Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7x57 for Elk?

Roughly 50 years ago, Jack O'Connor said the 7x57 with a good 160gr bullet at 2650 fps, was a little-known secret to flattening big elk with a minimum of recoil. Although his favorites appeared to be the .270 and the 30-06, he watched his wife dispatch all kinds of game over many years with her 7x57.

John Barsness has written on this forum that it's no great trick to get a 160gr bullet up to 2800 fps in the 7x57 with modern powders, and I believe he's used it on game larger than elk during hunts in Africa.

That makes two VERY good recommendations!

I own one of the Winchester Model 70 XTR bolt guns from the 80s. It needed glass bedding but shoots OK. Long throat and 81/4 twist. I mostly use Nosler 160 Partitions and their old 162 grain solid base bullet, which I like a lot and still have a couple hundred of. Mostly use IMR 4350, 4831, R22 (had a lot of it too), Now using some 4000 - MR. Have killed three bull elk with one shot each. Wound channel about the same as 150 grain 270 (which I have killed several more elk with). Maybe the wound channel is a little less bloody. Very good deer gun. Interestingly, I get my best accuracy with Speer 145 grain Hot Cores and W760 or H414, fine for deer at normal ranges (under 300 yards). I have never shot an elk over 300 yards away and only shot at a couple of deer over 300 yards. The 7x57 is a very nice light sporter weight rifle choice. I also think the case capacity is better for 160 grain bullets than the 7mm-08, good as it is.

I own one of the Winchester Model 70 XTR bolt guns from the 80s. It needed glass bedding but shoots OK. Long throat and 81/4 twist. I mostly use Nosler 160 Partitions and their old 162 grain solid base bullet, which I like a lot and still have a couple hundred of. Mostly use IMR 4350, 4831, R22 (had a lot of it too), Now using some 4000 - MR. Have killed three bull elk with one shot each. Wound channel about the same as 150 grain 270 (which I have killed several more elk with). Maybe the wound channel is a little less bloody. Very good deer gun. Interestingly, I get my best accuracy with Speer 145 grain Hot Cores and W760 or H414, fine for deer at normal ranges (under 300 yards). I have never shot an elk over 300 yards away and only shot at a couple of deer over 300 yards. The 7x57 is a very nice light sporter weight rifle choice. I also think the case capacity is better for 160 grain bullets than the 7mm-08, good as it is.

I’ve used a 308 and a 270 on elk - about the same power range as a 7x57. I used heavy for the caliber bullets. After getting too close to a grizzly I carried either a 338 Win Mag or a 350 Rem Mag with 250 grain Partitions for years.
I know little about the big bears compared to many here on 24, but I felt that while in big bear country “use enough gun” was important - to me.
A friend used my first 280 with heavy Speer bullets loaded to 7x57 velocity with great success - as I recall 160 grain Mag Tip Speers was an accurate bullet in that 280 and that’s all I used in it. It was my “loaner” rifle.

Me too

Haven't used it but damn sure would, old style 175gr Speer Grand Slams are tougher than a boot heel, they leave at 2700 fps, best test i guess was putting one diagonally through a 262lb [weighed] axis buck at 155 yards, in point of right shoulder, out backside of left ham, DRT, no concerns punching a bull elk with that load.

Then how do you explain that decades before Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet, my John Rigby and Sons Mauser rifle was was inscribed by the manufacturer as .275 Rigby as the chambering?

If later on the Rigbys wanted to try to pirate a great cartridge invented by Mauser in the 1800s, there was nothing to keep them from stamping their name and nomenclature on a 7x57 barrel - nothing except ethics and integrity, that is.

A rose by any other name - - - - - -.

.275 Rigby, indeed - sounds like something a Biden would do.

Take your pick ....

1. 7x57
2. 7mm Mauser
3. 275 Rigby

From Wiki .....

I'm really enjoying this thread so let me pose a scenario ...If someone was going to use a 70's era pushfeed M70 Fwt 7x57 as one gun do all go anywhere critter getter in Texas for anything that walks, what one bullet weight & powder would be the perfect do all DRT shooter to concentrate on 1st?

2 years ago I backed into a early '70's very well kept & lovingly tuned rifle. I've been shooting mostly a 270 at everything since the '70's,with excursions into everything from 300WMgs & a 9.3x62 and down with a nearly new 6.5 Swede Tikka as the current bottom line backup. But this Fwt is a very comfortable fit for my beat up 77 year old shoulder, and really likes factory ammo in Hornady SST's so far . with a couple boxes of other Hornady 139gr'ers waiting their turn at the range.

The biggest surprise I saw in this thread was in bullet weight's of 150gr+ were getting way more velocity & range than I expected. I'm all ears.
Ron

I had one and used for both der and elk. As was said by 7mmtortilla, I found the 160 grain Nosler Partition to be about perfect, but there were several others that did very well too. I used 175 grain Partitions and also 175 gr Hornady RN bullets for elk as well as 154 Hornadys in both RN and Spirt Point on deer .

But if I ever got that rifle back and was to only pick one bullet for everything ...It would be the 160 grain Partition

sakoron,

Welcome to the Campfire!

Every "all around" load choice depends on several factors, but have killed a lot of big game around the world with various 7x57 handloads. My all-around favorite might be the 156 Norma Oryx loaded to around 2650-2700 fps with H4350--how much powder depending on the rifle. It expands pretty widely, so makes a big hole and kills well, but also retains around 90% of its weight, and penetrates deeply.

But have also taken a bunch with various other bullets in that weight-range. One of the virtues of the 7x57 is that many bullets work great at that muzzle velocity--just as various bullets around 180 grains work great in the .30-06.

I've not used these but have an 7x57 Chilean mauser, 7-08 kimber Montana, and a 7x57R combo rifle. I'd assume these are basically analogs of each other? I'd dearly love to try them and have a pile of old Hornady 154 gr and lots of old Nosler ballistic tip 7mm bullets bullets but I've got to try out an 270win first.

I have an M70 FWT 7x57 that is a recent manufacture. I figure if a 7mm-08 has a 51mm case and a 280 has a 63mm case, the difference is 12mm, leaving the 7x57 perfectly in the middle. So, I generally start at high end 7mm-08 loads and usually end on the equivalent of mild/medium 280 loads. No pressure signs and I’m easily exceeding the anemic book loads. I’m shooting a 160gr Partition with enough RL19 to get 2650fps. No pressure signs and really accurate in my rifle.

When I bought the 7x57 in 1962, from a Sears and Roebuck mailer, it cost $13.99 and came in full military form - 1895 Chilean Mauser,straight bolt, mil sights, cock upon closing, long barrel, not drilled/tapped for scope, etc. Over several months I did the conversion to a sporter for hunting (as noted in my first post - many deer and elk, and also one antelope and a few javelina) and it remains in that form today.

In that same mail order, I bought three boxes of the standard Winchester hunting ammo of the day - featuring 175 gr. round nose bullets. They worked OK - killed stuff just fine - but once I began reloading I was able to find the best performing loads for that rifle. After a bunch or experiment, I settled on the 140 gr. as the best all around for that rifle. Some others up into the 150 gr. range also did well for accuracy and on chronograph. I have never used a 175 gr. since those originals were all shot - but have reloaded that Win brass many times.

At a good gun store in Alb, I once found two unopened boxes of RWS 7x57 with bullets in the 150 gr. range. That was excellent ammo - shot as well as my loads. Contacted a tech at the factory in Germany to try to find out the powder they used, and quantity - he never replied.

The 140 grain kills bull elk well, as does a 130 gr. in a .270.

Don't get me started on my originally mil 6.5x55 Mod. 96 Swedish carbine - bought in 1965, turned into a sporter, and still going strong.

Two most excellent cartridges invented/designed in the 1800s.

Sounds like I need to shoot the 3 box's of Hdy 139'ers on hand at any & everything else in Texas, but look for some heavier built bullets in 150gr's ala some of the Nosler stuff built for deeper damage or complete pass thru's, and learn the +' & -'s of that bullet weight & max speed combination.

Texas has a SP drawing hunt that has Sambar on the menu, along with some other things like Axis that I dearly love to eat. I had not put in for this hunt before as the Axis are an after thought on this SP and not plentiful with a 1 animal limit, unlike some of the other SP's further west.

So: from what I'm reading here the 7x57 in a bullet built for deep penetration is GTG on something as big as a Sambar? umm at ranges out to 200/250 or mebbe 300 yards?

OTOH The shoulder is not as big an issue these days as it was the previous 9 years after the VA Dallas surgery that wrecked the shoulder to begin with. 2 years ago I found a local VA's new Phy Asst who used a heavy shot in the ball joint tween the collar bone and upper arm, of a new kind of steroids to get me back in the CF Rifle game again, after a 9 year layoff of anything much stronger than a 22LR out of my Marlin 39D....but I'd already sold almost everything by then. Thanks all for the info...I'll up date the effort as I get along later this year.
Ron

Sakoron asked, "I'm really enjoying this thread so let me pose a scenario ...If someone was going to use a 70's era pushfeed M70 Fwt 7x57 as one gun do all go anywhere critter getter in Texas for anything that walks, what one bullet weight & powder would be the perfect do all DRT shooter to concentrate on 1st?"

My prime go to 7x57 is the Winchester XTR push feed FWT as well. Also run a Ruger #1A and a custom Mauser The load I've pretty much settled on uses RL17 and the 150 gr. Nosler Partition. I won't give the charge as it is above published levels. Velocity is in the lower 2800s an is sub-MOA in the FWT, MOAA in the Ruger and the Mauser doesn't like it. Can't win them all.

I have a lot of 160 gr. Speer Hot Core bullets on hand that I will try and see if they work in the Mauser. Accuracy is no problem with it, just shows pressure problems much sooner than the factory guns. Action is a commercial FN that used to be a .270 Win. so I'm not concerned about strength. I think the problem stems from the fact that that rifle has the tightest chamber I've ever seen, I have several customs but none have chambers as tight as this rifle. I'll have to scrounge up some factory ammo and work up from scratch with that rifle.

JMHO but I think for an all round load, a 150 or 160 gr. bullet would be the way to go. At the velocities possible, one may not even need a premium bullet which is why I plane on trying the 160 gr. Speer in the fussy Mauser. If a 150 gr. bullet from a .270 is good for elk, so should a 150 gr. bullet work just as well. The 160 might be just a little bit better.

I've found that the hardest part of getting an elk these days is drawing a damn tag.
Paul B.

sakoron:

If you're using Hornady 139's for "anything and everything" in Texas, but want something more suitable for big elk, consider using the 140gr Barnes TTSX. They're tough, and deep penetrating.

You might not even have to re-sight your scope when you switch between the loads.

[quote=SuperCub]Take your pick ....

1. 7x57
2. 7mm Mauser
3. 275 Rigby


Maybe it's a 7mm Winchester.





Bruce

Oh I’ve heard it on good authority all rifles marked 7mm are 7mm RM.

P