Went "shopping" online couple times recently and was surprised at the lack of new brass avaialble in 7x57 Mauser everywhere except for Privi at Grafs. Been seeing negative comments recently too about Privi Brass have they changed something or had QC issues lately?
RP & WW was listed with a SKU by most of the ususal suspects but out of stock and most times noted as "Backorders not accepted" . Privi was listed in a few places and I've had decent to good performance out that brand in a 9.3x62 in the past and ordered some (and some 6.5 swede too) from Graf.
Could not find any Hornady, Nosler or Norma in stock most places & not looking to buy but will if I have to in Norma 1st, then Nosler only @ SPS prices but had really expected to find some Hornady to use instead of the RP/WW stuff.
Then yesterday tried to find some other euro head stamps like RWS from brownells and other parts centric guys , and while I know that Lapua still does not make 7x57 brass, ( that eventually I will get into to feed the Swede) but again drew a blank...anybody got any ideas other than buying loaded ammo in bullets I'm not interested in, just to get the brass??
If that's the only proposition...is there an easy to find piece of brass that I can PIA reform 7x57 from... mebbe like 257Bob or 8x57 ???
Thx Ron
Look for Hornady 275 Rigby stuff. Pretty good quality and decent price too. Same stuff as 7x57, just an "English" name.
Aha! THAT never occured to me ... duoh.
Ron
"If that's the only proposition...is there an easy to find piece of brass that I can PIA reform 7x57 from... mebbe like 257Bob or 8x57 ???"
You can use .257 Bob or possibly 6MM Rem but I did try to make 7x57 from 8x57 with disastrous results. The shoulders had deep longitudinal creases that made the brass unusable. Good thing it was range pick up that I used to experiment with.
I haven't heard about problems with Privi brass other than sometimes the rims were a bit too thick to fir in a #3 shell holder. If there is a problem it must be a recent thing. I've never used the stuff as none of my LGS carry it. Lots of Federal ammo though in 139 and 175 gr. loads on their shelves. Maybe even some of their premium stuff. I haven't gone to any LGS in some time so even that may be gone.
Paul B.
The deep longitudinal creases are caused by inadequate annealing. For whatever reason, some European brass and Russian brass is not as well annealed as you might expect.
I have formed 7x57 from 8x57 without difficulty.
I have also formed 8x57 from 30-06 and 270. The trick was to anneal the case a little farther down than you ordinarily would. I just annealed the brass, put it in the die, crunched it, and trimmed the very long resulting neck. The resulting cartridges worked just fine, without incident and without intermediate steps.
Some people have problems, some don`t. I bought Privi brass for my 7x57 just a couple of months ago, and have fired it quite a bit. No problems, but I do anneal after the 4th firing. Primer pockets are still tight, and I have minimal growth....maybe I have my die set up correctly.
I would try them
Good Luck
After studying my old Nosler Paper hard cover Manual for the dimensions shown on the cartridge diagram..the 257Rbt's should be a piece of cake to reform into 7x57...and only has a small scootch short neck in OAL . Not surprised that the 8x57 would not be an easy deal.
Midway and Graf's are both out of 275 Rigby, and Midway has a notation about it being a Limited Production item with no back orders. Got busy watching the Packers and Bengals after that.
SPS's blem price is about the same as Norma in some places...and I'd rarther shoot Norma for the same $$'s
Got a bag of new Pirvi on hand to get started with and traded for 2 box's of 1x Hornady & just bought 2 box of loaded PP 139 gr'ers too... so I'm GTG for the moment...always looking for the hard to find stuff so when I stumble over some it'll come home with me ...Ya find it where and when ya find it I keep repeating to myself when we go Estate Sale shopping. Thanks All
Ron . .
The only problem I have had with PPU brass is that sometimes the primer pockets are a little tight and need a slight bevel for the primer to seat easily. I use the Hornady primer pocket reamer, a couple of turns does the job.
I have formed 7x57 cases from .257 Roberts brass with a simple neck up with a tapered expander. However, there was a recent post on here about the difficulty of finding .257 cases so you may still be in the same boat. Good luck.
Talking about stretcjing the 257 necks on the Rbt's brass...it it necessary or desirable to use an intermediate sized expander uumm like a 264 dia to help make the jump from 257 to 284?? and guard against splitting the case neck? It'd be easy to do as I bought a Swede die set at the same time I bought the 7Mauser's, and my 1st time to use Hornady dies .OR .I guess I need to pull the expander ball and see if it's tapered or not also...I think my really old RCBS 270 dies set uses crosshatched expander as I recall as it's been a very long time since I pulled stuff apart and a good excuse to clean the gunk out it too..,and only did it when I busted a decapping pin usually. If it ain't broke kinda deal...
Ron
Cabelas has Remington 7x57 brass
available also. But feel free to resize something else if shopping around on the Internet is too hard.
Fan...Thanks for proving my point about the prices on Nosler brass, and why I said I would only buy Nosler thru the SPS Outlet, which is available right now at about $63 per 50ct + the Order Fee...or about $140 per 100ct ...and the Non Blems are about $20 per 50 ct higher.
I had noticed the prices from Brownells in my wanderings online as the best I'd found and in the Best Product on the market too...and why I said I'd buy Norma before I'd buy SPS Blems.
Theo, thanks for mentioning Cabella's Online store, I tend not to shop them online except for giveaway prices on scopes ...but have some Cabella's Gift Cards to burn , but both of my mid 40's sons live near the Allen TX store, about 3 hours from me and I always like to kill any of my free time to go visit the store anytime I am in Far North Dallas for any reason.
After spending 13 years in the Firearms Industry, running 7 outside Distributor Reps & 6 inside phone reps in a 3 state territory calling on every retailer & 6 years as a Rgl Rep for a Firearms Importer.... I have a pretty good idea of which retailers are worth making an effort to go see on purpose, for a 2nd'ry item like an oddball caliber rifle brass. IMO Cabella's In Allen TX is one of the worst managed retail stores I;ve ever been in for on hand inventory levels in reloading supplies..but then Cabella's has also recently been sold to Bass Pro so we'll see if that is an improvement or not. FWIW Graf's & Midway are my 2 usual Online sources ...but Amazon is getting there on some products. I've been buying from Nosler's SPS outlest since they shipped bullets in cellophane bags with a hand stamped colored art paper label...
Anybody use Sportsmans Warehouse Online and bought brass or??? regularly?
Ron
BassPro is the last place I would go for reloading supplies. The other day I was in there to buy some fishing stuff and was walking through the reloading isle and saw the price on their powders, all were $35/lb including Blue Dot which SW sells for $23/lb.
I bought 150 pieces of Hornady .275 Rigby cases at my local Sportsman's Warehouse 3-4 weeks ago.
I bought 150 pieces of Hornady .275 Rigby cases at my local Sportsman's Warehouse 3-4 weeks ago.
That's where I have been picking it up as well, seem to always have it in stock.
The SW Online listing showed 0 in stock couple hours ago...as it should be with all the inventory out at the Retail Stores for add on sales to walkin retail customers.... but it is also close to Norma's price's from Brownell's. I'll watch it and see what I can pick up. Albuquerqe is the closest SW store now, since they closed all the Texas stores um 12-15 years ago. I had shopped the one Lewisville TX about 10 miles from my house just over the Dallas County line to the south... I'm now 3 hours SEast of Dallas. I've got enough on hand to get me thru this seasson, and can always pick up another bag of Privi. The other shooters in the rack will get 1st bite at the WTail Harvest Apple anyway. Good excuse to run up to ABQ though.... Thanks All
Ron
Ron:
You might want to occasionally check on Gunbroker as well. Sometimes there is primed but unfired brass from pulled cartridges. I picked up 450 for about $225, including shipping. That's 50 cents each. All they need is a neck size and you're done.
Mike
A while back I got a deal on 5 boxes of (GASP!) Herter's brass in 7x57. Says, "Made in Sweden." on the boxes. Norma??? Did a fairly thorough search to see if there were any other ammo/brass makers in Sweden with no luck. Stuff does look good though. Anybody have an idea who might have made them?
Paul B.
A while back I got a deal on 5 boxes of (GASP!) Herter's brass in 7x57. Says, "Made in Sweden." on the boxes. Norma??? Did a fairly thorough search to see if there were any other ammo/brass makers in Sweden with no luck. Stuff does look good though. Anybody have an idea who might have made them?
Paul B.
Probably Norma. Herters hasn't sold brass for many many years. I'm not of the opinion that age bothers brass.
Thx Butch for the tip, I'll check it out. You heard anything about Jason having another Fun Shoot this Winter? I was by there couple months ago to pick up some Swede ammo he offered me gratis , that he'd found when he cleaned out his Dad's stash...PMC swede in 150gr'ers has to be 30-40 years old...but like I told him, it'll do for barrel breakin's on the T3 SL I got from Whittakers.
Ron
This is good brass. I believe it is Norma made brass, as Nosler's brass has heretofore been Norma and branded Nosler.
http://www.shootersproshop.com/nosl.../nosler-7x57-mauser-brass-blem-50ct.html
Bought 3 bags from Cabelas a few weeks ago.
Was looking at a few spots this week...
Picked up some Rem at Cabelas in Eugene...
then say as was noted by Mule Deer/Barsness....
Sportsmans Has Hornady's brass... which like to list it as 275 Rigby instead of 7 x 57....
but its a standardly stocked item at Sportsman's here in Oregon...
If you want to try what is arguably the best brass available try some RWS.
https://www.huntingtons.com/store/product.php?productid=20516&cat=275&page=2Expensive but I can usually get at least a dozen loads out of the cases and sometimes more sometimes a lot more depending on load, chamber and loading procedures.
With most others I chuck them after six or eight loadings or whenever I get a split neck, expanded primer pocket or brass flow.
I have heard of target shooters using the same cases for an entire season. Load count must be up to around fifty or so. The tight chambers, dies and neck annealing are responsible for these really high reload numbers.
But on a cost per loading basis it will beat anything but surplus brass or once fired.
If you want to try what is arguably the best brass available try some RWS.
https://www.huntingtons.com/store/product.php?productid=20516&cat=275&page=2Expensive but I can usually get at least a dozen loads out of the cases and sometimes more sometimes a lot more depending on load, chamber and loading procedures.
With most others I chuck them after six or eight loadings or whenever I get a split neck, expanded primer pocket or brass flow.
I have heard of target shooters using the same cases for an entire season. Load count must be up to around fifty or so. The tight chambers, dies and neck annealing are responsible for these really high reload numbers.
But on a cost per loading basis it will beat anything but surplus brass or once fired.
RWS is great brass.