I got a unfired Ruger Mark II in 7x57 in a deal buying 4 ruger 77 rifles.I got 2 7 mm rem mags ,1 338 win mag and the 7x57 in a package deal.There were two Mark II a stainless and the blued old mark I model 77s.I noticed remington quit making 7x57 brass this year.I was wondering if this rifle is worth the trouble.I think it would be alot better for a begining shooter than a 243.I couldnt pass it up in the deal.Sometimes you gotta get them all to get the best deals.

I have an old one that's about the farthest thing I own from unfired. It's been packed around the world, has a bunch of scratches and gouges, and while one of the cheapest rifles I own, it's my everyday hunting rifle. You can load 160's approaching 2800 fps and 140s to 3000 with good accuracy and little recoil. I could hunt the rest of my life with a 7x57 and a .375 and one varmint rifle, but I've got a few spares. Adjust the trigger, take it hunting. It's worth more to use than sell anyway.

I have never fired a 7x57 so I figured it was worth a try.I also have a 250 savage in a old Ruger.I had to go back 4 times before I got the 7x57 .It had the prettiest wood and at the price it was hard to pass up.I have a thing for pretty Rugers.I also got the first 7 mm rem mags I ever had.

I owned a Ruger Mark II in 7x57mm before I went to CZ. It was a darn good rifle and it too, had a darn good looking stock. It was also darned accurate with handloads, however, be warned that the Ruger Mark II in 7x57mm has a very long euro thoat on it. I had to load the bullets far out to get anywhere near the lands. I would imagine with 139 grain, 140 grain, 145 grain, 150 and 154 grain bullets it should rock. With the 140 grain TSX (if it shoots that bullet) it should be hell on wheels. I topped mine with a Burris Fullfield, but later switched to Leupold. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at it. One thing, don't let its mild manners lead you into believing it has no authority. That caliber hits like a hammer. Good luck with it. Tom Purdom

I've got one -- also a Ruger 77 Mark II -- and I love it. I replaced the original trigger with a Rifle Basix one, and put a 3-9X scope (Bushnell) on it.

It's an adequate caliber for anything native to North America if you, the shooter, do your part. It's an ideal caliber for everything smaller than moose and the big bears and possibly elk, but it will work on all of those, given good shots with appropriate bullets and reasonable distances. It has the virtue of being less punishing than a 30-06, and as someone said above, it shoots 140s and 160s to surprisingly high velocities.

Keep a lookout for brass and buy a lot of 100 pieces of either Remington or Winchester when you find it. Then you will be in shooting heaven for a long time.

Do you know something I don't know? (which wouldn't be hard) The last I looked, Midway had it. capt david

In support of Poster7x57mm and the cartridge itself. there aint a finer looking round.

Does Winchester still make brass.I think Remington quit making it.I thought it would be a very nice starting rifle for friends I get into hunting.I let them use my guns if they dont have one.I have a ugly pattle stock from Ruger I think will fit it.That wood is too pretty to mar up.

I thought that Remington stopped producing cases, or that is what I was told. However, I just checked at Graf and Sons and Midway and both of them have Remington 7x57mm cases in stock. I would recommend that you check on the reloading thread in the search mode. It has many loads. If I remember your rifle has a 1x9.5 twist. Again, it is one hell of a caliber. You would do well to see if the TSX bullets in say 140 grain or 150 grain are accurate enough for you in that Ruger. Good luck with it. Tom Purdom

I have two Ruger 77s in 7 x 57,

If yours doesn't shoot worth a crap, like mine didn't....

I cleaned up both of their accuracy problems, by fate and pure dumb luck...

Seat the bullet magazine length as they are long throated...

and Secondly, 40 grains of IMR 3031, regardless of bullet weight... from 130 grainers to a 175 grainer... velocity will be from 2750 with the light bullets to 2650 with the heaviest bullets....

However, accuracy was night and day in both Rugers with that powder at that load level....

I have a Winchester Featherweight in 7 x 57 also.. and it is a tack driver with anything ya feed it... it is also long throated from the factory...

So just a tip to try if you experience problems and decide to keep it...

cheers
seafire

quote:

Originally posted by Woodjack:
In support of Poster7x57mm and the cartridge itself. there aint a finer looking round.

Nor is there one that performs any better in its' class, either!

My 7x57,aCZ,
likes H-414 with light bullets , and RL 19 with the bigger bullets. Never shot a deer with it but it is a great rifle, and cartridge and has a Leupod VX2 2x7 scope...tj3006

And if you decide you want to unload this Ruger or find another Mod 77MkII at a deal post up TrapperP - I'm looking for another one. If you cna't do it with a 7X57, a 30-06 or a 375 H&H, leave it alone!

My 77 is an old tang-safety topped with a leu 4x-I usually shoot 154 interlocks andH-4350-I think I could get by just fine on anything outside of BIG bears.

Midway still has Remington 7 X 57 brass available as well as Winchester and Norma.

Ammo and brass is about hard to finbd for the 7x57 here in Alaska.I will shoot this one first to see if I keep it or not.I though there would be some of the ammo around but its not everywhere.And when you do find it its $25 a box or more.It would be cheap to reload for with Remington bulk brass.I will have to think about keeping this one or not.Its a fine beginners gun alot better than the 243.

7x57 much better starter rifle for big game than 243. You can load 120's at about 2900 with vit 150 - almost no recoil and good enough for smaller deer or lopes. Go to the 140-160 range for bigger stuff - all the way up to elk. I got a M77 for my son. He is not big, but shoots it with no problem. Put a straight 4 leupold on it - a perfect setup for a light rifle. Free float the barrel and glass the front lug - that will stabilize the stock, etc. A super nice rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by paul garrett:

You can load 120's at about 2900 with vit 150 - almost no recoil and good enough for smaller deer or lopes. Go to the 140-160 range for bigger stuff - all the way up to elk.

Factory loads for the 7X57 in the US are rare, expensive, and anemic -- the cartridge is loaded considerably under its potential because of all the old and weak 7X57 rifles that are supposedly lying around.

But if you have a 7X57 in a strong, present-day rifle such as the Ruger, you can hand load to much higher velocities and pressures than factory loads, and you can load a whole range of 7mm bullets, from 100 gr. to 175 gr. The best powder I've found for bullets from 139 to 175 grains is H 414. Using it, I succeeded in getting an honest 3000 f.p.s. from 140 gr. bullets.

With full-power handloads the 7X57 is no slouch in the power department. As the Hornady manual says, it comes very close to the .270, .280, 7X64, 30-06 class of cartridges, and does it using less powder and delivering less kick.

I have to agree with LE270. The 7x57 is drastically underloaded in facotry form. The Winchester 140 gr. Power Point load is not too bad and quite accurate in my rifles. I still have a few of the old Winchester 175 gr. RN loads and two boxes of the Federal 175 gr. RN loads, but the Federal's suck big time. They are accurate enough, but lack the velocity of the Winchester load in the same bullet weight.
One of the very few deer I have lost was shot with that Federal load and I believe that bullet just penciled on through without opening up very much, if at all. I later had the chance to chronograph some and they only delivered 2250 FPS, a far cry from the advertised 2450 FPS, which BTW, the Winchester load did deliver.
The last time I was at the Sportsman's Warehouse, they only had a federal Premium load at some ridiculously high price. I passed. I have enough new brass to last me for a while and as hard as it is drawing tags for a deer or elk hunt these days, I suspect I have a lifetime supply.
Paul B.

I might have to scrounge up some brass and reload.Where do you find the info for hot loads for newer rifles for the 7x57?

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:

Where do you find the info for hot loads for newer rifles for the 7x57?

The large book-type (as opposed to the phamphlet-type) Hodgdon loading manual (I have the 25th Edition, copyright 1986) has two sets of loading data for the 7X57. One set is labeled "7X57 Mauser heavy loads for Ruger only" and gives more poweful loads.

Or you could go to Steve Ricciardelli's pages and look at the hottest-listed loads he gives.

http://stevespages.com/284_10.html

But some of the loads in the Hodgdon book are several grains hotter than the hottest ones Steve gives. For example, Hodgdon gives a max load of 52 gr. of H414 for 139-140 gr bullets; 51 gr. of H414 for 145-150 gr. bullets; 48 gr. of H414 for 154-162 gr. bullets; 49 gr. of H414 for 168 gr. bullets; and 47 gr. of H414 for 175 gr. bullets. (I give the loads for H414 because that's my favorite powder for this cartridge.)

The Hodgdon has some good loads, as does the Hornady manuals. You would also do well to go to the reloading part of this forum and just punch in 7x57mm. You'll get a boatload of load data there. I don't know about rifles of late, but the Mark II I bought had the euro-throat on it. In other words, there was a whale of a lot of freebore. To get near the lands you have to seat the bullets way, way, way out there. Good luck with it. Tom Purdom

Did Ruger quit making the 7x57 in the mark II model 77 this year.I guess I will have to try some factory loads first just to see how much I like this gun.I am glad its a long action.

I notice that the Nosler manual, 5th Edition, also has some relatively hot 7X57 loads.

If your 77 is anything like mine it will have a REAL long throat-which in my opinion is a GOOD thing with your bullets seated out pretty far it will give you a little extra case capacity.
The load I use is 154 hornady over 50gr H-4350-gives me right at 2800fps with no pressure and it does everything I need of it. Probably a good idea to start 2 or 3gr lower and work up

I'm a little reluctant to pass out some of my 7x57 loads, but the 140 TSX uses 52.8 H414 in a long throated Ruger and is a shade over 3000 fps in both of mine even though one is a 22 in. barrel and one is a 24. 49-50 grains with a 160 Nosler will go 2800 fps as well, this is the one my son used in Namibia and for elk as well. These will show a bit over 60000 psi (50000-52000 cup) so are hot but have worked for me in 100 degree temperatures. I used to load a bit more than this, but cut them back after checking them with a pressure trace. Case life is good, at least 7-10 loadings on both of these. These make good light recoil big game loads, hard to beat them. RL19 and RL22 will make good velocities and accuracy as well, and I've been tempted to try some 7828 SSC just to see if I can get enough in there to make a nice velocity with 160-175 grain bullets. I think it may work since the 7828 has the smaller granules now.

dgr416
Ruger did drop the 7x57 last year. Bad move in my opinion. They could make up by offering a 9.3x62 and a .338-06.

I was in the Bass Pro Shop at Arundel Mills Mall near Baltimore here in Maryland today, and looked over the rifle ammo on their shelves. They had Remington, Winchester, Federal, Hornady, and possibly some other brands. I did find some boxes of relatively rare ammo (for the US anyway) -- 303 British and 8X57 Mauser -- but I could not find a single box of 7X57 ammo.

quote:

Originally posted by LE270:
I was in the Bass Pro Shop at Arundel Mills Mall near Baltimore here in Maryland today, and looked over the rifle ammo on their shelves. They had Remington, Winchester, Federal, Hornady, and possibly some other brands. I did find some boxes of relatively rare ammo (for the US anyway) -- 303 British and 8X57 Mauser -- but I could not find a single box of 7X57 ammo.

I ran into the same thing at Sportsman's Warehouse here in Tucson. The only 7x57 ammo they had was a couple of boxes of Federal brands, and no Wonchester or Remington 7x57 ammo at all. Absolutely no bras for reloading either. I checked with a salesman and dhe said they couldn't get any and he thought Winchester and Remington had stopped making them entirely. I'm hoping he's wrong and it's just the old "seasonal" routine, but considering how many companies are cutting back, who knows?
Paul B.

quote:

Ruger did drop the 7x57 last year. Bad move in my opinion. They could make up by offering a 9.3x62 and a .338-06.

I agree with you that the other 2 calibers are fine choices, but they are in a totally different ballistic class.

We need two things for the 7 mm Mauser to revive.

One, the realization that that the 7 mm Mauser is a very versatile cartridge - bullets from 140 to 175 grains cover an excellent middle band for deer/antelope hunting with the heavier bullet for larger game at shorter distances. Generally bullets perform best at impact velocities between 2100 to 2200 fps, excluding monolithics. That is why the 7 mm Mauser is renowned for giving better bullet performance than the faster cartridges.

Two, then gunwriters need to market the virtues of the 7 mm Mauser again so that the public can call for it so that factories can make them again. The Magnum mania is detined to die over time - we will review the situation in 5 years time to see what happened to the WSM's and RUM's.

Clearly it starts with education so people can realise that bullet performance is more important than caliber. With premium bullets the low recoiling 7 mm Mauser is simply a dandy and far more useful than a .243 Win at the bottom end for hunting deer.

SA Hunter did a survey, which they published in their May 2006 magazine. The popularity of the 7 mm Mauser still ranks as No.7 in their survey based on their membership, which is localized primarily in the old Tranvaal and not necessarily in the greater South Africa.

1) 30-06 Spr ..... 17%
2) 308 Win ....... 11%
3) 375 H&H ....... 10%
4) 243 Win ......... 9%
5) 270 Win ......... 9%
6) 303 Br ............ 7%
7) 7 x 57 mm ....... 4%
8) 223 Rem .......... 3%
9) 7 mm Rem Mag .... 3%
10) 300 Win Mag ..... 3%

The 7 x 57 mm will remain an all-time classic.

Chris

Truvelloshooter

I never meant that the 7x57 had anything in common with the others except that I like them. They are all overachievers in the hunting world and reasonable recoil. My hard knock hunting rifle is still the old Ruger in 7x57 when I can get it away from my son.

If 7 x 57 brass is not being made any more... the 257 Roberts and the 6mm Rem are still made, along with the 8 x 57 brass....

I wouldn't freak out about it too much....

Heck I buy nickel Winchester 280 brass and trim it down to 57 mm just so I have 7 x 57 loads in nickel brass.. just to make my other hunting buddies envious....

cheers
seafire

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:
I might have to scrounge up some brass and reload. Where do you find the info for hot loads for newer rifles for the 7x57?

Essentially, you don't find it! You have to develop this data yourself for your specific rifle using a chronograph! This is due to the various throat lengths out there regardless of the strength of the particular action your rifle might have.

I found one "hot" load in a manual years ago, a Speer manual using 54 grains of Norma N205 powder and their 175-grain bullet. MV was over 2750 FPS, putting this load squarely in the factory-loaded .30/'06 class. Later, when Norma discontinued N205, I found that their new MRP (now MRP 1) was essentially the same in the 7X57 with 175-grain bullets. Now I use RE 22 with the same 175-grain Nosler Partition bullet and get 2720 FPS @ 10'.

This is a compressed load that has to be loaded in increments and settled in order to get it all in the case and have a litle space in the neck so you can start the bullet. I load mine to 3.150" o/a length and the bullet is still about 2mm off the rifling.

I developed my 140-grain load myself by working up from the manual maximum using WW760. I found that 53.5 grains of it with the 140-grain Nosler Partition bullet gave 3000 FPS in Remington cases with Fed. 210 primers. H414 gives similar results with this bullet.

Here's a typical group from my No.1A 7X57 with the 140-grain load.....

I guess if i am keeping this gun I will have to reload.I have found very little ammo for it here in Alaska.I thought it would be alot better starting rifle for someone than a 243.It has very pretty wood but thats not such a good thing here in Alaska.I even thought of switching to a fiberglass stock on it.I will just have to see.

As long as you're reloading check out Lost River Technologies + their J36 7mm bullets.Outstanding S.D.There's a lot of really great bullet selections for the 7x57 from numerous sorces.I've had the best luck with the 160 G. in mine.

It would appear there is still an ample supply of 7 X 57 brass. Where do these rumors come from.

quote:

Originally posted by Jay Johnson:
It would appear there is still an ample supply of 7 X 57 brass. Where do these rumors come from.

If you look in the latest Winchester loading booklet, on the page where they show what brass Winchester is selling, the 7x57 brass is conspicuous by it's absense. A pox on Winchester.
Paul B.

I will order some brass soon.I wish I could trade out some 6.5x55 brass and dies.I wish I had the 6.5x55 instead of this 7x57.Its hard to find ammo for both of these in Alaska.I wish I could find some surplus 7x57 ammo that was not corrosive.I try not to get so many calibers.I cut down to .338 and .416 the other year.I added two 264 win mags and a 7 mm rem mag .These two are very easy to mix up.I make me 264 brass from 7 mm rem mag.I think the 7x57 is an awesome cartridge its very efficent and kicks alot less than most mags do.

dgr416,check your PM's.