Since the similar thread that I started about the .35 Whelen seems to have stirred up some interest, let's do something similar with the 7x57. Seems to me that in it's 111 years of existence the 7x57 has been associated with it's share of barrel lengths and various loadings, from military to sporting. Sporting rifles being of primary interest today. So... What does your 7x57 look like and what are you getting for velocity?

Bob

Bob--I don't have one so I don't have much to add-however if I did it would either have a 21" or a 23" tube on it.....

Just my thoughts.

Have a super day

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

The 7x57 I'm having done will have a 22" #1 Lothar Walther barrel on it.



Jeff

I owm a CZ 550 American in 7x57mm and my brother owns a CZ 550 Full Stock in 7x57mm. My rifle has a 23.6 inch barrel and my brother's rifle has a 20.5 inch barrel. I love to tinker with rifles and I mean tinker ... I am NOT a gunsmith by any stretch of the imagination. First, completely freefloated the barrel. Next, I used Scorehi glassbed to glassbed the action area and the first inch and one-half of the barrel chamber area in the stock. Next,I refinished the stock as there was a beautiful piece of Turkish Walnut hiding under that finish CZ applies at the factory. I used GB Lindspeed Oil. I stripped the old finish completely off, then put on a coat of oil, let it dry, put another on, let it dry, took 0000 steel wool and took the stock back to bare wood, then applied another coat, let it dry, another coat, let it dry, then used the steel wool again. The company said this process puts the finish in the wood. I repeated this process eight repititions and on the last one I put on a very light coat, let it dry completely, applied another coat, let it dry, and then applied finish in the checkering and the whole rifle for a third time. Each time I did this I would put the gun in my gun cabinet to dry and would tape up the door so the cabinet was as dust free as I could get it. The stock came out beautiful and smooth. I then bought some Talley Rings for it as the CZ rings were heavy, though functional and put a Leupold VariX-1 scope in 4x12 power on top. Next, I had a gunsmith jewell the bolt with the small herringbone pattern and polish the black finish off the bolt handle to expose the nickel finish underneath. My brother did the same to his rifle, exactly. I used new Remington cases, Federal 210 primers, H414 powder and 160 grain Nosler Partitions for the initial testing. With 48.3 grains of powder, and the bullet seated to within .01 inch from the rifling, I was able to attain .70 three shot groups with my rifle and my brother was getting right dead-on at 1-inch groups. We chronographed the loads and my rifle was spitting the Partitions out at 2,815 fps. My brother's rifle chronographed the loads at 2,745 fps. I later went on to develope loads with the 162 grain Hornady SSTs, which were long enough so I could seat the bullet in the case mouth. Increasing the charge to 48.9 grains gives me a chronographed average of 2,855 fps, but the three shot groups shrunk to from .216 inch (my smallest)to .481 inch. My brother's rifle would spray the SSTs in patterns so we didn't go further with his rifle and the SST bullets. Hope this helps ... Tom Purdom

My rifle is a Win Model 70 Featherweight with a 22" barrel, factory Lapua 170grs do 2600fps, Federal 140grs do 2500fps.

7x57:

I own a ZKK 600 (CZ) in 7x57, with a 23.6" barrel, and I think it's a good bet that I've got the same length throat that you and your brother have in your rifles. I also happen to have an unopened box of 160 gr. Nosler Partitions. How much of the bullet is seated into your cases in order to get the business end within .01 inch of the lands?

I've also just looked at Nosler's loading data for the 160 gr. Partition and I see that their (lawyers') maximum loading is 45.0 grains of H414. Now, I know that the powder and bullet manufacturers keep their pressures low, low, low for the 7x57. But I'm wondering how you worked up to your load of 48.3 grains. Do you know what kind of pressures you're running?

Thanks.

I was going to have a full-stock 7x57 built, and wanted a 20" barrel. Eventually, I settled on a 21" 6.5x55. The 7x57 is one of those calibers where you can get away nicely with a shorter barrel - makes the gun handle well in tight corners.
- mike

tjm10025: when they say each rifle is a rule unto itself, they really know what they are talking about. My rifle will seat 160 grain Nosler Partitions .02 inch longer than my brother's CZ 550 FS. It is not a wise idea to substitute loading data without first checking. I highly recommend you purchase necessary equipment needed to check COL, or, use the wooden dowell method with a set of calipers. As for the second question about working up a load, I used a micrometer and then loaded two rounds of each powder weight, say two at 43, two at 44, two at 45, two at 46 and so on until I got to 53 grains of powder. I looked for all the signs of pressure listed in the common loading journals on each round fired, but I also measured the case for expansion. With Hornady 162 grain bullets I got to either 52 grains or 53 grains before the bolt started to get sticky, even though the expansion looked normal. At 51 grains the signs were normal, but accuracy was not. Accuracy was good at 50. but better at 49 grains and even better at 48 grains, then the groups opened up at 47 grains. My top-end load for the SST 162 grain bullet is 48.9 grains of H414 and as far as accuracy/speed go, 48.3 for the Nosler Partition in 160 grain. I do not recomment anyone go over the book. For me, with the H414 it works. It may not work for you, though. Tom Purdom

My Brno M-22F Manlicher has a 23.6 barrel and it suits me fine...I don't think it makes much difference if the 7x57 is 20 inches or 26 inches, it is still a wonderfull caliber..

Think of it this way it is the lightest rifle in recoil, that has and will kill all of the worlds dangerous game. I have seen it do yeomans work on an elephant, Buffalo and even one Lion and it did its job pretty well I thought...All with 175 gr. softs and solids...Bell knew a thing or two and so have some others..It would never be my choice, but if I had to I would shoot anything with it with any barrel length...

I was challanged once very harshly on this and I told the man you buy the elephant and I will shoot it with a 7x57 using solids without a backup, and if I don't get it done, then I will put funds in a holding account to pay for the hunt and give you $10,000. cash...He ran backwards on that....That bet is still up for grabs to anyone wanting to take me up on it BTW.....

Mine has a 22" barrel, but if I were to replace it, I'd put a medium weight barrel in a 24" length as I like the muzzle weight. It is plenty easy to get 3000 fps with a long throated 7x57 and 140's in a 22" or 2800 with 160's and dropping to a 20 " will only lose about 50-60 fps in my experience.

Ray: You, my friend, was the one who got me using H414 for this caliber. It is the best powder I have ever used in my rifles for the 7x57mm. That said, I have a bud with a Model 70 Featherweight in 7x57mm and his rifle hates H414, but really likes H4350. My rifle, my brother's CZ 550 shoots it well and his friend, has one exactly like my brother and that CZ 550 Full Stock too, likes H414. Thanks for the tip Ray. It has been appreciated. Tom Purdom

all three of mine are American made, 2 ruger 77 Mk2s, and one Winchester Featherweight, All three have 22 inch barrels.

I have pretty much exclusively started using a load of 40 grains of IMR 3031, with bullet weights from 140 grain to 175 grain. Velocity is 2650fps with the 160 and 175 grain loads.

All are long seated barrels, so I seat the bullets out to complete magazine length, I believe OAL is 80mms.

Accuracy has proven excellent ( cover with a quarter at 100 yds, or better). Recoil is similar to a 243.

I like being able to find one powder that gives me the same velocity with a multitude of bullet weights. Works into versatility with minimal fuss in my book, and does not require a lot of scope adjustment for changing bullet weights.

All three rifles sport Leupold 3 x 9 scopes. One with heavy duplex and the other two with heavy German Number 1 reticles ( since it is a European Caliber, added the European style scope cross hairs, continuity if nothing else.)

I love this caliber the more I hunt with it.

GA
The 7x57 is not better than a .270, and the 270 is a bit more gun in power and range and in every way for the most part, but not enough to make a lot of difference, same goes for the 30-06...They are all pretty close with the 7x57 in 3rd place but with a lot less recoil...Any one of them suits me fine....

BTW my Brno 22F has an 06 length magazine and a long throat to accomodate seating the heaviest bullets way out there (a 175 gr. Horn half way to the cannalure) thus giving me a lot more powder capacity especially with H414, and I can get 2916 FPS with a 160 gr. Nosler, thats better than a .280 and giving the 7 mag a run for the money..but you can do the same thing with them too...Its just another way to improve the round but without blowing the shoulder out.

Amazingly enough it will shoot 120 Sierras and 130 Speers into minute of angle as well as the 175s....Never have seen a Brno 21 or 22 that wouldn't shoot.

Glad to see this thread. I'm thinking about a 7x57, myself. Either the CZ 550 (Lux or American) or the Ruger 77.



Can anyone help me with a couple of thoughts I have. What is the benefit of 7x57 over, say, a .270? I'm wondering where a 7x57 fits among the others. (Not that I need too much of an excuse for a new gun...) Guess I'm just looking for that little extra push into getting one...



By the way, 7x57mm - When did your brother get a 550 FS in 7x57? They are not listed on CZs web site. Is this an older model?



Thanks for any help,

Scott

I have used the 7X57mm, the .270 Win., and the 7mm Rem. Mag. for over 40 years, mostly with Nosler Partition bullets. I'm like Jack O'Connor in this regard, I can't see enough difference between these three to choose one over the other. The .270 and 7 Mag do shoot a little flatter (only a matter of a few inches though) than the 7X57, but at average hunting ranges, they are pretty much alike....

I like the 7X57 a little better because it is a little easier to carry the ammo, and it uses a little less powder to do the same work.

Ga Shooter: If I'm not mistaken, Duffy, my brother, got his in early 2002 from CZ Connection right there in Georgia and it cost him $537 including the shipping and handling. Duffy did the same to his that I did to mine. A friend of his saw his rifle and wanted one for himself and that one too, is a darn good shooter. I also saw on the CZ website where the 7x57mm is not listed with the CZ 550 Full Stock. I called CZ USA and was told that the company will, at some time in the future have another full stock in the 7x57mm, but exactly when it not known. The person I talked to said they had a supply of full stock 7x57s and for some reason, distributor orders sucked the warehouse dry of them in a very short time. The CZ USA person told me when the cycle hits again at the manufacturing plant to produce the full stock in 7x57mm, they will have more of them. I know they are one sweet little rifle. If you are really interested in one, I would contact CZ USA in Kansas City, Kansas directly and talk to them. The only other way right now would be to check with the CZ distributors to see if one might have one in stock. The problem with the second scenario is, you could get charged full retail price. Tom Purdom

I really like the 7x57, it does much better in a 20" barrel than a .270 does. The 7x57 can't match a 7mm Rem Mag, with the same pressure's the Mag can top the 7x57 by 300fps with all bullet weights.

My 7x57 was put together for the heck of it and to have aspare rifle for the younger generation. It isn't real pretty nor is it real ugly. It is a VZ 24 Mauser action with a Timney trigger and aftermarket alloy bottom metal in an Interarms hardwood stock. The barrel is a Ludwig Loew 1922 stepped military barrel which I bought with a short chamber - had never been on an action. I haven't seen a new commercial barrel more beautiful on the inside. It was shortened to 24 inches. The slim profile makes a nicely balanced rifle.
Like I said I built it for the heck of it, but when I handled it and shot 1 - 1 1/4 minute groups to 300yds I fell in love with it. I shoot 47.0/H4350 with 139gr Hornadys. I haven't clocked it but it shoots to the reticle in my Burris Ballisti-Plex scope for .30-06 class cartridges which supposedly puts it at about 2700fps.