Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles reloading 7X57

Is a Ruger 77R...tang-safety.

I'm glad to be of help. My OAL is 3.112. IIRC saami is 3.065, so I am longer. After measuring my throat(done by gunsmith) I found that I could go to 3.2something. I lengthened them some, and when Three groups in a row shot under an inch, I stopped looking. I don't weigh/seperate brass or bullets, so that is good enough for me. It is amazing that a FN Mauser commercial sporter with a 23.5" light barrel built in '52 can shoot so well. The only mods that I've done or float and trigger. BTW 150BTs don't shoot as well, or to the same POA. So maybe I just found 'that majic load.' But what, south of Canada won't it kill?

My load is this:
RP Brass
CCI 200 primers
48.5gns H4350
Caveats apply It's safe in my gun

My OAL is out there too. The OAL for the NP and Hornady SP are about the same so I am loading them with the same OAL. I spent too much money having Superior Ammunition load up some 160 gr TSX's for me. But they did shot 0.75 to 1.0 inch consistently. Hopefully my handloads will get me close to that. I have a Ruger Mk II that has had a trigger job, the tip bedded and the LOP stretched out to 14.25 inches.

Scott

[color:"brown"]I just bought (in August) a like-new Ruger #1 International (aka "RSI") in 7x57 from the original owner who's had it since 1981. He claimed it shot 3 inch groups at 400 yards. Initially, I thought that was just "talk", but now I'm beginning to believe him.

I intend to work up THE most ACCURATE load possible out of my little Mannlicher-style stocked single-shot, falling-block rifle. Since "accuracy" is my goal, I don't really care about velocity, but I've found that using the chronograph in working up loads offers advantages.

I've just begun testing various load components... 4 different bullets, 5 different primers and 5 different powders... and so far, I've found the "sweet spot" in the RSI's 20-inch barrel with H4350 is between 47.4 to 47.8 grains of powder with a Winchester Std. Large Rifle Primer and a 140 grain Sierra ProHunter, flat-based bullet in Remington cases fired off of a solid bench-rest.

The 47.6 grain load yielded a 3-shot group (all 3 shot interlocking in a triangle) of just .270 inches at 50 yards with the scope's parallax adjusted out. I got 2 shots going into just .176 inches. Muzzle velocity averaged 2578 fps.

I found that H4350 gave excellent accuracy throughout it's entire range of powder weights. A maximum load (50,000 CUP) yielded an interlocking 3-shot "string" of just .564 inches with 2 shots going into .109 inches. I didn't chronograph this load, but my best guess would be about 2750 fps out of my rifle's 20-inch barrel.

I still must test H4350's "sweet spot" loads with 4 other primers and 3 other bullets, but I'm already happy with the initial results achieved so far using the H4350 with Winchester primers & Sierra bullets in Remington cases.

Naturally, I realize a powder's "sweet spot" might change slightly with different bullets, different bearing surfaces, etc... but I've generally found once you find the "sweet spot" your rifle "likes", it varies only slightly from bullet to bullet and primer to primer... and the previous "sweet spot" is a good place to "start" with the next bullet and primer test.

I also bought a bottle of Winchester 760 "ball" powder, a pound of IMR4320 and I already have almost a whole pound of Hodgdon's Varget plus some IMR4064 to test with 4 different bullets and 5 different primers, but I must say that it's gonna be hard to beat the results using H4350, an "extreme" Hodgdon powder supposedly not "bothered" by air temperature change. This means hot or cold, the load's velocity doesn't vary all that much... and this means that the exterior ballistics don't vary much either.

I'll post the results here in this Forum as I get them... but with Winter coming on, it will be next Spring and early Summer before I do much more shooting. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.