Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Best of the 7x57 based cartridges for deer

.257 Roberts or 7x57 -- either will work.



My .257 Roberts has killed multiple antelope at ranges greater than 440 yards (half the diameter of a crop circle with center-pivot irrigation). The longest was close to 500, maybe more.

If not a handloader, I'd just go with the 6.5CM or 7mm-08..

Tough to beat a 7x57 but the Bob ain't far behind....

Not that you will see a noticeable difference on deer, performancewise, except on the very largest ones, between any of them in th 257R-7x57R, but my favourite would be the 6,5x57(R).

Very seldom available in the US but quite common in Europe, you have its almost clone the 6.5 Sweedish mauser, aka 6.5x55, readily available in America, and elsewhere.

Alvaro

7x57 AI is an awfully good choice. Zippy, accurate, effective.

I don't have a 7X57, but I do have a Model 70 FWT in 257 Roberts that I really love. I hunted with a 270/7 mag/7RSAUM for spot and stalk west Texas muleys for close to 30 years before moving to another lease that was all whitetails and started back using my old 257 again. After I bought that rifle back in the early 90's I pretty much put the 270 in the safe for good when it came to hunting whitetails. Then I started hunting muleys and saved the 257 for hunting around home.

It kills everything very reliably. My favorite load is the 90 gr. Barnes X-bullet with 46.0 grains of IMR4350 and the CCI 200.

Go with the original, 7x57.

280 Remington......

Why mess with a 270 of any kind at all?

I prefer the Mauser-length action over the short action. Loading short-action cartridges using long bullets seated out into the neck is what gave us the 6.5 CM. Same can be done with a short-action cartridge in the Mauser for even more better. Might make it worth owning a 260 or a 7mm-08, or some variety of WSM.

If I had to pick one of the x57's, at this point, I'd go 7x57 and handload it to "modern" specs. I hunted a lot with the Roberts as a youth, and it killed about like a 243, which killed about like a 6mm. Seems like the way out of that is lots more bullet weight.

I have killed several truck fulls of deer with a 6 Remington loaded with 95g Nosler partitions, they die quick near and far. 260 lb Large Kansas bucks shot to 400 yards and 200 lbs + Nebraska corn fed deer to 325 yards. For some reason, the 95g partition is a very accurate bullet, easily getting 1/2" groups at 3150fps. Today, R#26 pushes that number to 3300 fps.

Between Ga and SC we had very liberal limits. ONe year, I killed 19 out of 20 using a box of Winchester 80g soft points, with the 20th bullet used to verify zero mid season and two of the bucks were 200 lbs plus. Deer numbers in these areas are only 30% of what they used to be due to coyotes.

I like the 7x57, it amazes me these days that the 7mm/08 has gained such a following when the 7x57 is a better round. Those silly marketing people.
I don't care for short necked chamberings
I just don't need any short/ fats.

7x57 large bullet select, you can shoot the heavies or go light. Next best thing, would be the .257 Roberts.

1- 7x57
2- 275 rigby
3- 7mm Mauser

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THIS


I've had them all and liked them all!

I understand where your coming from as the 7x57 is one of my favs. To say it’s better than the 7-08 is a bit much. The 7-08 has lots of advantages. For one it fits in a short action, another advantage is it can easily be made from NATO brass. It’s also a much more accurate cartridge in my experience.

Same bullet at the same velocity...I guess I don’t see the down side other than nostalgia.

If I were building a rifle it would be a 7x57...but it’s because I’m nostalgic...nothing else

It’s hard to beat the original, the 7x57. It is one of the greatest all-around cartridges we have, and it has only been overshadowed by American gun manufacturers’ propensity to stuff everything into short (.308) or long (.30-‘06) actions. The .280/.280 AI obviously outperform it when it shares their long action, and the 7-08 is good enough in the short action, which it will not fit in.

In a Mauser-length action, it’s still the cat’s meow, shooting longer, heavier bullets better than the 7-08 and recoiling less than the .280s. Loaded to modern standards with modern bullets, the 7x57 is about as good as it gets.

And the truth has been brought forth, thus sayeth me.
Paul B.

My first deer rifle was s 6mm in a BDL. I've killed many deer with it and it worked great but truth be told the 57 case is less than ideal. It's kind of too long to work well in a short action and if going long you might as well do something longer. My 6mm barely fits in a short action and leaves no room to seat them out. The 257 suffers the same and the 7 doesn't fit in a short action.

As much nostalgia as I have with the 6mm when it came time to do a custom long range rig I had to go 243 8 twist just because it fit the action better. The creedmoor case is even better.

Bb

While the 7x57 is a classic and has a great history, it isn’t one I would choose for multiple reasons.

The 7x57 is a mid-length cartridge – it won’t fit in a short (.308) action and doesn’t take full advantage of a long (.30-06) action. Not a huge deal if you like the available mid-length actions or don’t want to take full advantage of a long action’s potential. I’ll take a 7mm-08 or .280 Rem instead.

The SAAMI MAP spec for 7x57 bullets 51,000PSI. For the .280 Rem it is 60,000PSI, 61,000PSI for the 7mm-08 and 65,000PSI the .280 AI. Again, not a big deal if maximizing performance is not an issue.

The argument that the 7x57 handles heavy bullets better than the 7mm-08 is somewhat specious. Up to 160g the 7mm -08 can provide higher velocities if staying within SAAMI specs. European ammo tends to run hotter than US made ammo and while you can purchase 175g 7x57 loads, I’m not aware of any made by US manufacturers. Not that I care, because a 175g isn’t what I would choose for any of my hunting needs, even if handloading.

Factory ammo availability isn’t very important to me because I handload for my rifles. For those that don’t, there are many more choices for the 7mm-08 than for the 7x57.

As to recoil, downloading the 7mm-08 or .2800 Rem to 7x57 performance levels will result in similar levels of recoil. When I first got my .300WM, the first handloads were intentionally .308 Win velocity levels, then .30-06 level, and finally .300WM full power loads. The reason was I did not have either a 308 Win or .30-06 at the time. The reduced velocity loads significantly reduced recoil and accuracy was more than acceptable. Win/win.

When it came time for me to choose a 7mm non-magnum, I went with the .280 Rem. Twice. No regrets.

Seeing as how much I’ve been longing for a 257 Roberts, that’s the one I’ll go with. Especially if we’re just talking for deer. Even if you consider the 243 too small for deer, I’ve never heard anyone say that about a .25 cartridge. It’s got some reach if you need it for beanfield bucks or mulies, but seeing as how most white tails are shot under (or well under ) 200 yards, I can’t imagine anything preforming better.