A couple of weeks before Christmas I received the best Christmas present a gun junkie can get... a call from Sterling Davenport letting me know my 7x57 was ready and on its way! Two days later and it was in my hands.

The rifle was built on a FN Mauser action I bought from Forrest Armstrong on the AR Classifieds. Barrel is a 25 inch Kreiger with NECG sights. I topped her with a Leupold 3.5x10, shot her in and carried her down to Cotulla to bag my best brush country buck to date. To say I am a proud owner and pleased with the rifle would be an understatement!



The buck is headed to Hibler's in Kingsville and the 7x57 is back in the gunsafe. Something tells me she is going to experience quite a few more adventures in the future!

Nice rifle. Nice deer.

Hey
Your making my eyes do the ping pong thing!

Good looking rifle,grand looking deer!

Congrats!

HBH

Wow,
plus all kind of other superlatives.
Best
GWB

A beautiful rifle in a superlative caliber. I do most of my hunting with my ugliest rifle, a beat up ruger in 7x57 that has been around the world, but always works. I also have several rifles built around FN commercial actions, and it really is my favorite when fitted with a M70 style safety, etc. Nice buck too.

Superb, simply superb!

SSR

Ditto what everyone else has already said & the load that you used was?.......

Came out great! Glad that barreled action found a good home!

nice deer!!!

Nice Rifle, and its being used!

Enjoy!!!

Fine rifle and an really nice buck -- congrats on both.

Great looking rifle and a fantastic buck, thanks for the pictures. What bullet load did you use?

Now that is the way to blood a new rifle. A few more pics of the rifle and load details would be apropriate after the teasers. Looks to be a real treasure and of course it goes without saying (but I will) that the 7x57 has made it an outstanding piece of riflery.

Von Gruff.

Nice rifle. Bring it to Dallas and I will buy it for $750 (without the scope of course). The folks in South Texas probably did not know what was going on -- someone shows up with a rifle that shoots a non-belted cartridge and the rifle does not even have a muzzle break.

Wow, both are great.

Keith

Guys I hate to admit this but I was shooting Winchester factory silver box 145 grain Powerpoints... the only ammo I could find on short notice! BTW, it worked fine!

They both look like "keepers" congratulations!

Great rifle & Great deer!

Congratulations!

Has Sterling officially retired from gunsmithing? Hope not.....

Best,
Dave

Most excellent!! What a nice buck! and what a nice rifle in my favorite caliber no less!
I'd love for a buck like that to come by me so I could get buck fever again.

Well heck it worked so well the first time! I received an invitation to hunt a big ranch outside of Refugio a couple of weeks ago. Naturally I grabbed my 7x57 and headed out. Early the next morning I settled into a creekside blind with my guide. About 7:30 this buck came out in the sendero about 500 yards away and worked his way toward a group of does in front of the blind. I shot him in the shoulder at 125 yards and that was that! Two notches in the rifle stock already!

2x

You dog! We did not even talk guns or deer in the booth at Dallas??!!!! AND you HAD this to brag about?????

Well done on mature WT's, top one for sure. And a fine rig for busting future deer.

Nobody has mentioned yet what a nice piece of wood you got for the stock.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
Nobody has mentioned yet what a nice piece of wood you got for the stock.

Yes! Very nice, lots of color. Is that English walnut?

I refer to Jack Mitchells book on a regular basis, it is kind of my rifle tinkerers bible and Sterling Davenport made some great contributions to it..

Very nice rifle indeed, classic and tastefull as well as gorgeous..

Congratulations on all of the above. Beautiful rifle and some dandy bucks. You are living right!

I have a military FN action that has been ground and a new bolt handle installed that I plan to have done-up in 7X57, in a similar style.

Thanks for the compliments on the rifle and bucks guys! The wood is a select piece of English walnut.

By the way Adam, I agree should have made it back to your booth to share some more conversation and a wee dram!

lol...now I cannot be blamed for this, after all you brought it up!

Good ole Ed, 505ED here on AR, brought by a bottle of 14 yr Balvine double wood, matured in a rum barrel.
Upon first taste my only comment was, "now that is polite".
It was EXcellent!!..and it was very soon....gone!

Yes, you should have come back by for a glass or two...or three. Next time do.

Ed also brought by some german sausage his dad makes that was great as well. Thanks again ED!!

Scotch and dry sausage is all I had that day. Them shows are rough on a fella.

Again, congrats on that top deer, and that comes from one who chased WT's relentless for years.

Just ran onto this. Very nice Deer and Rifle!

Seems pretty much all that a man of good taste would want in a rifle and I agree 100% with the 25" barrel choice. My Belgian 8x60S Mauser has the same length.

Hello bwana,

Beautiful rifle, perfect cartridge! My favorites. And also my exact kind of rifle for a 7x57. I don`t like too short or too light a Big Game rifle. Any cartridge. I will try to upload pictures of my 7x57. Nothing to do with yours but nice for me.
Congratulations!

PH

Here are the pictures of my 7x57. A 100 % Military: action and stock (Mauser 1935)and barrel (Austrian Steyr un-used original).

Very nice! I like it!

Must have been "Texas Heart Shots" on both bucks--no entry/exit wounds visible in the chest/shoulder?

Lighten up--just kidding.