Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Powder for 160gr NPT's in 7x57 ?

As Burley Boy caught this, I need to revise this thread to be clearer..

First I had to be brain farting to come up with using 4198, when I was thinking more along the lines of RL 19....so I have corrected it above in red...

That statement of neither would exceed, SAAMI Specs, certainly didn't apply to 4198
RL 19 or H 1000 should apply tho...

My apologies that it is too late to edit the thread now, or even delete it...or I would have for the reasons Burley Boy pointed out...

Thanks to Burley Boy for catching my screw up here... which I consider a big one..

I use a lot of 4198, but with a load such as this, it would be 30 grains of it and that load would be when hunting at what I call 30/30 ranges..
in a timber area....150 yds or less ( or there abouts)...

Normally use 4198 with the lighter bullets ( 100 to 130 grains),.... H 1000 with the heavier bullets 160 gr and up...

Maybe I am getting Alzheimers earlier than expected.... so one more apology to campfire folks...

H414/W760 also seem to work well in the 7x57 Mauser.

This thread aint too long in the tooth to dredge back up...

The rifle I mentioned above has chosen H4350 with the 160 NPT's. Just a hair over 2,600 fps was the sweet spot, & I'll not quibble over any extra fps: the 160 NP should be well within its performance envelope from 0 to 300 yds @ that velocity. Now... if I ever have to shoot in meters, then I might be at a disadvantage...

FWIW, H4831SC gave more than acceptable results. However, it wanted 4+ grains more powder to approach the speeds of H4350, and the groups weren't as tight.

I'll be interested in how things turn out for the OP.

FC

Tag for future reference

IMR 4350

Feed it H4350 until the chronograph reads 2700.

This is certainly a cartridge that a chrony is an absolute must. Anything else is just guessing.

I'm going to use IMR 4350, 4831, and/or 2878. It's what I have (and not that much) until (if) this shortage ever ends and I can buy retail powder or loaded ammo again at non-scalper prices. If not, then I still have enough if I'm conservative. I have other calibers that need food too.

Not gonna go crazy with workup, much less uselessly pouring a bunch of lead down the spout for "fun". Yeah- I'm cheap.

2MOA will be acceptable for 300 yard shots at this point. No need to go anal. Hopefully it will take no more than a dozen loads (4-3shot) to tell me what is "good enough", and I'll load enough of that for short-tem use. It doesn't have to be perfect. The critters ain't never going to be able to tell the diff between good enuf and highly refined...

Velocity tells you little except possibly trajectory from the tables. That's still guessing until actually tried on the range.

Of far more importance is group size from your particular gun and terminal performance from actual shooting of the load- at least for hunting game.

This is done by working up loads properly, for the individual rifle, not from choosing an arbitrary velocity value.

I have never used a crony, and the game I've killed or missed never knew the difference.

I imagine it could be a fun toy to play with, and certainly a requirement for professional writers, etc., and, if one HAS a crony, and is playing games with different components, and a particular rifle likes a particular velocity, that might be a good place to start when changing said components.

But a chrony is certainly not an absolute necessity, nor is a particular velocity.

"This is done by working up loads properly, for the individual rifle, not from choosing an arbitrary velocity value."

Working up loads properly with a 7X57 is done by watching the velocity.
Velocity will tell you if you're getting too hot.
7X57's are all over the map as far as throat goes. For example, it may take anywhere from 46 to 52 grains of H-4350 for a 145 grn bullet to reach 2800-2850 fps just because the throats are so different from gun to gun.

YMMV

Exactly. Velocity = pressure.

In the 7x57 @2900 with 140s
2800 with 150s
2700 with 160s

Naturally you may find an accuracy node prior to reaching those speeds.

Both IMR4350 & RL22 worked pretty well for me with 160 Noslers in a 22" Ruger.

IMR4350 & RL19 with140s & 150s, both partitions & solid bases, shot better at c. 2942 & 2690 respectively.

WW brass & WLRs a bit longer than book length for all.

Finally got out to try a couple load variations. Rifle is a LH PO Ackley Mauser rebarreled to 7x57 by Jim Kobe. NECG banded front sight. Mix-n-Match Lyman 48 rear sight with target knobs. All I am looking for is a pedestrian load for woods walking, close range deer hunting, off hand target practice. Tried 4 combinations: I4350 - 42 grains and H1000 45 grains. Both powders COAL at 3.000" and at 3.100". Somewhere around 3.150" was touching the lands. For my 63 year old eyes, the I4350 was slightly better than the H1000 for both COAL's. The 3.100" was the better COAL for both powders. So, will load up the rest of the new PRVI brass with 42grs of I4350 @ 3.100" COAL.

May tinker more in the future. However, this load will get me started. Appreciate everyone's input and recommendations. Thank you !

I expect we'll be seeing pics of said rifle resting on the still-warm carcass of a whitetail.

FC

Still dialing in the rifle, for me. Swapped the front sight to a lower bead back in October. Did not get it re-zeroed before KY rifle deer season. Hopefully next year.

IMR 4350
41.5 - 44.5
3.00 COAL