compact!!!

A one shot 328 yard kill, using a 190 gr VLD, a particular reload that chronyd at 2870 fps, made for "very short" work of Mr Elk. He might as well had been at 400 to 500 yards. No matter!

Moral? Don`t judge a book the cover alone or by a first impression. Respect should be earned by the performance and/or end final result.

Well, I would loan my truck my car, but...

I have a 7MM-08 and really like it. Alot of these "experienced dudes" don't realize you can out perform the 7-08 with a 7x57 if you roll your own.

Unfortunately, too many of todays hunters think that a magnum is needed for deer hunting. But I seem to do well each year with the 257 Roberts, 30-30, and 7-08 on the "kevlar coated" whitetails here in Missouri. I have also used my 30-06, but only after downloading the 150 gr bullets to around 2600 fps. All these rounds have taken deer, and none have gone more that a few steps. All of these rounds will take deer at ranges that are way beyond any I would feel comfortable shooting at deer. Now my next problem is deciding on what to get for the next rifle: do I go with the 7x57, or 6.5x55? I have always like the Swede, and the 7-08 covers the 7mm, but either will be all I need for anything I will ever hunt in Missouri. If I can afford to go hunt elk or moose out west, I can afford another rifle, if I need one.

Tell them it's a 275 Rigby and it's been used to slay elephants in Africa. Maybe that will impress them in the deer camp.

Put your quote with Model70man and I have a:

A poor mans Griffin and Howe 275 Rigby elephant slayer...perfect, sounds respectable to me.

I have one of those Rejected and Disrespected 7 x 57s... mine is a Model 70 Featherweight...

Paid $300.00 for it, because the original owner sold it because he couldn't find ammo for it..

everyone at the gunshop passed it by because they didn't have a clue what a 7 x 57 was....

so I guess if mine had to have a descriptive name, it would be Little Orphan Annie..but I don't call it that..

I call it a 7mm Mauser, as that is what the barrel is stamped..

it isn't a bad caliber, even for elk..

mine will throw a 175 grain bullet at 2650 fps from the Muzzle..

considering mine looked like it was new out of the box when I got it.. and had had a Pachmyer recoil pad installed on it, and came with Leupold Rings and basis installed. for $300.00, I did pretty well on that transaction..

topped it with a 3 x 9 Leupold with a heavy duplex reticle, and a nylon sling.. and we are ready to go hunting..

and despite what I paid for it, I wouldn't sell it for 3 or 4 times the price I paid for it..

the only way I'd ever sell it was if I decided to quit hunting..
and hopefully that isn't happening anytime soon..

yea i get razzed everytime i come to deer camp sporting two major flaws, (three if you count myself) a Ruger rifle (M77 Mark II All Weather) and in .243 win to boot. folks keep telling me it wont drop deer but everyone of them i've shot or my kids has shot forgot to wear thier kevlar fur that day and took it on the chin big time. yep hands down the Ruger M77 rifles get the least respect from anyone who's never shot one.

Here's my "no respect" rifle. About 35 years ago I paid $30 for it sans scope, paint job, sling and 4" of barrel. It's a 1923 Oviedo M93 Mauser in 7x57. Before hacksaw and with the scope shown it was a 4 to 6 MOA shooter. After hacksaw and with a new Burris 2x20 scope it's a 3/4 to 1 1/4 MOA shooter.

It has two big problems you can't see in the photo: (1) the previous (previous previous?) owner evidently lost the front action screw and replaced it with a cross-threaded 1/4" NC bolt; and (2) I've shot it so much the stock behind the tang is splitting, probably due to something with the 1/4" bolt. My warm weather project is to fix both problems. This old Mauser has been my favorite rifle for many years. It will be my daughter's someday. Respect or not, $1,000 cash wouldn't buy it from me.

The Savage 340 ...or better yet a Springfield 840 is the ultimate Rodney Dangerfield rifle.



Not my rifle...but just a flashback to those that haven't seen one in a while. I used to laugh at these rifles when I was a kid. I bought one cheap to turn into a youth rifle and was shocked how an ugly pile of crap could shoot 1" groups with what ever you fed it. It still gets no respect.

Dan

In 1985 I bought a custom 7 X 57 built on an FN Mauser action with a Sukalle barrel from a friend for $250 (with a very large Redfield scope), which was what he'd paid for it at a pawn shop in West Palm Beach, Florida. The pawn shop didn't know what it was, my friend didn't know what it was, and I didn't know what it was, either. I was just getting into deer hunting, and I wanted the leasy expensive gun I could get. After I moved further north, I took it to a gunsmith in Jacksonville to ask if I could shoot handloads through it (factory ammunition was seriously downloaded to prevent accidents in someone used a 92-97 model of Mauser), and he didn't know what it was, either. He was all into wildcats and had contempt for any factory round. All I wanted was a .270 until the internet arrived and then I found out that I had a prize in this little Mauser. I still have it, and it's poison on Georgia whitetails using 140-grain handloads at 2,900 FPS. I have other rifles now, including more customs, but I'm still partial to the 7 X 57, and killed my largest-ever deer with it a few seasons back. But I 've given up explaining what it is to my hunting buddies. I just say "7 MM" and let it go at that. The most anyone has ever said about the gun? "Nice scope" (old Leupold VX II that I had camo-coated).

Most pushfeed post-64s get sneered at by the elite; meanwhile, they shoot with the best of the customs.

I would take a PF M70 over a R700 ANY DAY.

And I've loved the 7x57 since I got one. I was 14.

GA: You gotta have some years(and be well-read) to know who Bill Sukalle was....

......and you gotta have no brains in your skull if you don't like the 7x57.

What a great find! Bill Sukalle was certainly one of the best back in the day and if JOC endorsed him then he was good!

Gotta save that one....

For when nasty rumors of .270s rear their ugly heads.....


Ingwe

I arrived at a deer camp in central Alberta with a pre 64 M70 chambered for 300H&H.....at the obligatory sighting in session, the guides and outfitter(all in their 20's)asked "What's a 300 H&H?"....this was a clear sign that I was older than them

I told them it's the cartridge their 300 Weatherby's are made from;tried to get them to let me shoot the Holland case in their rifles but no go.......one said if the 300 Weatherby replaced it, the H&H couldn't be any good.....Besides the 300 Weatherby was invented by Roy Weatherby........mmmm....

Five days later,after I had tagged out,one of them used my rifle to fill his tag on a beautiful 10 point buck at about 300 yards.....he commented...."That cartridge may be old...but it sure does work good!"

With that Sukalle barrel, I bet you could get 10 times your original purchase price for that rifle, providing it's in good shape. Please keep it, use it, and pass it on to your children and grandchildren. They will remember that sweet rifle long after they forget you. Unlike Rodney, that gun gets nothin' but respect from me.....

Yesterday I stopped by Gander Mountain to pick up a Savage rifle that had been sent back to the factory for warranty work. There were Remington and Savage and Browning rifles galore on the racks but I think I could have counted the Ruger rifles on one hand. Typical.

Pictures of my Ruger targets have been posted enough I won�t bother again here. Suffice it to say that all of my Rugers are shooters. Last weekend (or the weekend before?) I was shooting clay pigeons on the 600 yard line with my 7mm RM. Only got one hit but I�d never shot the 7mm beyond 500 yards before and I only took 3 shots. (And the misses didn�t miss by enough to matter if I�d been shooting an antelope or even a coyote.)

Yes, I�ve polished up the triggers and floated the barrels (with the exception of my .22-250 VT, which came with a target trigger and already floated). And yes, some have long throats. The stocks are sometimes not as pretty as on some other makes but the walnut is real and a couple of the Rugers I saw at Gander yesterday had very nice stocks. My synthetic �canoe paddle� stocked .300 WM really gets some odd looks from the �pretty is better� crowd but I�m more of a functional-minded person and that stock is dang near indestructible. The Ruger scope mounting system is, IMHO, the best around for my purposes - a mule, a log, my Ruger 7mm RM as a cushion and two broken ribs convinced me of that back in the �80�s.

As far as I�m concerned the Ruger M77 and MKII action designs are one of the best (arguably THE best) commercial instantiations of the Mauser design. They certainly fill my need for a rugged, reliable and affordable action. If you look in my safe you will find more Rugers than all other bolt guns combined. They may not get any respect, but the bolt handles don�t come off, I�ve never broken an extractor or pulled the extractor through a case rim, the scopes are easily and quickly changed if one leaves the rings on the scopes, and they shoot great.

They get my respect, and that�s all that matters when I�m voting with my dollars.

My first center fire rifle I bought was this 760 30-06. My son, "High Brass", now owns it. He's been asked "why did you put a Leupold on that?". Here in WV 760's are respected. In NC they seem to be almost unknown.