I have the wants for a 9x57 mauser rifle, and I have an intermediate commercial mauser action that would work perfect.(FW heym 720) Should I search for a 9x57mm barrel or just use a 35 cal barrel and chamber it for 9x57.

My research indicates that many reloaders use .358 bullets anyway, so I'm thinking if I run across any 9x57 factory ammo (.356) it should work fine in the .358 bore, but most of my ammo would be formed from 8x57 and loaded with .358 bullets

Thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Weagle

Weagle-

I agree with your thinking; if building a 9x57 while living in the 'states, I'd certainly use a .358" groove diameter barrel, if for no other reason, because of the vastly greater number of bullets that diameter available here.

I have owned quite a number of 9x57 original Mauser sporters. I used .355", .356", and .358 bullets in them. All performed just fine.

A .358"groove diameter barrel will have a bore diameter somewhere in the neighborhood of .350", so it will certainly grip even .355" jacketed bullets.

For cast bullets, I'd likely use something in the vicinity of .360" bullets or slightly larger yet, but that choice would depend on the throat and neck diameters of the chamber, not the bore diameter, and would be intended to prevent blow-by from destroying accuracy.

Scratch that itch;build that rifle!!

i'm doing the same thing.
i've got a 1909 and a .35 whelen barrel that will be shouldered back for the 57mm. case. i don't know if i'll call it a "9x57" or a ".358x57" yet, though. i'm leaning towards 9x57 just because i like the metric rounds and it fits better with my 6.5x57 and 7x57AI.

just a thought. cabela's in ftw has about a i/2 dozen 9x57 husqvarnas in stock. seem to have been built on military mauser actions. trim old sporters.

quote:

agree with your thinking; if building a 9x57 while living in the 'states, I'd certainly use a .358" groove diameter barrel, if for no other reason, because of the vastly greater number of bullets that diameter available here.

By all means, use a .358" barrel......

quote:

A .358"groove diameter barrel will have a bore diameter somewhere in the neighborhood of .350", so it will certainly grip even .355" jacketed bullets.

Slightly undersized plain cup and core jacketed bullets will expand up to seal the bore on firing.

quote:

Originally posted by weagle:
I have the wants for a 9x57 mauser rifle, and I have an intermediate commercial mauser action that would work perfect.(FW heym 720) Should I search for a 9x57mm barrel or just use a 35 cal barrel and chamber it for 9x57.

My research indicates that many reloaders use .358 bullets anyway, so I'm thinking if I run across any 9x57 factory ammo (.356) it should work fine in the .358 bore, but most of my ammo would be formed from 8x57 and loaded with .358 bullets

Thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Weagle

Weagle,

If you haven't committed $$$ yet, What about doing a .366" barrel and make it a 9,3x57 ???

Thanks guys.

I've seen the 9x57 sporters at simpsons and the 9.3x57's as well. I think I'll be better off with the 9mm/358x57 for the reasons already mentioned. I'd have the barrel stamped 9x57 to go with my 7x57 and 8x57.

I expect the performance to be somewhere between the .358 win and .35 whelen.

I have a bunch of 35 cal bullets including about 500 of the old remington 150 gr pointed CL's, a ton of pistol bullets and plenty of regular hornady, nosler and speer rifle bullets.

Weagle

while it can be found, you wouldn't find a .356 barrel from MOST makers ...
so, yes, a .358 barrel .. so you can shoot pistol bullets too!

Why a 9x57 instead of a 358 Win?

You could neck up 308 cases. They are dirt cheap.

I don't know about him, but the reason I did mine in 9m/m Mauser instead of .358 Winchester was simple...the 9m/m case is 6 m/m longer than a .308 and I wanted the little extra capacity...plus in a 7m/m or 8m/m Mauser action it is no problem to make it feed or anything else.

i just happen to like the rounds that were built on the 57mm. mauser case. i can't think of one round built on that case that started out as a wildcat and didn't work well enough to become so well known and popular that it is still commonly made today. besides, a .558 win. just doesn't belong in a mauser!

Just to tease you a little Merlinron - I doubt that a ".558 Winchester" would work too well in any rifle.

As that diameter of bullet is considerably larger than the parent cartridge's case head diameter, it would probably either depend a lot on very ductile brass to keep from rupturing the case head every shot, or would be devilishly difficult to chamber and extract.

I AM just teasing you though...I make more and worse typos all the time myself.

Best wishes,

AC

I

I'll admit I'm a x57 junkie. Here's the intended donor: Westernfield/ FW heym 720, Intermediate length large ring mauser, full "C" ring, lever release hinged bottom metal. Should beed like a dream with the 9x57.

I'm going to check first to see if there's enough meat to set back and rebore the Krupp Steel barrel. I really like the contour. It's currently a 30.06

Weagle

That is a nice looking rifle.

I would be tempted to just shoot it as a 30/06 with 200 and 220gr bullets.

alberta,
that would be funny lookin' reamer, for sure!

quote:

I expect the performance to be somewhere between the .358 win and .35 whelen.

Me too....