Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why No Love For The 7 Mauser?

The fact that every thread on here about the dear old 7x57 goes to about 12-15 pages should be proof of "Love"

My mouser is not for sale.

Almost as old, but clearly derived (via the .30-01) from the 7x57, as was the Springfield 1903 rifle derived from the Mauser, as a result of the US experience in battle against enemies armed with 7mm Mausers.

They weren't alone either: the British were so impressed by their own experience against 7mm Mausers in South Africa that they were all set to dump the .303 and Lee-Enfield in favour of a hotted-up 7mm and a Mauser derived rifle to fire it, and would have done so had WWI not intervened.

Yep, regular old lovefest. Flashback to the 60's.

...and no gayness anywhere...

"My first really custom-ordered-from-a-gunsmith rifle in 50 years (all my customs prior to this one were built by me or bought off the used rack) was a 1909 Mauser in 7x57 (a cartridge caliber I had never owned). It was built to use in Africa and specifically for the 175gr Nosler Partition." by zimhunter. See his earlier post here...

I wouldn't call either cartridge better than the other. However the 270 heaviest bullet is 150 grains. Versus the 7mm Mauser available with either the 140 or 175 grain ammo, on the store shelves.

That is incorrect.

I have been playing with some 160gr Nosler Partitions and 180gr Woodleighs out of my 270's.

" ...On extremely rare occasions there emerges an idea or a product with such superior and remarkable effectiveness that thinking men class it a fortuitous accident....

....There are a few enduring cartridges which by far out perform their paper ballistics. These include the 375 H&H(1912),7x57 (1893),and 270 WCF (1925). With any of these, you can mostly ignore energy tables,charts, TKO formulas,and potency equations- for when slipstick theory meshes with reality afield, it is more coincidence than design....

....If you want a rifle with a maximum punch,with ease of hitting,minimum weight in carrying,lack of heavy recoil and muzzle blast,short fast bolt throw and general all-round excellence,tasteful appearance,ease of reloading,tremendous choice of effective bullet weights for all purposes,and utter dependability in the field,it is hard to go wrong with a 7x57...."

John Jobson. "Mighty Little Seven Fifty Seven"; "The Best of John Jobson", Amwell Press,1982.

I expect this will make the eyes roll back in the heads of die hard 7x57 fans; and if they read the whole chapter, they will need resuscitation.

Has it ever been said better?

Bob...like most rifle loonies, we only read the parts we like....

A custom 7x57, throated to fit 2-3 bullets & handloaded for exclusively, makes a fine rifle.

If anyone is interested, I have a few Mauser actions laying around.......a couple of pristine 1909's & 2-3 VZ24's, all with new bolt handles & cocking ramps re-hardened correctly.

MM

I just can't help myself: What kind of custom chamber throat fits 2-3 bullets? Seems kinda crowded!

John,

Yeah, yeah........pulling my chain.

Obviously, not perfect for all but close enough to work depending on bullets chosen, with seating depth varied slightly........or equally obvious, just bite the bullet (pun intended) & throat for one specific bullet.

But then we're back to a very limited case again.

MM

Ive heard most 7x57 are long throated......

ingwe: How true!

Bob, a lot of good things have been said about the 7x57, however not poetically.

What got me interested in the 7x57 was Jack O'Conner's book THE RIFLE BOOK (1964)and the chapter THE ALL-AROUND RIFLE.

When Jack's book THE HUNTING RIFLE (1970)came out I already had a couple 7x57s. The chapter "Big Punch in a Little Case... was 9 pages of music to my ears and reafirmed my choice of cartridges.

John Jobson came out with an article in Sports Afield (1973) called THE WELTERWEIGHT RIFLE WITH THE HEAVYTWEIGHT PUNCH and with that title I immediately thought there was going to be some plagiarism of O'Connor, but no.

When O'Connor came out with FORTY YEARS WITH THE LITTLE 7MM, published in Gun Digest (#28 1974) I was working with 3 different 7mms. Once again it was great to see affirmation of your cartridge selection.

Then there is this. WOW!

Eleanor O'Connor's 7x57

roundoak, yes I am with you. Have read all those articles and in fact have them all here....er.....somewhere.

Spend too much time reading that stuff and a guy would hawk the farm for a G33/40 with top end wood by a real master....a guy can get giddy.

Eleanor's rifle....Burgess modified VZ24Czech Mauser ,stocked by Russ Lenard.Likely seen more country and more hunting on more continents so that it would make us blush. It was built for Jack but Eleanor claimed it. She used it on a pile of BG including a B&C dall ram.

That rifle next to it is a 30/06 pre 64 FW built for Eleanor by Len Brownell as her "big" rifle and she killed tiger, lion,and elephant with it as I recall. Maybe other stuff, too.

Giddy stuff!

I'm shooting 160 Partitions in my pre-64 over 57gr. of Supreme 780. Hodgdon data goes to 58gr. for over 2800 fps. About 100 fps over the 7mm. No biggie, but still better.

I appreciate this comment about as much as any. I enjoy reading all the technical/reloading/ballistic information everyone posts, but I am primarily a hunter. My range time is more or less limited to making sure the scope is dialed-in, then I practice from my sticks at various distances and from various positions. After that it's off to a stand or a walk in the woods. For me, trying to stalk within 40 or 50 yards of game is part of the excitement, not trying to connect way out there someplace. I have no argument with those who like to take their shots at a distance, it's just not my style of hunting.

For all of the above, my 7x57s work just fine. Other cartridges undoubtedly work equally as well, but the 7x57 just fits what I want in a hunting rifle.

Oh, and as for ammo availability, I don't worry too much about it. I haven't gotten around to handloading again, but the LGS has ammo if I'm in a pinch, and as long as we're still allowed to order it over the internet, I'm not going to be too terribly concerned. One thing about shooting factory ammo, once (if) I start to handload again, I'll have plenty of empty brass...some of it even marked .275 Rigby!

As a sort of addendum, while doing an article on the 7x57 several years ago I decided to see what American ammo did. Now, my 7x57 (which I said in the article is my last) is a custom job, as mentioned earlier on the Montana 1999 action, with a 21" barrel chambered with a short-throated Pacific Tool & Die "target" reamer. This typically results in higher velocities that a traditional long throat.

At the time I also owned a Winchester Model 70 Classic Compact in 7mm-08, with a 22" barrel. I went to the LGS and bought a box of each brand of factory ammo available for each round (three loads for each rifle) and test-fired them one warm December day. The 140-grain loads for the 7mm-08 averaged about 100 fps more than for the 7x57, not enough to matter. The fastest 7x57 load was Federal's Premium with the Nosler Partition, at a little over 2800 fps. The traditional Federal load with the 175 round-nose went 2429.

How much velocity those loads would lose in a traditional long-throated 7x57 would depend, of course, on the throat and barrel, but in my experience would probably be on the order of 100 fps.

I tried the 160s in the .270 because I got a good deal on 100 just after a C&C bullet failed to exit on a close shot. They shoot good, look cool, and I'm pretty certain they'll put two holes in anything in WV. Kinda like a 7by57 on meth.