Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7x57

Just a random question - is the 7x57 on the downside of its popularity cycle? I’ve been watching a couple of them and they’re not selling, even at reasonable prices. It wasn’t that long ago they’d have been snapped up.

Start calling them the 7x57Creedmoor and they'd be gone in a flash.

Not for me!

I could get buy with a 7x57 for all my shooting, except maybe for prairie dogs.
For those that are still wet behind their ears, it seems to me getting the newest “whiz bang” is what is cool.

I gave my youngest son a choice of a model Seven Remington - walnut and blue or a latest 700 with synthetic stock and crappy finish on the metal. He didn’t hesitate, that synthetic stock was cool.

Bugger, I’m of the same opinion. It’s such a good cartridge. The rifles I’m looking at are in nice shape and don’t show heavy use. If I weren’t at a point where collecting more rifles makes no sense I’d buy another one. I have no appetite for the newest whippey zippy cartridge that fills no particular need except to separate us from whatever discretionary income we might have.

Well, the 7x57 is not exactly "modern". I say that because most of the guys at coffee in the morning some years back, didn`t know what it was.
They do now.

The 7x57 will never go out of style with the intelligentsia.

Put a fast twist barrel on a long action chambered for the 7x57 and throated for long bullets and it will do the same as any Creedmoor cartridge.

Which is exactly not what the Creedmoor was designed for.

If we're going to go down the road of comparisons then consider these: In the 7mm bore size the 7mm08 is a better round for a short action, and in a long action the 280 Rem. is a better fit.

As good as it is there is the matter of feeding it. Most hunters and casual shooters don't reload so why invest in a rifle with maybe one or two loads on the shelf? No dig on the 7X57.

You all make good points. I had a 7-08 in a chitty Kimber. I think the cartridge is good, the rifle was not. I’ve had two 280s. Good cartridge but I couldn’t fall in love. As for ammo availability, yes, valid point. It seems that a lot of offerings formerly available at reasonable prices are either not being produced or are offered at stupid greedy prices. It does make it hard on a lot of us. I reload but even component prices are getting prohibitive. But still…..

I won a Ruger M77 MKII 30-06 in a raffle years ago. When I went to pick it up, I told the shop owner I really had no desire for an 06. He allowed me to pick any other non-magnum Ruger he had in the rack. I chose a 7x57. I put a Leupold VariX-II 2-7 on it and gave it to my oldest son. That rifle shoots everything well but especially likes 140 gr. Core-Lokts. He has killed a pile of deer with it and to tell him that it is old fashioned or out of style would meet with resistance.

It doesn't have to be the latest and allegedly greatest to work very well. My 250 and 300 Savage rifles are favorites in my collection.

Early this month, I purchased a Ruger M 77 chambered for the offspring of the 7x57, a .257 Roberts. Because I have heard good things about the parent cartridge here on the fire I am seriously considering purchasing a rifle chambered for it.

I built a custom 7 x 57 on a Rem 700 action and Pacnor barrel. That sucker shoots fantastic with very tolerable recoil.

Had two Ruger 77s in 7 x 57. Neither shot worth a damn, which is rare in a Ruger... but discovered 40 grains of 3031 for a load with any 7mm bullet and that is what I've fed it ever since.

My featherweight Model 70 is the opposite, it digests anything and does it well... two rifles I'll have when its my time to move on out of this world. Same with my Model 70s in 6.5 x 55 and my favorite 6.5 x 57.

As Ingwe said, the 7 x 57 is for the smart people, not the ones who follow the crowd.

I've been chewing on this one for a bit. Actually I think a long action and proper throat might be the ticket - it's certainly what Hornady did with the 7PRC. For both the 7-08 and .280 we run into head height issues with long bullets seated out where the industry seems to be taking them. Barring a change in case dimension itself, I'm thinking that the mid-length 7x57 case in a long action, with throat dimension in line with those of the newer CM/PRCs, i.e., relatively long but with an absolute minimum of diameter to eliminate (or virtually so) bullet tilt, might just allow the cartridge to have new life breathed into it. Bring it up to modern pressure (65k) and we're golden. Of course, it'd have to be called something different to keep some yokel from blowing up his old rolling block, maybe .275 CM or something like that (Ingwe just threw up a little). Or just standardize the 7x57AI at 65k, with CM/PRC throat/leade dimensions, and be done with it. That would yield the best of both worlds: 7x57 and 7x57AI in the same rifle, and no lawyers getting involved.

Just my $.02

RM

A garden variety Rem 700 long action is plenty long enough to play that game with the 280 length case.

Was challenged to sporterize a '93 Mauser by a friend. Was a retired guy project... so i took him up on it. He said it would make a rifle good enough for the deer hunting i do here in E central Minnesota. It is still chambered 7 x 57.
Sure, it was a '93..... which was given to me. The goal was not a rifle for hot loads........... just a rifle for medium to close in shooting. If i want a high performance rifle I can use my pre-64 Model 70 in 270.
' I learned a lot about how to do this. The final result was a rifle which shoots as well as my other rifles... and it looks ok too.
what else i learned was how fine a cartridge the 7 x 57 is. Mild recoil. Easy to reload. Many bullet choices available.
The best load i found for this rifle is a mild load of IMR4320 [yes i still have some] pushing a 150 gr Partition to about 2500+ fps to about MOA. About the same velocity as the 150 gr Hornady Interlock used in my Savage 99 - 300 Sav. Both work very well on whitetails when i do my job.
Sure we have our favorites. When we do our job as hunters I dont think there is much difference between the 270, the 280, 7 x 57, 7-08 used in good performining modern rifles. Especially when we reload for them.

My M70 fwt (1985) has only fair accuracy with factory loads, which are now pretty much unobtanium up here, at least locally.

It came with dies and several bullet weights, tho. I need to do some experimenting, and haven't.

But it was a good deal! Like I needed another rifle....

So far it has only taken a cow caribou at @ 100, and a calf caribou @ 20 feet.

My brother had a tang 77 in 7x57 that shot factory loads lights out!

One can argue that such and such us a better cartridge for various reasons.
I have a couple 7mm-08’s, a couple 7x57’s, a few 280’s, and a 7mm RM. I had a couple of other 7mm’s 7TCU and a 7 International and another 7mm RM. I’ve sold at least three other 280’s. I’ve also had a few other 7x57’s. I’m not planning on selling any 7mm again.

For hunting the 7x57 hard to beat. If you want to shoot long distances instead of hunt, I can see why you’d think a shiny new ‘whiz bang’ is better.