Old Faithful - my 7x57mm Mauser
Kevin Thomas©

Not too long ago I read an internet posting on Straight Shooter by an American called Ken who described the 7x57mm Mauser as “The Great Granddaddy of Modern Day Cartridges.” It wasn’t a long posting but it was an interesting read as he went on to describe how on 01 July, 1898, some 15,000 troops of the American Army attacked 700 entrenched Spanish soldiers on San Juan Hill in Cuba. The American Army had just adopted the Danish Krag-Jorgensen rifle in 30-40 Krag, in order to keep up with the global arms race after Frenchman Paul Vielle, invented smokeless powder in 1884.

Of the 15,000 American troops who went charging up San Juan Hill, (many of them still armed with the archaic 45-70 Springfield), the 700 Spaniards soon inflicted at least 1,500 casualties, holding them off for twelve hours. This loss caused America to relegate the Krag-Jorgensen to the bin and the Springfield Armoury soon developed the 1903 Springfield rifle (whose action was a Mauser 98 copy) and the 30-30 Springfield cartridge, a sort of scaled up 7x57mm cartridge. It predated the 8x57 Mauser and the Mauser ’98, which most bolt action rifles are based on.

In the wake of the Anglo-Boer War too, and the British army’s experience against the Boer’s 7x57 Mauser’s, they too, were forced to re-evaluate their ammunition and rifle design. This resulted in the Brits designing a Mauser-actioned 7mm (.276 Enfield); however, WW1 broke out before they could get it into service, so they reverted to the .303.

In 1892 Paul Mauser designed the 7x57mm Mauser, one of the first rimless bottleneck cartridges, and the 7x57mm’s design is the basis for most modern rimless cartridges including the 30-06 Springfield and all of its cartridge family. The Spanish Army first adopted the 7x57mm Mauser in 1893, and it was this cartridge which inflicted so many casualties amongst the American troops mounting the assault on San Juan Hill on that bleak day in July 1898.

During the late 1800s a number of other countries in Central and South America, and following the lead set by Spain also adopted the 7x57mm as their official military cartridge. From a sport hunting perspective, the 7 x 57mm cartridge was an instant success and has remained so to this day. Virtually every game animal on the planet has been successfully hunted with the 7x57mm and William ‘Karamoja’ Bell shot in the region of about 1,000 elephants using a 7×57mm rifle (in the British equivalent, Rigby’s .275) and this during a period when most ivory hunters preferred larger-caliber rifles.

Bell chose the cartridge because of moderate recoil, and he used 175-grain solid bullets (with a velocity of about 2400fps) to ensure good penetration, which the 7×57mm does admirably due to its fast twist rate which enables it to fire long, heavy bullets, with a high sectional density. Having done his own thorough research, and aside from being a truly exceptional shot, Bell also had a sound knowledge of elephant anatomy and knew the exact size and location of the brain, from any angle, thus ensuring his bullet placement was precise. In the part of Africa he hunted, elephants hadn’t yet learnt to fear man, lived in the main out in the open, away from dense cover, and were obviously a lot easier to approach.

We must remember too, that at the time of Bell’s hunting exploits, jacketed bullets and smokeless powder had only recently been invented, initially in the smaller military calibres, and this combination showed impressive penetration compared with black powder cartridges of that era which fired large-bore all-lead bullets – thus, a lot of ‘new generation’ experimentation was taking place. Inevitably Bell realised the 7x57 was not a suitable elephant cartridge, and switched to a .318 Westley Richard’s among other calibres, including a .416 Rigby.

Lt. Col. James (Jim) Edward Corbett, an ex British Army officer and well known Indian hunter, owned two .275 (7x57mm) Rigby Mauser’s, one of which is now in the possession of Paul Roberts in the UK, (at one time Paul owned the Rigby company before the name Rigby was sold). Corbett was a maestro with a gun, and an accomplished backwoodsman who aside from using a .450/.400 W.J. Jeffery & Co. boxlock double, also frequently used the .257 Rigby with a 173-grain bullet at 2,300fps to hunt a number of tigers, including the man-eaters of Kumaon, the various tigers who terrorized the villagers of the Kumaon region of India in the early 1930s. He later wrote about these exploits in a book titled Man-Eaters of Kumaon and another book The Temple Tiger.

Well known American hunter and author Jack O’ Connor’s wife Eleanor, accompanied her husband on numerous safaris worldwide, killing small and large game with her favoured calibre, the 7×57mm.

As a youngster growing up in 1950s Rhodesia, there was no shortage of 7x57 Mausers, most having been brought back post WW2 by returning ex servicemen. We Rhodesian kids of that era, witnessed nearly all of the hunting our elders did, being done with either the British ex military Lee Enfield Mk111 .303, or with a Mauser 7x57mm.

My late dad had a 7mm Mauser and a .303 Lee Enfield, and although he wasn’t an ardent sport hunter, he was a deadly shot, and with us living on the banks of the Sabi River for much of my boyhood, the old man couldn’t pass up shooting any big crocs that dared to come out onto the sandbanks in front of our house – for this task, he preferred the 7x57mm Mauser.

In early 1968 when I first joined the Rhodesian National Parks & Wildlife Management department, a number of field stations that I served on had a 7mm Mauser in the armoury, and I used the calibre on and off throughout my service. It impressed me, and although the ammunition was ‘issue’, the brand now escaping me, I never had a glitch. Unable to afford one at the time on my meagre game ranger’s salary, I vowed then, that one day I would own one, although it took a long time and only came my way as a gift, in 1986, through a generous client.

Initially I thought it was a military version, due to its apparent full-length stock with handguard on top, so I had it ‘sporterized’. I later learned that it was a commercial (sporting) Mauser known as the ‘Afrika Model’ which had a fore-end almost to the end of the barrel as well as a handguard. I learned that its pear-shaped bolt knob, double set triggers and quarter turn magazine floorplate lever, all identified it as a sporting version. I changed the double-set trigger. It is a WW2 Waffenfabrik Mauser Oberndorf with the serial number 76629. The rifle had hardly been used, and post WW2 had found its way across the Atlantic to America, no doubt with a returning US serviceman.

Our middle son Keith, who at the time was 14-years old had already decided to embark on a career as a gunmaker, and part of his school holidays were spent with well known gunmaker Johan Morkel, who’d set up shop in Tarkastad. Under John’s guidance, Keith removed the full stock and made me a no frills copy turned one – this rifle was after all, intended for work, guiding on plains game, and for game management use. We also removed the military aperture sights and fitted the rifle with a fixed x4-power Tasco scope, an optic brand which had its detractors, however, the trusty 7x57 wore that scope for 22 years and it never let me down once. Being a working rifle in the truest sense, it was never molly-coddled, and took a pounding around much of Southern Africa, yet the Tasco held true.

As an aside, after leaving school Keith did a five-year apprenticeship with Rigby & Co in London, then spent nearly nine years with Purdey’s, and then seven years with Westley Richard’s, before rejoining Purdey’s – as a PH it’s useful having a son who’s a gun maker.

For a long time I used factory PMP in various bullet weights, mainly because handloading was a hassle while living back in Zimbabwe after the Ciskei. After returning to South Africa however, I started to use Nosler Partition 160-grain bullets extensively, and I sighted them in at about 2½” high at 100m – for handloaders, the 7x57mm is deservedly described as ‘a ballistician's delight’.

My 7x57 is also hired on a regular basis by international clientele, who with today’s heightened air travel security find it easier to just hire a rifle over here, rather than haul one through the sky. All of those folk who’ve used the 7x57 on their plains game go away totally satisfied with the results, and in 2009 I finally retired the old Tasco scope (still in fine fettle), and replaced it with a Leupold Vari-X 111 1.5-5 which works well.

Sometimes I’ve pushed the envelope distance wise and animal size wise, when asking my 7x57 to perform and it hasn’t failed me yet. Over the years, it has taken numbers of impala, warthog, blue and black wildebeest, blesbok, bushbuck, kudu, zebra, and gemsbok. Although I have shot eland a few times with it, let me go on record as stating that the 7x57 is not an adequate eland cartridge. In my defence, I have nearly half a century of game-ranging and professional hunting experience; I stalked to within sure shooting distance, and was supremely confident of my shot placement.

Some years ago a client brought me over a box of 160-grain Nosler Spitzer AccuBond and I loaded up some test batches with variations of S355 before settling on 40grns(giving me 2345fps), which proved exceedingly accurate. The Nosler AccuBond bullet and load allowed my 7x57 to confidently step up to the plate on a variety of fairly testy shots, and it has now become my preferred bullet for all of my plains game hunting. When clients hire my rifle, I also ensure they use the 160-grain Nosler AccuBond bullets.

Earlier this year, Jamie Cox brought out some friends from the UK on a quick plains game hunt, and we did our usual thing on Woodlands game ranch, courtesy Keith Gradwell. Given the group size, Keith and Doug Snow also joined us as PHs. My client, Jamie Ingram, used my 7x57mm with the 160grn Nosler AccuBond bullets.

Interestingly, he’d never fired a rifle in his life, but was keen to do a bit of hunting (he’s now sold on the sport). After some coaching at the rifle range bench, where Jamie quickly proved himself an extremely natural and accurate marksman, we went hunting.

A kudu bull was the first animal he killed, using a clean well placed heart shot across a 208m steep sided valley. The bull careened downhill, tail flagging, before piling up in a spekboom choked donga. Our next animal was a fine black wildebeest; we took him from a blind out on the Bedford plains. It was a ranged 190m shot, and again, Jamie put the 160grn Nosler AccuBond into the shoulder, causing the bull to circle round us as if prancing on parade, before he sunk to his knees and then fell over sideways. These two species were followed by a blesbok and a warthog, both out at about 180m, and also cleanly grassed with single well placed shoulder shots.

Earlier this season I was hunting with retired US Army Colonel Dale Ackels and his delightful wife Bet. Dale had brought over his 7mm Remington Mag, a long-time favourite of his and it was wearing a Leupold VX II, 3-9X variable, which he’d bought about 8 years back. Although he hadn’t put it onto the rifle until 2012, and thereafter he’d only fired about 23 rounds with the scope/rifle combination, yet for some inexplicable reason it failed early during the safari. Coincidently Dale was also using 160gr Nosler AccuBond bullets, probably without doubt my preferred bullet for my 7x57mm Mauser.

Although he killed his black wildebeest and kudu using his 7mm Rem Mag, the scope became really faulty later on when we were hunting impala and a hartebeest, leaving Dale little option other than to use my 7x57mm for the remainder of his safari. Upon his return to the US, and although the scope was long since out of warranty, he sent it back to Leupold who stood behind their product, repairing it, and returning it to Dale at no cost. They also sent him the diagnostic work sheet, leading him to quip that it was a wonder he even hit South Africa!

More recently too, and over the previous two seasons I’ve had adequate exposure to the outstanding terminal performance of North Fork bullets in their heavy calibres on buffalo and giraffe while on safari in Zimbabwe, this actually led to my writing a magazine review about North Fork bullets for use on heavy-boned game. Wim Lambrechts of African Leadwood has the North Fork dealership here in South Africa and at the March 2013 Huntex Show he kindly gave me some North Fork 160gr SS (Semi-Spitzer) bonded core solid shank soft points to try out in my 7x57mm Mauser on plains game, (Wim well knows of my penchant for the Nosler AccuBond!) and I’m really looking forward to doing so.

Strangely, very few of our younger generation PHs here in southern Africa show much inclination towards owning and using the venerable 7x57mm Mauser. I have spoken to a number of them around campfires in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and whilst all readily acknowledge the bullet has been well proven on the global battlefields of yesteryear, and right across Africa’s hunting fields, they would still rather opt for another calibre such as a .300 Winchester Magnum – obviously and correctly so, it is a case of horses for courses – however, I also think it could be because they think the 7x57mm a little old fashioned, despite its accolades and sound track record.

As I slowly head towards my twilight years, I’ve often thought about which rifle I’ll keep when I can’t physically hunt any longer. Although, and being a working PH by the time I decide to hang my guns up, I think my .375 H&H and my .458 Lott will be retired first. Quite simply because somehow, I can’t think of myself giving up my 7x57, although I can see myself as a doddering old codger in a rocker on the veranda, my trusty old 7x57 across my lap, and still being lovingly oiled.

Hi Kevin

Nice story - I also love my 7x57.

Just one thing - the 8x57 is not an 8x57 Mauser - Mauser had nothing to do with it from my readings - it was purely a military design. It also dates back to 1888 as far as I know when it was chambered in the Commission Rifle. Admittedly it was not then in the same form it was in WWI and WWII being round nosed and having a diameter of .318" and being called the 7.92x57I - later to be redesigned with a spitzer bullet and a greater diameter and called the 7.92x57IS.

For the 7.92 you can substitute 7.9 or 8 - all were used somewhere in its history ....

Other than that minor point, I liked the story and will have to try those 160gr Accubonds.

there was nothing like a boer and his 7 x57

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Hi Kevin

Nice story - I also love my 7x57.

Just one thing - the 8x57 is not an 8x57 Mauser - Mauser had nothing to do with it from my readings - it was purely a military design. It also dates back to 1888 as far as I know when it was chambered in the Commission Rifle. Admittedly it was not then in the same form it was in WWI and WWII being round nosed and having a diameter of .318" and being called the 7.92x57I - later to be redesigned with a spitzer bullet and a greater diameter and called the 7.92x57IS.

For the 7.92 you can substitute 7.9 or 8 - all were used somewhere in its history ....

Other than that minor point, I liked the story and will have to try those 160gr Accubonds.

Thanks for picking up my error, and indeed, you are quite correct. For the life of me I don't know how I let that incorrect sentence slip through. I should have binned it during my final edit, so my apologies for any confusion I may have caused to readers. Kevin.

Kevin, a fine post about a very flexible cartridge with a LOT of history behind it. I killed my first mule deer more than 30 years ago with the 7X57. It just gets the job done with a minimum of fuss, and with today's bullets it is even more capable.

A fine read and welcome addition to these boards Kevin, thanks for taking time to post. Judge G may have a run for his money on eloquent prose! I had Sterling Davenport build a 7x57 for me a couple of years ago simply because it was a classic cartridge. Since hunting with it I have fallen under the same spell as others who admire the cartridge. It may be old, but obsolete it is certainly not. It is one of those special cartridges where velocity, sectional density, inherent accuracy and light recoil come together to form a perfect mid caliber hunting round!

A great read. I, also love my 7X57, a Dakota. I have never taken it to Africa, something I vow to correct, but it is my favorite whitetail deer rifle.

Thoroughly enjoyed the read Kevin...Thank you

By far my wife's favorite cartridge and she is dang good with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
By far my wife's favorite cartridge and she is dang good with it.

Is that not the truth.

I agree 110%..I have been using a 7x57 caliber rifles for years, shot about everything except elephant, hippo, Lion and Leopard with one.

After years of using one gun and another I decided to build myself my own custom gun. I came upon and add in the classified section of AR, of a Brno mod. 21 carbine in awful condition with two complete barrels and the price was right..

The original barrel was a 7x57 and in excellent shape, the other barrel complete with sight and swivel was a shot out 8x57...so my next favorite choice was a 9.3x62 and I had that barrel rebored. I made a switch barrel Brno mod 21 out of the gun, complete with a high dollar peice of Russian Circassian walnut..As it turned out both barrels shoot to the same zero and the inletting matched perfectly thanks to Brnos tight specs..I used the original stock (busted in Pieces) glued up for a pattern stock, and added some detail work such as shadow line cheek piece, Silvers pad, modified schnable and some extra nice checkering..Its a great gun and the two calibers cover anything I need to hunt these days. OH yeah, and it shoots an inch with either barrel, has a 3X Leupold and I opted for the Talley Peep, so folded the two rear sights down out of the way..I will be hunting elk with it Oct. 15th and will use the 7x57 barrel with 160 gr. Noslers, a load thats worked well on elk in the past more than a few times.

Great article. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

quote:

Bell chose the cartridge because of moderate recoil

In part true,..this statement from Bell, puts things more into perspective:


Again, the smallest bore rifles with cartridges of a modern military description,
such as the -256, -275, •303 or -318, are quite sufficiently powerful for the brain shot.
The advantages of these I need hardly enumerate, such as their cheap-ness, reliability, handiness,
lightness, freedom from recoil, etc. - WDM Bell


In fact, he was quite satisfied with the way his 6.5mm regularly killed DG,
He switched to 7x57 bcause it killed just as effectively, without any of the reliability problems[cracked necks, misfires, etc] he experienced with 6.5mm ammunition.
BEll states that the DWM 7x57 rounds never failed him.
BEll purchased some six bespoke Rigbys for himself in that chambering.
[clearly the man was not a tight-ass scrooge,as some people have claimed]

I have used almost every kind of rifle, the only one which never let me down was a -276 with German (D.W.M.) ammunition.
I never had one single hang- fire even. Nor a stuck case, nor a split one, nor a blowback, nor a miss-fire.
All of these I had with other rifles. - WDM Bell.

quote:

In the part of Africa he hunted, elephants hadn’t yet learnt to fear man, lived in the main out in the open, away from dense cover, and were obviously a lot easier to approach.

To be more correct,
BEll hunted elephants[on foot] after the period when they were relentlessly pursued by recreational hunters,poachers and colonists in easier access territory/relatively open ground, where they were regularly shot from vehicles,horseback and at waterholes.
Thus elephants had well learnt to fear man by the time Bell came along,
and is part reason why Bell had to pursue them more away from the coast & further into the interior regions of Africa.
He would track or follow them right into the thick stuff, sometimes he could see nothing of the elephant,
except the movement of tight brush closing in behind it,
then suddenly find the elephant turning around and facing him, just feet away.

quote:

Inevitably Bell realised the 7x57 was not a suitable elephant cartridge,
and switched to a .318 Westley Richard’s among other calibres, including a .416 Rigby.

Some 700 Cape Buffalo and some 1000 elephants with 6.5mm & 7mm bore,
Then found the 7x57 unsuitable???...Bells own words seem to contradict that:

'Speaking personally, my greatest successes have been obtained with the 7 mm Rigby-Mauser or .276
... It seemed to show a remarkable aptitude for finding the brain of an elephant.' - W.D.M. Bell

'For the style of killing which appeals to me most the light calibres are undoubtedly superior
to the heavy.' - WDM Bell

Rigby ledgers show that Bell purchased{among other rifles}
(7) 7x57 rifles
(2) 350 Rigby magnums
(2).416 Rigby magnums

Great story Kevin, the 7x57 was my fathers favourite cartridge with which he shot hundreds of heads of deer. I too have used it and fonud it to be a superb killer.

Interesting you mentioning Eleanor O'Connor using this cartridge too. I have an article about one of the safaris she accompanied Jack on and she shot 17 head of game up to and including Kudu and Zebra all with the Sierra 160gr SBT bullet. She used 19 shots putting two extras into a heart shot Kudu to stop it running too far before piling up. Everything else was a single shot, great shooting with a great cartridge.

Most definitely another believer in the 7x57 and the 160gn bullet but my choice is the Woodleigh PP. at 2700fps.

I was going to jump in on the Bell things, but Trax covered them. (Although I was sure that he only bought 6 x Rigby .275's, one of them was given to his father in law.)

It is plain from his books and writings though, that over the years he gravitated to the .318 WR for elephant and general duties. In his last
Safaris he and his companion were armed with .318's, and after WW2 he wrote of owning a .318 take down bolt action which he spoke of as the right thing for returning to Africa with. (It possibly was a Springfield - also made by J.Rigby &.)

Of course he famously said if he were to return to Africa for elephant he would take a Winchester model 70 in .308 Win using monometal bullets, which is just a modern version of a 7x57 really.
(He died in 1954, after the .308 came about; not in 1951 as has been mistakenly written at times.)

But WDM Bell fans are like Trekkies, bright eyed and fanatical, and I will not steal the thread away from its main thrust - which is that the 7x57mm is a marvellous round.
Its one of my favourites too.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlsen Highway:
But WDM Bell fans are like Trekkies, bright eyed and fanatical,

But not necessarily delusional.

Unfortunately people can misunderstand the reasons why people appreciate his exploits and writings.
and then go on to disparage Bell and his appreciators by describing it as 'romantic nonsense',
and often lazily quoting him incompletely/out of context.
THe negative comments one receives when one mentions Bell & 7x57 [when talking elephant],
are a prime example. They jump to the rash conclusion that Bell readers are foolishly suggesting
all people can effectively use a 7x57, when in fact that is not what they are saying.
Even Bell himself clearly stated that the 7x57 is definitely not the best choice for the novice DG hunter.
BUt he did extensively and convincingly prove how effective the 7x57 can be on DG,
when in highly skilled,capable and disciplined hands.

For his much prefered precision brain shots and highly physically active style of hunting,
larger calibres & more cumbersome rifles, proved no advantage.
Shot placement was the key to instant death, not greater calibre size & power.
I also recall him saying he had to interfere and finish an elephant with his .318,
because his hunting companion proved incompetent in doing so with his .450
...

> still on the subject of 7x57, some here may appreciate reading Mr.Selbys account of his teenage daughters Elephant hunt;

[quote]
My daughter Gail, then in her late teens, expressed the wish to hunt an elephant, which surprised me somewhat. I knew Gail had a very deep-rooted respect for elephants,
having witnessed some noisy demonstrations when she had accompanied me while I was doing some photography. She was very familiar with the handling of firearms, though,
and had bagged a number of plains game without incident.

I agreed that she could hunt an elephant with the proviso that she accompany me on the hunt all the way, and that she shoot the elephant herself. I would assist only if
it were absolutely necessary. To this she agreed, and again, I was somewhat surprised, knowing her feelings about pachyderms. With no caliber restrictions on the use of
small-bores in those early days, I figured the little Rigby .275 would be the ideal rifle for her to use.

When all the safaris had been wrapped up, it was time for Gail’s hunt. We still had a couple of weeks before the season closed, and I decided to try our luck in the Mababe Depression
where some early rains had filled some backcountry waterholes. We commenced the hunt and looked over several breeding herds accompanied by young bulls, the odd one carrying ivory, which
appeared quite nice, but with thin tusks and long nerves they would not meet our weight expectations. We also encountered our share of one-tuskers and broken-tuskers, not to mention
numerous groups of young bachelor bulls.

Finally, I decided we should have a look at a distant water hole about a two-hour drive from camp. It had rained during the night and as we approached the water hole we came upon the tracks
of a large bull elephant, which had crossed the road not long before our arrival. Leaving the car under a tree we shouldered our rifles and, with a water bag carried by one of the trackers,
we hurried off in pursuit.

Tracking was ridiculously easy due to the rain the previous night, and after some two miles of tracking through thick mopani woodland, we spotted the bull ahead in the middle of an open plain
feeding on small shrubs. It was moving slowly toward a thick mopani forest on the far side of the plain. The binocular showed both tusks to be intact and evenly matched. I judged the tusks to
scale about 50 pounds apiece.

We now deviated with the wind in our favor to get ahead of the bull and be in a position to intercept the elephant before it reached the heavy bush on the far side of the plain. Having accomplished
this maneuver we strode toward the bull. When we were some 200 yards from him, Gail said in a quavering voice, “This is close enough, dad!”

I said, “No we must get a lot closer,” and continued to approach the bull. Gail’s protests became more urgent as we got nearer, and when we were within about 80 yards, I realized I would not get her
any closer unless I picked her up and carried her. There was a nearby tree, which provided a decent rest, and I said, “OK take him from here.”

I explained again where to aim for the heart as she sighted through the scope. Gail fired and by the bull’s reaction I felt she had got it right, so I did not fire. There was sufficient open country
between it and the bush for me to take a hand if it did not collapse. The bull ran for about 40 yards then stood, swayed and collapsed.

Gail was elated with her prize, and I congratulated her on a fine shot and having gone through with it. At the same time I could not help feeling a sense of nostalgia as this was the first elephant the
little Rigby had laid low since it was used by “Karamoja” Bell so many years before. In retrospect Gail’s bull will almost certainly be the last elephant the little rifle will account for as in most,
if not all African countries, calibers of .375 or larger are mandatory for the hunting of elephant.
[endQUOTE]

Great post. However, there is one small error (typing?) as the 30-40 was replaced by the
30-03 Springfield NOT the 30-30 Springfield.