Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Gunwriters and the 7x57 Mauser

I picked up an 7x57R 16ga. The one I think is an grail piece would be that Merkel single shot.

I was offered a one owner M70 Fwt 7x57 by a friend who's shop I had helped get started years earlier when I was repping for a large Dallas based wholesaler. It seems that this Fwt was a one owner gun that had had some health issues and stopped hunting or shooting after the Fwt had been gone thru and polished inside and out anywhere it was needed.

When I was repping for Stoeger in 5 states in the early 80's in the SAKO & pre Tikka days I became more aware when the Remmy 7-08 came out and almost never saw a 7x57 after that anywhere in my 5 state territory...this was pre Rihimaaki production of Tikka days and post the Ithaca - Tikka days... then the 7-08 ignited the Texas market like a forest fire, and still owns the medium 7mm market. It'll be interesting to watch the long term CreedMoore competition.

On average I've been satisfied with this 7x57 M70 Fwt but it has not surpassed my dependence on 270's as my great every day go anywhere Average Deer Shooter in several brands & models, and have been tempted more than a few times to trade it in for a 7-08 and access the ease of finding decent factory ammo.

IMO PPU's in 6.5 or 7x57 don't reach with any accuracy much past 150 yards for me. The other common Euro made import ammo ? S&B ? shoots almost equally with the US made ammo in the same bullet weights & bullet shapes when I can find them, and really need to set up my reloading bench again after I finally can resolve the health issues I've been saddled with starting in Feburary/March of this year. Hoping to get the spinal shot before next Christmas and mebbe be done finally with the Shingles & the crippling blood clots that have hindered me 80%/90% this year of even walking out to the mail box at the curb.

So in my world the 7x57 is a good solid mid range performer in up to 140 gr'ers but is still over shadowed by the ever growing market dominance of the 7-08.

FWIW I am about to market a beautiful 99% condition Tikka T3 Swede that shoots SST's into teeny tiny groups..but weighs way too much for my taste, and will be offered sooner than later somewhere soon.

My plan is to use the 270's as my everyday go anywhere shooters - one is a Marlin M7 SS that is having the usual extractor problems but shoots scary accurately even in single shot mode & the other is a very reliable US made WW Model 70 22" barrel I've had for 6-7 years, keep the 7x57 in ready to go condition as a backup and pickup a 7Rmg or 300 WMg for the across the canyon shots in some of the places I've hunted and watched the 270 & '06 shooters hit dirt couple hundred yards short of the target being hit at all. How to win side bet $'s is fun !
Ron

That Prvi Partizan ammunition is good value, and the brass is good for reloading. I have used it for a good while in my Brno 12 ga/7x57 and my little Krieghoff 16/16/7x57R drilling, with its Dural frame (just 6 lbs bare, and sweet-handling with it). I think I'm rather too far away to pop into that store in Helena to pick up some more of it though.

There a broad, nearly uncrossable span between what’s in style and what’s classic.
😁

For good reason I might add, Mart.

"So in my world the 7x57 is a good solid mid range performer in up to 140 gr'ers but is still over shadowed by the ever growing market dominance of the 7-08."

I've been using 7-08 data in my M70 Featherweight and reaching the max load with little or no problems. One load pushes the 150 gr. Nosler Partition to 2880 FPS and was the load I planned for an upcoming elk hunt that never was due to a bad car wreck two days before I was to leave for the hunt. That was on 1/2/20 and due to health problems related to the wreck and now cancer, I haven't fired a shot since 12/29/19 when I killed my elk. Kind of puts a crimp in planned reloading and testing as I can't shoot anything due to the port in my right shoulder so they can do the chemo. Frustration is high and anger rules.
PJ

Dan,

Have had excellent luck with PP ammo and brass, in cartridges from the .22 Hornet to 8x57R and 9,3x62. It works!

In general, have also found PRVI's published velocities for factory ammo have been close as well. The 7x57R ammo I bought was the 139-grain version, and it actually exceeded the advertised 2591 fps by around 50 fps. The handload I worked up, with the 139 Hornady Interlock Spire Point and 42.5 grains of Varget, shot right to the same place with both the iron sights and the 1.5-6x Zeiss scope, at around 2675 fps.

Recently had some PP fac ammo for .22 Hornet for a Savage model 25.
They shot ok but would not extract.Kind of a
bummer because I bought them for the brass.
The rifle has no trouble with Hornady, Remington, or winchester brass.
The rims on the privi brass miked slightly under the the aforementioned brass.could it be just this lot??

I've got some Sellier&Bellot 7x57R 173gr for my combo. It's odd looking stepped bullet. I've never used this on any game yet. Here it is next to 375

I've shot the S&B 7x57 with that same stepped bullet. I only shot it in an FN Herstal '93 ('95?) Sporter. I never clocked it but it shot super dooper well! In fact, that rifle/ammo combo shot better than the 4 factory sporters I tried in 7x57! ha

And yet for whatever reason is simply doesn't seem to be the case. Your own notes in the Gack books, as well as some of your articles, shows the 7-08 almost consistently more accurate. Some of that may be attributable to throat geometry, but it seems like people have a lot tougher time finding even a couple of good loads for the 7x57 than they do for the 7-08. It can be done, obviously, but the 7x57s just seem to be more contrary in the accuracy department. You've proven that in the Gack books, which show better accuracy with the 7-08 over a wide range of bullets, weights, and loads than in your old Serengeti...and it has a match chamber. So what makes the 7-08 so easy to find an accurate load for and the 7x57 so difficult, even when all things are equal (i.e., chamber and throat dimensions)?

Just wondering. I'm about half a mind to send one of my ornery ones to Gordy Gritters, who lives a bit north of me, just to see what he can do with it.

To make it interesting, maybe apply for a federal grant to study the question. I'd bet the farm it is operator error, but I could be wrong.

Could be, but in the case of the Gack data the operator is the same.

I have 3 7X57's and 2 7MM-08"s and if you laid targets from each side by side there's no realistic difference in accuracy between them.

I have three rifles chambered to he 7x57. The M70 FWT is good for .50 to 80" inch depending on how well I'm shooting that day. The Ruger #1A is usually good for an inch most of the time. It does tend to get fussy every once in a while. However, any rounds I've run through it was good enough to use on game. The Mauser custom will run with the M70 but has a what I Shooting factory ammo when I first got the rifle every once in a while the bolt would lock up tight. When I cost me a shot at a deer back around 1980, I stuck it in the closet and forgot about it.think is a serious problem. First, the action was originally chambered to the .270 Win. I also forgot that it would lock up whenever it felt like it. I seriously think the cavities for the locking lugs have been set back which brings forward the question. Do I scrap the custom rifle or do I cannibalize one of my commercial FN Mausers to get another receiver? The original action was from a J.C. Higgins M50 and I have a couple more on hand in 30-06. One is totally factory stock, as pristine as when it left the factory. The other two are clean guns but their original owners altered the stock shape to make them feel less clubby. Both did very nice jobs. decisions, decisions and more decisions.
PJ