Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7.65 Argentine as a hunting rifle?

I was wondering by your experience, what bullet would be best as a big game bullet in 7.65? The 150gr or the 180gr? And what would be the max distance for effective knockdown power for this cartrige? The rifle is a sporterised 91 mauser with a 22in barrel. Rifle seems to be accurate enough with open sights but am going to scope it. Your personal thoughts will be appreciated, as well as suggestions. Greg

The 7.65x53 is essentially a .300 Savage with a .311 bullet, though in an Argentine 98-09 it can be loaded to rival the .308 Winchester. I would not do so in the weaker M91 action. What bullet I used would depend on what game I was hunting and which bullet shot best in my rifle.

No cartridge fired from a hand-held weapon has any actual "knockdown" power, else according to Sir Isaac you would be unable to fire it from your shoulder. It's an equal but opposite reaction thing... .

If you are shooting a 150 gr bullet at, let's say, 2600 fps initial velocity, you should be able to readily hit and kill deer or elk to 250 yards or so. Depending on accuracy, etc.

Remember -- it ain't foot-pounds that kills game. It's broken body parts that kills game. Use a bullet capable of breaking the important body parts, and put the bullet in contact with them -- then good things will happen.

Dennis

My best results have been with the 150 gr. Hornady Interlock (.312") and IMR4350. I've also tried the 150 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter (.311"), but accuracy was not nearly as good. I load mine kind of mild because of the inherent weakness of this action compared to others and I limit my shots to about 100, maybe 150 yards cause I'm using iron sights only. Because I own other rifles and prefer scopes, this rifle doesn't get used much really. I might hunt (whitetail deer) with it once or twice a year at most.

BTW, mine's original and sports the 29" barrel which is not in very good shape. Nevertheless it's capable of decent accuracy:



As you can see, mine shoots high and to the left, something I have to keep in mind when hunting with it.

You might want to go out to www.grafs.com and see if you can buy some of their discountined Norma 150 grain SP loads for $22 per box. Whatever you shoot through the lungs with a 150 grain .311" bullet isn't likely to go too far.

If you remember that the 1891 Argentine Mauser doesn't handle escaping gas as well as the 1898 styles and reload accordingly, you shouldn't have any trouble. Most, if not all, of the 1891 Argentine Mausers that I have seen were built by Ludwig Lowe in Berlin and exhibit nearly flawless craftsmanship.

Good luck!

Jeff

I have a couple of 1909 Argentine Mausers and a cute little 1891 shorty. I ran across a page from Chuck Hawks (not my favorite writer) who had loads using 3031 and both the 1891 and 1909's http://www.chuckhawks.com/7-65x53_7-65x53R.htm. I use a mid-charge load of 3031 (believe 38 grains) that shoots well with all three rifles. I also use the 150 grain Hornady bullet and Norma brass. 30-06 brass can be annealed and sized for the 7.65 but I found a supply of Norma that was pretty cheap at the time and prefer it. I tried the anneal, re-size thing with '06 stuff and didn't like the result. Probably my fault, as I hear others doing it with success.

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I know about the weakness of the action, I also have a 93 mauser in 7x57 and its weaknesses also. Just recieved a new Adams&Bennett 7x57 barrel for the 93 and look forward to getting it back to shooting condition, it will be in a manlicher stock I am building and I'm going to camo it with a air brush, instead of blueing I will brown it like the old muzzleloaders. The 7.65 wil be my truck gun left as is with the addition of a scope. Will have to do with testing both the 150 and 180gr bullets to see which is the most accurate. Thanks RickyD for the web site, I also was thinking of using 3031 for loads and 4350 also. Very much appreciated the info, you Guys are great and glad to be a member of a great group of enthusiasts. Greg