I'm really struggling to find an accurate load for my Rem 7x57. I'm loading IMR 4350 and have been using Hawk 140g round nose, 140g Nosler Partitions, and 154g Hornady Interlocks. Pretty sure it's the way I have set up my dies and the depth I am seating the bullets. My last loads were 45g of 4350, 140g Hawks and the overall length of my cartridges was 3.1 (yes, the bullet was not seated very deep). I also shot the combination with 47g and 49g but pressured seemed high. Any help/advice will be appreciated.

Have you chronographed? I'm shooting 50.0 gr IMR435 with 140 gr bullets in my No. 1 RSI with no signs of excess pressure, and velocity is as expected in the shorter barrel.

Historically the 7 x 57 was loaded with heavy bullets, around 170 gr. I've read that manufacturers still cut chambers pretty deep to accommodate them. Try checking chamber depth to determine the bullet jump you have. Could be a factor, esp if the receiver/chamber/bore axes are not well aligned.

Give us a bit of data about your groups, too.

I don't have a chrono. Groups were literally all over the place, probably 8"x 8". I tried three loads under the Hawk 140's, 43g, 45g and 47g. Split the necks on 2-rounds or the 45 and two of the 47.

Loaded a few 140 Noslers over 43g and set the OAL to 3.065" to see what they will do. Honestly haven't had s problem with any of my loads prior to the Hawk bullets.

In my 2ea. 7 x 57 scouts w/ 19" barrels and deep throats accuracy has always been good with the slow powders and 150 grain psp. Speer's and 160 grain psp. Sierra's.These bullets are normally seated pretty far out.
My data indicates that I never went much over 2500 fps. roger

sounds like your Remington shoots like mine.
the ruger tang safety, Mark-X, charles daley, and Winchester push feed rifles all shoot groups 1/3rd the size.
the old K-98 with a douglas barrel is pretty accurate too.
they all do well with between 50 and 52grs of RL-19 and the hornady 139 gr interlock.

but that Remington sucks.
I have tried interbonds, sst's, speer 145's, sierra 140's, 154 RN and some older 175gr bullets I had from fast to slow.
the only 7x57 I have ever seen shoot worse was an old milsurp I bought for 25 bucks waaay back when and it's problem was the barrel was .289 in groove diameter. [never mind the throat dimensions]
down the road it went.

I've tried a variety of bullets and powders in my 7x57 and have finally settled on a 139-140 gr Sierra or Hornady flat base bullet over 49.5 grs of H4350. The bullet is seated one bullet diameter into the case. For whatever reason the flat base bullets seem to shoot better than a boat tail and since I don't plan on shooting game over 300yds the difference in trajectory and energy at the target is trivial.

If you are getting split necks the brass is overworked and you need either different dies, new brass, or anneal the old brass.

Also if you are getting pressure signs with 49grs of 4350 you might want to check your case length. 49grs should be a nice medium level load in that case.

Jerry Liles

I'll load some hotter rounds tomorrow. I haven't eliminated the possibility that it's the rifle but given the caliber and action, I have a hard time believing it's the rifle.

I'm thinking a rifle or scope/mount issue. If you PM me I'll send a checklist. Check TIR of ammo. (Total Indicated Runout) If you don't have a tool for same, roll the finished rounds on a flat surface and see if they are straight. It's an easy check, though not likely the explanation.

It's a 700,'aren't they notoriously accurate? Leupold bases and rings, Leupold M8, 4x. Pretty basic set-up. Still think it's my reloads.

You could buy some cheapo factory and see what happens.

Just measured several cases and found most to be .0010" - .0025" longer than the standard 2.235". (I do not have a trimmer) I'm thinking these cases have all been reloaded 4-5x. Time for new brass?

Just get the Lee trimmer and use it. If not over worked it should still be good.

quote:

Originally posted by Doublegun:
Just measured several cases and found most to be .0010" - .0025" longer than the standard 2.235". (I do not have a trimmer) I'm thinking these cases have all been reloaded 4-5x. Time for new brass?

I'm surprised after all these years you don't have a trimmer.
If your length measurements are right you don't need to trim !!! Just hand chamfer the neck OD and ID a little . roger

quote:

I'm really struggling to find an accurate load for my Rem 7x57. I'm loading IMR 4350 and have been using Hawk 140g round nose, 140g Nosler Partitions, and 154g Hornady Interlocks. Pretty sure it's the way I have set up my dies and the depth I am seating the bullets. My last loads were 45g of 4350, 140g Hawks and the overall length of my cartridges was 3.1 (yes, the bullet was not seated very deep). I also shot the combination with 47g and 49g but pressured seemed high. Any help/advice will be appreciated.

The bullets you are using should shoot MOA or better. Perhaps it is not the load, or the rifle barrel, maybe it is bedding. I conducted load development for M700 classic in 6.5 Swede and found the thing was not necessarily a tack driver. At 100 yards it did shoot under 2”, which I consider perfectly acceptable for deer hunting. If the rifle shoots 2 MOA, then it will hit within four inches at 200 yards, six inches at 300 yards. That is plenty good, considering that I don’t hold much better with a lightweight rifle off the bench.







The 6.5 Swede action was in a wooden stock. For this rifle, and someone else confirmed their rifle was similar, Remington created a raised area in the barrel channel which created a pressure point. I like free floated barrels. When a barrel heats up it will expand. If there is a pressure point, or a bearing point on the barrel, as the barrel expands, the pressure against the barrel changes. This will cause a change in a point of impact.

So with stock channel tools, I scraped the barrel channel, removing the pressure point, and created a clearance so the barrel no longer touched the left side of the barrel channel. I suspect the left side of the barrel touching the stock created a lot of side to side movements. But not all. If the recoil lug is free to slide around in the stock, the action will shift during recoil.




I “pillar” bedded creating columns of Bisonite, and then I routed a humongous amount of wood forward of the magazine recess, and filled that with Bisonite. The final bedding looks awful, with voids, and it is not completely filled out around the recoil lug recess. But I was tired and grumpy and wanted to shoot my rifle, so I put it back together and took it to the range.






Anyway, just bedding this rifle changed its group size considerably. These lightweight rifles are hard to shoot, they are twitchy, they kick hard, and they are very sensitive to stock weld and shooting position. Still, this rifle might shoot under 1 MOA, which is excellent for a deer rifle.

Here is a "before glassbedding" target. Everything is at 100 yards. If you notice the wide horizontal dispersion with 140 SMK’s. Sierra match bullets are in a word, superb. In a match barrel they will shoot bug hole groups. This side to side movement indicated to me that something was wrong with the bedding. The action, or the barrel was moving left and right in the stock.




After glassbedding, in my opinion it shot much better. These targets were fired fast, about five shots under a minute, maybe two. I racked the bolt and shot if the crosshairs looked good. The barrel was hot enough to be uncomfortable to touch.

If a rifle is 2 MOA and ""sighted in properly"" it is possible and likely that you will hit within 1.000" point of aim every time.

1" to the left of the POA and 1" to the right of POA and many within a 2" circle with its center at POA you have a 2MOA rifle hitting only 1" from POA. Back to da

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
If a rifle is 2 MOA and ""sighted in properly"" it is possible and likely that you will hit within 1.000" point of aim every time.

1" to the left of the POA and 1" to the right of POA and many within a 2" circle with its center at POA you have a 2MOA rifle hitting only 1" from POA. Back to da

I have sub MOA rifles and have managed to hit the target 12 feet on the left and 12 feet on the right, prone slow fire. And, I have missed the 8' X 8' target at 200 yards during standing SF. I lost count of how many times I completely missed the 50 yard Bullseye target, but I am getting better. Just received my Sharpshooter card for NRA Bullseye.

Real shooters, that is those who shoot on the internet, always hit within one inch of what they were aiming at regardless of the range. Someday I will get to be a real shooter too.

quote:

Originally posted by SlamFire:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by bartsche:
Real shooters, that is those who shoot on the internet, always hit within one inch of what they were aiming at regardless of the range. Someday I will get to be a real shooter too.

OK roger

All my 7x57s have a long throat enabling me to seat a 160 or 175 gr. bullet .284 ( or one caliber) deep in the case. The rifles have a magazine to match the length of the loaded round. A 30-06 length magazine is acceptable. This method is exactly the same specs as a Brno mod. 21 or 22 rifle. Wasn't my idea, just stumbled on it some many years ago from shooting those wonderful little Brnos.

I only use H414 and considerably more than the books call for, as the books are loading for mod. 96 Mausers and the old falling blocks and std. both with throats probably, so as not to have to deal with frivoulous law suits they list very weak loads..

I would suggest working up a max load in your Rem one half grain at a time from their starting load of H414, as I don't know the specs of the throat and magazine on your rifle. Even at that it will certrainly be over and above the book recommended load in most of the books. Same applies to the 8x57. your kinda on your own with these two calibers, but progress slowly and work up a fitting load..That is something that every reloading should be familiar with doing anyway and with all calibers.