I just bought a Steyr MIII Professional in 7x64 at a very nice price but know nothing of the caliber. What can you tell me about it? I am assuming it is close in performance to a .280 Remington.

Yup, the European 280. Great round, and in a Steyr it will be a shooter, for sure.

Mine had a very fast twist 1-7 or 1-8 barrel. Was great for heavy bullets, not so great for light bullets.

This will be my 5th Professional. I have had 2 .270 MIIIs and 2 .30-06 Professionals and they all shot scary good. One of the .270s was consistently under 1/4 inch for 5 shots with 130gr Rem Corelock ammo. Should have kept that one.

Unless I am mistaken, I do believe that you can make 7X64 brass from 280 Rem brass. It will just have a bit shorter neck. Excellent caliber.

Case head and rim sizes are slightly different.

The case head and rim:

.280 = 0.471" and 0.473"

7x64 = 0.466" and 0.470"

I have a 50+ year old FN in 7x64 and absolutely love it.
It wears a Delcour barrel, which i'd never heard of before and still shoots 1/2" groups with my handloads.

Shoots as flat as a .270 and hits like a 30/06 is about the best description I could give you.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Yup, the European 280. Great round, and in a Steyr it will be a shooter, for sure.

The 7x64 was invented 40 years before the .280......

M

You can use .280 load data in the 7x64 according to some loading manuals.

What's there to tell....?
Have a search, esp. on the European forum.

It is a very well liked and well, indeed, performing medium bore. Fairly mildly recoiling, too.
I wouldn't take it against bear, but for sure all game up to and including elk and even bears can be taken with it. Pretty much anything a .30-06 can do, the 7x64 can, too.

Most guns seem to like heavy bullets, i.e. 175grs.
Mine groups fabulously with Sako factory ammo. No game taken yet, nor have I had the opportunity to try out many other cartridges yet.

- Lars/Finland

I have both a .280 R and a 7x64 B. Loads worked up for both are identical, but the 7x64 likes 160-grainers best and the .280 140-grainers. DO NOT interchange brass.

quote:

Originally posted by BNagel:
I have both a .280 R and a 7x64 B. Loads worked up for both are identical, but the 7x64 likes 160-grainers best and the .280 140-grainers. DO NOT interchange brass.

Good points.
Remember that the 7x64 has smaller capacity..
The same loads will give higher pressures in the x64.
The 280 was developed for automatic rifle, hence the lower pressure.

M

I don't plan to "magnumize" it. It will be used a lot on Whitetails and pigs. I am thinking about working up some loads with Barnes 150 gr TTSX bullets

Its a great caliber, I had a Brno mod. 21 in 7x64, but they are so sought after and priced out of sight, that I sold it and bought a mod. 21 in 7x57 and put the rest in the bank.

it is, frankly, the best medium bore round, and is usually a fast twist barrel to handle very heavy for caliber bullets -

usually very accurate, moderate recoil (for case size) and there just enough enough good things to say about it

quote:

Originally posted by metric:

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Yup, the European 280. Great round, and in a Steyr it will be a shooter, for sure.

The 7x64 was invented 40 years before the .280......

M

or the 270 ...

Great caliber

150 gr TTSX with H4350 will give you 2900 fps comfortably and you will get great results. I would use that on deer out to 400 meters with a B&C reticle & 2" high sighting at 100 meters.

You can play around with slower powders until the cows come home and get an extra 50 fps.

I'm almost 100% that it is the euro standard 7mm barrel twist rate of 1/8.66". It just might like heavier 175 grain bullets. My non magnum 7's with a 1/9 twist like the 160's best. But, can't say with certainty about the 7X64. Should be fun to work up a load for it. Love those 7's.

quote:

Originally posted by pacecars:
I just bought a Steyr MIII Professional in 7x64 at a very nice price but know nothing of the caliber. What can you tell me about it? I am assuming it is close in performance to a .280 Remington.