With respect, love of the 7x57 is not about velocity. It's about a wholly adequate hunting cartridge. It's about a cartridge with a longer [successful] history than most. It's about low recoil. It's about balance, versatility, and performance. It's about perfection.
It seems to me, too, that Big Redhead�s 7x57 assessment is pretty much spot on. Well, maybe the use of the word �perfection� is a wee bit over the top and sends us sloshing around in the 7x57 Kool-Aid bowl. But Big Redhead�s overall point is quite valid. At its recoil level (which is surprisingly mild), little else seems to be able to touch the 7x57 in terms of actual performance on game.
I�ve done a lot of hunting with magnum cartridges, especially in the .300 WM to .375 H&H arena, and believe me it�s a pleasure to pick up and shoot something like a 7x57 when appropriate.
I remember the last time I used the cartridge. It was a cold, blustery Wyoming day.
An hour before dark, I found an excellent antelope buck running 15 does all over a wide basin below a tall rim. I circle and closed to within 500 yards, and then simply set up in a clump on sagebrush on the rim. The only chance I would have would occur if one of the does would break out of the harem, run my way and the buck would follow to round her up. After 20 minutes of watching and waiting, one old doe did just that. The buck raced out after her and they both finally stopped broadside at 254 lasered yards. I was lying prone and shooting over my pack. I held right on his backline and 2 inches into the ever-present Wyoming wind and dropped him with a centered lung shot. The Remington M700 Mountain Rifle seemed barely to jump at the shot. No fuss, no muss, one dead antelope.
![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/TimberlineX/2007WyomingMuleDeerandAntelope15-1.jpg)
And that�s what the 7x57 Mauser in a good rifle seems to do so well.
Southtexas, I do find that chronographing various loads, cartridges and rifles is often fascinating. It does tend to put things in the proper performance perspective. With the 7x57, given its case capacity, a stout load is indeed capable of surprising speed. Of course, recoil climbs with that speed. I never did chronograph that .280 Featherweight. But I may with this 7x57. Like you, I�m curious. But I think I�ll first shoot something, or a number of somethings, with this rifle so as not to mess up my thinking.....if you know what I mean.
