So I just purchased my first 7x57 (M70 SG Lightweight), and am pondering loads. My first inclination was to go 140’s since the load data suggests similar charges as the 7mm-08. I understand that the 7x57 has more case capacity and load data is light in respect to older rifles.

While doing some forum reading it seems most 7x57 guru’s prefer bullets in the 160-175 grain class. Is this because of nostalgia? or because most are built on a long action, so since there’s room, might as well use it?

Someone gonna mention elephants in 3...2...1...

Very little in North America one could not hunt with the 160 Partition at 2700fps.

SPS has 140 and 160 partitions in stock so ordered both to try. Any expansion issues with 160’s?

Heavies in a 7x57 is the classic load, esp the 175gr RN. I'm going to load those for my M98 7x57 when it's finished but in all reality the lighter 140 to 150s would be a better choice for deer. I have some 160gr NPs here that would work well for moose.

There is something magic about heavy for caliber bullets at moderate velocity, especially when you couple that with a rifle that is fun to shoot like the 7 Mauser. Having the extra mag length is an added benefit.

Nostalgia for me, no reason other than that really. Hunting swamps in the deep south, shots are typically so short I don't feel in any way handicapped by using the 175 RN's (Ruger #1A). I used to use 160 Partitions in a 280AI and they worked flawlessly too so wouldn't hesitate to keep using those or a dozen other bullets but I like the old torpedoes so that's what goes down range.

Who makes 175gr RNs now that Hornady got out of them?

I have always heard the Remington rolling blocks in 7X57MM shoot better with 175s

It ain't nothing but " Old School " and " Old Technology " .

A good 140 or 154 will kill 'completely' DEAD at longer range w/o the SOFTBALL trajectory.


Jerry

I used the 139gr LRX on my Alaskan moose this year, worked great! I sure do love the 7X57!

From memory, my Ruger 77 shoots best with the heavies.

Good question, anyone?

Hawk bullets is the only one I know of off the top of my head but there may be others. I have a pretty good stache of Hornady's and they still pop up for sale here and there.

A quick check of MidwayUSA and Midsouth Shooters Supply didn't show any RNs in stock. Hardly definitive, but there you go. They both have Speer 175 gr Grand Slam Soft Points though. Perhaps not a bad option if they shoot well in your rifle.

True that.

I don't listen to the 7x57 guru's, I load my 7x57s with 139 and 154 grain bullets and for nostalgia use 173 grain Sellier & Bellot SP ammo.

I no longer have my 7X57, but when I did I used bullets from 139 to 175 and the ones I had the best luck with were the 160s and 175s. The 139 were too prone to break up. The Remington 150 grain CLs were fine and so were the 154 gr Hornadys Spire points. The 160 Nosler Partitions, 175 Partitions, and the 175 gr Hornadys in both round nose and spire points all were perfect in every instance.
None of these ever left me with any complaints at all.

I killed deer with all those above and I killed elk with the 175 Hornady RNs and the Noslers in both 160 and 175.

Ive done a lot of hunting with the 7x57 and prefer the 175 NPT for general purpose. In my case reason being, I live in Montana where elk, deer and bear are all in season at the same time, so you're not positive what you will see on a given day. Ive taken a number of each with the heavy 7x57

Also been to Africa a number of times...again not sure on a given day if you'll be shooting a jackal, or a kudu, or a number of things in between. Again. Ive shot all those things in between with the heavy 7x57.

Even with the 175s the trajectory isn't at all bad out to 300 yards, most game is killed well within that range, or half that....so I never felt lacking with the 7x57


Now I have one that doesn't like heavy bullets, so I shoot a 150 NBT out of it...but I also dont hunt any game heavier than 300 lbs anymore cause I dont want to drag it out of the woods...

Long throating often necessitates shallow seating of lighter bullet weights. Might try a monometal.

My favorite bullet for the 7x57 is the 170 gr. Sierra round nose. Sierra dropped them years ago but I have a decent supply.
Paul B.

The European CIP standard chamber dimensions call for a very long throat, and a fast rifling twist. Both are made for long for caliber, heavy bullets. Many 7x57 rifles shoot better with heavy long bullets because that's what they are designed for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my limited understanding, hunters in the Southern USA typically hunt small whitetail deer and hogs. Neither require heavy bullets. I hunt in Canada, where I may use my 7x57 to hunt a variety of game. Our whitetails can weigh twice as much as a southern USA deer, and moose might weigh four of six times that. So heavy bullets make sense here, but where you are, not so much. If your rile will shoot 140's accurately, there is no good reason not to use them for your local hunting. I personally avoid such light bullets because my rifle doesn't shoot them quite as well and they are not a good match for the game where I hunt.

Yep, probably what I am going to do, load 140’s for deer and rock-on. I do travel a bit though, so the heavy load is intriguing. Truth be told I’ll probably use my 270 with 150 Partitions for bigger stuff, but part of the fun of being a looney is trying different stuff, which is why I have 160’s Partitions on the way. I typically use heavy for caliber bullets in most cartridges I shoot anyway. I like two holes in critters.

Your 160 Partitions in the 7x57 will supply you with two holes.....

A 160 Partition might just work on a Gemsbok......



Or a Kudu.......



Or even a Wildebeestie........



But a Jackal won't stop a 160 Accubond.

Jackal can't stop a 175 either!!!

Not quite a .275 Rigby, but my crew has had excellent results with 160gr NPs in the .270, at about the alleged top velocity folks claim with their 7mms, 2700fps. Just Eastern Whitetails, but for whatever reason, they seem to drop right there or just a few feet away. One of those combos that just works, so even though lighter monos probably penetrate just as well, I suspect the NPs fragment enough to get it done quickly.

It occurs to me that a 7-08 Fieldcraft with 160s would be pretty much the same thing, but in a very handy package; dangerous thinking for an old fat man who already has too many rifles.

Try the 140’s. If they shoot well and that’s what you like, use them. I use 140’s in 7mm-08, 7 mags, and 7mm ultra mags.

This all makes sense and I agree. An interesting note in deer sizes though. I killed a buck two years ago that field dressed 250. That’s a giant but still.....the 3.5 year olds usually go 150-170 field dressed. What’s the sizes up there?

My 7x57 likes 140 TTSX just fine...as do I, no need to look futher.

35 years ago I had an original 7mm Rolling Block and 13 boxes of Privi 175 grain round nose soft point. It resembled the load pictured below with a little more core exposed, The jacket was pretty heavy and the core was dead soft- you could mark it with your thumbnail.


https://www.wholesalehunter.com/Product/Details/304

The last 2" of the Rolling Block's barrel was washed out so me and a gunsmith pal bobbed it off even with the forend metal, recrowned it and modofied a set of Williams aperture and bead sights to fit. The rifle still had nearly 27 inches of barrel left and it was plenty accurate with that load. I lived in an area rich with deer, coyotes, groundhogs etc. Aside from zeroing and shooting enough to find MPBR, practically every round from the next 6-7 boxes killed something; and for all the modern varmint and deer rifles I've used, nothing flattened stuff like that old Roller with 175 grain RN bullets.

I've never used it, but the old 6.5x55 with 160gr RN load enjoyed the same reputation. I'm pretty sure I could have used a RN for every big game animal I've ever shot.

I have a Ruger No. 1-A in 7x57, and have exclusively used 140gr Partitions...but I've always wanted to try the heavier bullets. I have several hundred Winchester 175gr PPs, and also an interesting box of S&B with 173s...

Can't believe RevMike hasn't weighed in on this.

That is one beautiful rifle, ingwe, looks perfect in every way.

SargeMO I assume as a loony you sold or traded the Roller. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

Been sort of busy. Besides, Poobs has chimed in!

I really can't add much to what's been said, especially regarding bullet weight/length and throat length. My Zastava M98 has a long throat and the standard European twise (1:220mm/1:866"). It shoots 175-grain bullets very, very well, but isn't terribly fond of anything between 139 and 154-grains. I recently picked up another 7x57 that I haven't had a chance to shoot yet, but a lot has been written about its "tight chamber" (i.e., shorter throat). I'll have to go back and re-read some of the tests with lighter bullets to see how they fared. Nevertheless, with any 7x57, my suggestion would be to start by measuring the throat and go from there. If it's really long you might have to stick with heavier/longer bullets. But then again, with any individual rifle, maybe not.

Just my $02.

RM

Tradition and Penetration, 175gr old style Speer grand slams or Partitions will penetrate for days leaving at a leisurely 2700 fps, mag box length, plus generous freebore allows a 3.150" col in my DWM 98 Mauser rifle, they are bughole accurate in calm conditions.

My Mauser likes 160-175 gr bullets best. Love the combo myself, but have not found a whitetail that will say the same.

Same here.

Both a 700 MR and a German Mauser shoot 175 (& 173) factory stuff so well, it’s kind of a waste to reload. Still, the former dotes on the 154 SP’s over H4350, so I cobble some together from time to time.

As Poobs mentioned, though, the difference in trajectory ain’t as much as I was expecting. The killing remains boringly effective, and free of drama.

FC

And recoil, what a sweet round.

What some folks like to refer as 'long throated' , is actually just the std. 7mm Mauser throat.
Prewar Rigby mausers in. 275 bore had regular
Mauser spec. 7mm Mauser barrels.
Rigby regulated such rifles for either the
Heavier load or lighter 140 grain 'HV' load,
And designated the rifles accordingly as a catalogue
item.. #1, #2, respectively.
RIGBY ledgers show WDM Bell purchased a number of .275 bore HV catalogue rifles, yet he fired 173 grain DWM ammunition through them in the course of his African safaris.

This! I have been using the 7X57 long enuf that I had to form brass from 30.06 because 7X57 cases were either sky high or unobtainium. I started with 139 gr Hornady ILs and never saw a reason to change (although I have used others occasionally....just because). They worked quite well on AL whitetails. There was one exception. I built a scout rifle out of a Venezuelan 98 and used 175 gr Hornady RNs in it at 2300 fps, primarily for nostalgic reasons. They also worked very well. I seemed to have more DRTs with the 139s than any other bullet/caliber I have used over the years. Very few failures to pass through as well. IME, long throat/short throat has never made much difference WRT accuracy, either.

If I were starting with the 7X57 today, and were likely to have opportunities at animals larger than our 200 lb and smaller whitetails, I would follow Ingwe's advice and use the 160 NP or something equal to it.

Awhile back I was more than happy to run across a bag of 100 rounds I had put up in brand new Norma brass for the 7x57, loads are topped off with the old style 175gr Hornady round nose bullets, note in the bag reads H-4350 and 2408 fps, I bet they will work very well on most, if not all stateside game inside 300 yards.

I bought a bunch of pulled ones from Rocky Mountain Reloading last year. Not only are they accurate in my rifles, but even at the old classic velocity of 2300 fps they'll pass right through a big ol' pig anywhere inside of about 200 yards. I haven't tried them any farther than that.

That’d be a slick one for woods killing I’d bet. Hard to imagine it wouldn’t leave plenty of blood on the leaves.

Federal sells them in their Blue Box loaded ammo..

Elephants. There, I said it

g

Prvi Partizan makes 173 gn SP in both 7x57 and 7x57R. Component bullets too. IIRC Woodleigh also makes a 175 gn PPSP.

For my part, while I've given the heavies a run in a 7x57 and a couple of 7x57R, I'm happy to use something around 139 - 150 gn for the use to which I put them. Something like Prvi Partizan 139 gn, or Speer's 145, or a Winchester 150 gn Power Point. All of these seem to do a good job on pigs and deer and such, and shoot a mite flatter than the heavy ones.

Thanks all for the conversation...going to load up some 140 and 160 partitions and see what the rifle tells me.

I came across a box of these many years ago in a trade and was amazed at the accuracy I got from them. A few weeks ago, a friend acquired a nice sporterized 95 Mauser and brought it to me because it jammed when trying to cycle ammo from the magazine. He was using this ammo that came with the rifle. It would fail to feed every time with this stuff in the magazine. It fed everything else I put through it. Go figure!

I shoot the 173 SPCE's in my stainless M77RSI. You are correct, they are superbly accurate. Also when shooting paper, the SPCE cuts a nice crisp perfectly round hole in the target just like a wad cutter bullet in a 38 SP. Of course, thats what the "CE" in SPCE stands for Cutting Edge. A lot of hunters here in Romania use them on boars, (although mostly in the rimmed version), and they drop them really well. I killed a small boar on Sunday (about 220 pounds) but I just happened to be carrying my 308, shooting Geco plus 170's. It did a great DRT job at about 60 yards, 2 holes and enough blood to make you think the hog was gutted right there. RJ

I load the Sierra 140 grain Game King for mine. It does a fine job.

That'll work Rev, glad to hear it.

I think you're right Big B, would have to be plenty of shiny red on the dead brown ; ]

Interesting how this cartridge isn't subject to your "less is never more" line of thinking.

This thread is relevant to my interests, I just acquired a 7x57 and have been thinking about how to approach handloading for it. The place I hunt right now is thick and brushy with lots of up close shots. Since light-for-caliber bullets and high velocities tend to equal more bloodshot meat, I've been considering a slower and heavier round for this one. Lots of good info here. The rifle didn't really like the 140gr Federal blue box stuff, but shows much more promise with the 145gr Winchester power point. I'm thinking a 160gr partition might do the trick one I start handloading.

I think one of them worked on a big Axis buck IIRC.....

Steel Traps, M M


Jerry

No Professor, note in the bag read 1998, I loaded those spec for a '96 Mauser at my 'smiths waging finger of CAUTION, my other 7x57 fires 175's at 2700 fps, the 7x57's saving grace is it doesn't come with a brokeback mountain fanboy cheer squad, iirc, the only ones that ever cheered for the 7x57 were the ones getting the chit shot out of themselves with 'em in a war way back when ; ]

Almost, I hit that bull with an old style 175gr Speer Grand Slam, the other buck on that trip got smoked with a 530gr paper patch bullet from a 45-110 Sharps bull barrel rifle, still should have punched those two pigs when they lined up at less than a hundred with that Sharps, didn't want to make a 'pig' out of myself ; ]

So it isn't ballistics, it's ill informed boosters that bug you.

No again Dr. Calculus, it's the whole circus that enshrines the 6.5 creedmoor is was talking about, when less is being celebrated as more.

Chicks are funny

YEE HAAAW ! You are singing my song.


Jerry

GD glad you can't hear it JWall, last time I sang, I saw dead coyotes climbing up out of the ground to howl! ; ]

By the time I finished that stack of 175s it was piercing primers and puffing a little gas back at you occasionally. I sold it to a friend with full disclosure and the assurance he'd make it a wall hanger. About five years later I saw it for sale at an Independence MO gun shop. I explained it's problems to the owner, who didn't seem much interested. Oh well...

Well heavies might be a necessity for my new 7x57. I tried 140 partitions today at 3.000” OAL. Not to good. Loaded them out to SAAMI max 3.065, much better. I was surprised to see the bolt close on them at 3.100” when trying to determine max OAL. Looks like I’m going to have to make use of that long magazine.

Ruger?

M70 Super Grade Lightweight, from limited run in 2013-2014 I believe.

My Featherweight is the one I’m having the hardest time finding a load for. It doesn’t like 140s either.

My groups shrunk from 3” to 1.25-1.5” by adjusting the OAL from 3.000” to 3.050-3.065”. Just loaded up some Partition 160’s @ 3.085 (again bolt just closes at 3.100”) with H4350. Plenty of room left in the magazine. I wish the Hornady 154 RN was still available. Might try the IL flat based next.

My Featherweight likes the 140's and 160's. I load the 160 grain Nosler Partition in it now.

What OAL are your 160 Partition loads?

3.063"

👍 Thanks

Throats are very different in this caliber, some are short, some are a country mile long!

You're welcome.

This is what has worked for me. Caution, load is max in my rifle.
140 gr. Ballistic Tip
47.0 gr. W760
Winchester brass and WLR primer
OAL 3.1295"
Velocity 2800 FPS

150 gr. Nosler Partition Caution, load is max in my rifle.
48.5 gr. Rl 17
Winchester brass and WLR primer
Velocity 2847 FPS.

Note some of the velocity in the latest Speer and Nosler manuals leads me to believe the loads are OK. Loads were shot in my M70 Featherweight in 90 degree weather. Load were one inch or less, mostly less.
Paul B.

This is about where I want to be. I'm soon going to take a little different tack with this rifle. My plan is to use IMR4350 (just because I have quite a bit on hand) and run a Satterlee ladder test to find the velocity node, then start adjusting seating depth. I'll start with the NPT, but if that doesn't work I'll run through different 150gr-class bullets until I find something that suits my liking. Maybe being more scientific (i.e., Satterlee's method) will help. From what I understand, it'll sure save on time and components.

Thats not the IS is it? Cause if it is, it sure don't like light bullets..or 160s either...150s yes, 175s definitely....the others...not so much.

No, that one shoots lights-out with anything 150-gr+

It works excellent for me.

The rifle is the only opinion to follow. I have owned several 7x57's including a genuine John Rigby .275 and they were all different in preference but same in performance.

My current Super Grade will clover leaf Barnes 145gn LRX's and shoots as low as .3's with 175gn Nosler Partitions. Everything else is ok for hunting but not the best loads for this rifle. There also comes a point in a handloaders life where the ability to maintain the accuracy potential of the rifle falls off so that also has to be/could be a consideration for the older blokes.

Good to know...I could never get that one to like 160-162...though it loved 150s...

GKs and NPTs about an inch, plus or minus. Oddly enough, it and my MRC absolutely love factory loaded 158-grain Prvi Grom. I haven't shot any of it over a chrono, but the box says it's about 2460 fps. If that's accurate it's pretty slow, but it gives one heck of a performance on game.

Good info

IMO, Speer offers a lot of bullet for the money across the spectrum of their product offerings.