Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7x57 Woodleighs/A Frames/etc?

Wouldn't that be spelled "Ding-a-ling"?

Thanks guys...I've always liked how both the Swifts and Woodleighs shot, just never killed anything with Aframes or 7mm Woodleighs. I still have a partial box of Hornady 175RN to play with. I've never killed an elk further than 250yds away. I usually average around 200yds on them. My average range on muleys is about 90yds! Didn't matter whether I was carrying a big magnum or a popgun, ha. For me, I want at least "some" mushrooming and a "lot" of penetration, I've just always liked holes that go all the way through. I grew up in the thickets of East Texas, small deer but big hogs and bloodtrails helped "if" they ever ran (I only shot one hog that ran , hit too far back and I got reamed by my dad for ruining "too da--ed much meat"!) Head/neck shots were used on hogs, deer usually behind the shoulder. Its almost impossible to "not" get two holes on those small deer, ha.

Jim,
For the ranges you state, it would be hard to find a 7mm bullet that wouldn't work.
John

One of the PHs I hunted with in Africa uses the A-Frames ( I want to say 175s) as his go-to in his 7x57.

At 7-08 (essentially 7x57) velocities I have observed no difference in penetration or wound channel between a 139 Interlock and a 140 Partition.

You might see a bit more penetration with, say, 160 grain Partitions, but the 139 Interlock may expand a better at 7-08 speeds and it will still provide very good penetration.

Most of the hogs I've killed have been close range affairs, from under ten feet to about 80 yards, but a few have been further out. The only 7-08 bullet I've ever caught in a hog was a 139 Interlock. A very large sow took one through the shoulder at 168 yards and she went straight down. I did the gutless method of cleaning her because she was so big. I didn't bother to dig for the bullet because clouds of mosquitoes were attacking me. But that's the only one that's ever been stopped out of many truckloads of hogs.

FWIW, I also shot lengthwise, twice, through a young but heavy forkhorn mule deer at 22 paces using 139 Interlocks. I put the crosshairs low on his chest and pulled the trigger. I probably didn't need to shoot again, but when he didn't fall over immediately, I did so. Both bullets exited the same ham about an inch apart. A bullet that will hold up and penetrate lengthwise through a mule deer buck and works well on big hogs, will also kill elk.

Which brings us back around to the original question. I recently bought 500 pulled 160-grain NTPs simply because I couldn't resist the price: $95 shipped. Even though I really don't need them, I figured that if half of them were usable, at that price I'd be way ahead of the game. So far, after sorting through most of them, I haven't found any with a single pull mark on them. I expect what I'll do is work up a load at about 2600 fps or thereabouts, and use them mostly on porkers, although I might stick one through our little Florida deer to see what they do. But frankly, I'm not really expecting them to perform any better than a 154-gr Interlock at around the same velocity...which performs about the same as the 140-gr factory Hornady loads (.275 Rigby) I'm using at the moment, also at about the same velocity: .284 entry hole, something about the size of a half-dollar coming out, with a nasty wound channel in between. I've never taken a single shot at an elk, but any of the three bullets I've mentioned will certainly send a big pig to the sausage grinder. I can't see the Woodleigh or A-Frame not doing the same.

Well RevMike ( BTW, I'm a Pastor myself! :)) I found some Nosler Blems over on Shooters Pro shop and ordered some 140 Accubonds and 175 Partitions. I have the 168 ABLR to try so passed on the 160 "anything else" right now. I did order a box of Norma 156gr ammo to do a mini break in on my rifle ( a 1981 Mod 700 Classic) and get fired brass to set up my dies, etc. I'll find some Woodleighs later on to try. Thanks all for your replies! Rev Jim Knight

Not a big deer,but this is the exit hole from a 160 gr Sierra GK with a 2710 fps average from a 22" barrel. The shot was around 110 yards.


Winchester M 70 Featherweight 7x57.

Ken:

As a doctor said one day, while he was looking at a nail mark in the bottom of my foot, "O, that's a big hole!"

Hey Rev, that's some pretty pricey break-in ammo!!

Ha! I meant just shoot a few, see if they group well and also check for fouling. I had also ordered 100 Norma Brass ( and 40 RWS) so figured to stay with one maker of brass.

Got the Norma factory load in, as usual, by appearance they make beautiful ammo! anyone ever use their factory ammo on game in the 7x57/the 156 oryx?

Yeah, and it shoots very accurately from my Kilimanajro custom riflel. As I recall, muzzle velocity from the 21" barrel of my custom rifle with a minimum throat is around 2650, and while the Oryx typically opens up pretty widely, it retains around 90% of its weight so penetrates well. I killed a wildebeest bull with a frontal shot with that load in South Africa, and the bullet went through chest cavity and ended up somewhere in the guts. In fact it's probably my favorite all-around bullet in the 7x57, and if I wasn't a handloader I'd be happy to use the Norma factory load for everything.

Thanks MD- Norma has always been great ammo, in my limited experience ( 30-06, 9.3x62) it was always referred to as "hot ammo" back in the 70s by some friends of mine who used it in their 30-06. It absolutely could not, back then, be used in the old Mod 742. It would fire, then the extractor would rip a piece off the rim, but not extract. My friends with old 1917 Enfield's and a guy with a Mod 50 JC Higgins bolt gun loved it, ha. Admittedly, it was "rough" on those East Texas deer and hogs! lol

John, I'm interested in the Oryx for a 7x57 Improved. What powders do you like? QL seems to be suggesting something like a Re-19, maybe Re-22.

I spoke at length to a man from Germany some years ago. He was an engineer working on a project at the Lorain Ohio Ford plant.

He said in Europe you are expected to know your issues, ammo, firearms and what their limits are. For example, if you plug a Norma 7x57 into a Mauser 93 and it blows that's your fault. They publish the pressures, you are expected to read and understand them and know the limits of your firearm.


Not here, here you drop a Ruger #1 load into a trapdoor and it's the manufacturers fault. From what he was saying the courts in Germany would laugh at you for being ignorant then maybe fine you for bringing a frivolous law suit.

The cost of being stupid is on the stupid person.

Yeah, I have a friend who owns an ice-auger factory. They get their blades from a company in Sweden, and they are SHARP. Whenever some American ice-fisherman cuts himself on one they sue the American company, despite numerous warnings in the instructions and all over the machines about being careful, and also providing VERY stout guards for the blades.

He was telling the Swedes about the lawsuits one day, and they couldn't believe it. Same deal there: If some Swedish ice-fisherman is dumb enough to, say, put an auger on an ATV, then lean over the uncovered blades to tie it down and cit himself, that's his problem, not the manufacturer's.

As it should be!

I bought some 160 Accubonds to try in the Ruger 7x57, which has a 10" twist. I suspect it's about the longest bullet that will stabilize in it.