I know the point of this caliber is Chamois and Roe deer in Europe, I would guess it sees a little bit of duty as a fox, racoon, jackal, racoon dog or badger fixer.

Is it a bastard to reload or is that a wives tail?

I have also heard it might be a different bullet and bore diameter to our native 22-250 and 220 Swift.

it's supposed to have a very thick neck

A buddy had one that I helped him with.

1. Overbore
2. Brass, hard to find
3. Expensive dies
4. 200 fps (+/-) faster than a Swift
5. Presumably short barrel life

We made some cases from 270 Win, used std .224 bullets.

If I came across a nice rifle for a good price, it might go for it. But I wouldn't
look real hard for one, nor would I build a custom in 5.6x57.

A .224 Clark, maybe.

From what I've read it has a fairly thick neck so it can function using chamber adapters to shoot smaller cartridges in it. Such as 22 LR.
The adapters need a larger neck area to fit. Thus the thicker necks.
If this leads to reloading issues I can't say, never loaded for one.
Leo

Overbore really isn't a huge problem for me. I built a 7.82 warbird and we got 800 rounds out of it before the barrel was toast.

There is a wildcat called the 224 Texas Trophy Hunter that has similar ballistics and is also built on a 7x57 case necked down to 224 but without the umlaut drama.

I might play around with that this summer.

I would go with a 22-243 or a 22-284 if I were looking for those speeds. Brass and dies sold for both at Midway.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
Overbore really isn't a huge problem for me. I built a 7.82 warbird and we got 800 rounds out of it before the barrel was toast.

There is a wildcat called the 224 Texas Trophy Hunter that has similar ballistics and is also built on a 7x57 case necked down to 224 but without the umlaut drama.

I might play around with that this summer.

The TTH evolved from the Clark. Parent case for the TTH is the 6mm Rem. I s'pose a person could use 7x57 if he wanted.

I have a Savage/Anschutz like the one pictured in the great article on pg 170 of the 1969 Gun Digest.

In Europe firearms ownership is difficult. So when RWS made the cartridge, the also made chamber adaptors for .22 WMR and .22 HorneTt. Thus the thick necks (.028"). You could
try to neck down 7x57 brass and hope the necks thicken. You could also neck down and trim .270 Win brass to get the neck thickness.

I got lucky and found Natchez was closing our RWS brass at $20.49/20, Reed's Ammo in OKC was selling ammo for $40+/20, and I found a box and 3 rounds of RWS 74 grain Cone Points.

I fired 3 rounds of RWS-they went into .4". One of my reloads using 69 grain Sierras shoots well. The RWS factory loads clocked 3620 fps and some 60 grain Hornadys went 3700 fps.

But I fire the rifle infrequently as I al Thatways seem to be working with my poorer shooters rather than enjoying the accurate ones.

I had one and it was superbly accurate and fast.

The neck is thick, but it takes standard 224 bullets.

A 22-243 is a much better thing. Use Lapua brass, neck it down and you are good to go.

My Two pennies:
A) if the 7*57 cases are easy to find, Remington produces them if I remember well, why start from different calibers (270 W)? neck down a 7*57 can be easier than work on a .270 W

B) the situation in EU it is not so bad, it can get worst if burocrats continue to push to produce stupid rules. For sure it is still varying from nation to nation, here in Italy we have a quite good situation except for the guns that looks like military or like black rifles.