reloading the 7x57

two-dogs

two-dogs

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anyone got any tips or recipes for reloading the 7x57? I have 2 rifles, a Ruger M77 tang safety and a Ruger No.1 AB. Looking for deer hunting reload info for up to 200 yards, 250 at the very most. Thank you kindly in advance.
 
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You'll have to work up a load for each rifle. The chances if one loading shooting well out of both rifles are slim. You might get lucky though. Kind of suspect the hardest part of loading 7mm Mauser will be finding brass. Otherwise the same bullet weights used for .30-06 et al. will kill deer with no fuss.
 
Not sure that the above response was what he asked for.

While the case has a different parent, capacity and bore make the 7x57 and 7-08 ballistic twins. So one tip would be too do some Google searches for the 7-08, should be much more info on that. Get some general ideas, match them up with your reloading reference books in 7x57 and use that for a starting point.

The little cartridge just kills way beyond what the books suggest. Consider what your target animals will be, and at what typical distance....and match the hatch( to borrow a fly tying term)....by matching a bullet with the correct expansion and penetration characteristics....that also shoots well in each rifle. For example a Nosler partition and Swift would be similar, Bergers and Amax more frangible for long distance are again similar in terminal performance. Just about any projectile in the 140-160 gr range will work at typical ranges for Deer sized game, but since you are loading for two rifles....it might be fun to set up one as a walking/shorter range purpose/projectile....and the other as a long range rig.

Lots of fun on the trigger upcoming for you. My two personal favorites for the 7x57 are the 162 Amax and the 160 Nosler partition.....no powder and other details ....i dont want to suggest something dangerous or ruin your fun.
 
I have a standard starting load that has proven to be very accurate in every 7x57 I shoot (12) It doesn't generate high pressures and is also safe in the older 93 and 95 Mausers.

This load is:

49.0 grains of W760 or H414

CCI 250 magnum primers

140 grain bullets.

In stronger rifles such as your two, I use: DO NOT USE THIS LOAD IN A 93 or 95 Mauser. It likely won't blow it up but it won't be easy on it and in some cases may set back the lug recesses. IMHO it is safe for your Rugers or any of the 98, Remingtons, Winchesters or commercial European offerings.

47.0 grains of IMR 4320

CCI 250 primers

140 grain bullet


By the way, I really don't like compressed loads. If you have to compress a powder IMHO you are using the wrong powder.
 
4350, and 139-140gr bullets designed for hunting.

I don't like the 760/414 because its filthy dirty, and hard to ignite below freezing.
 
Reloder 22 and the 140 grain bullets are my recipe. 54/55 grains, slightly compressed, but great velocity and accuracy.

My newest load that is similar in accuracy and velocity in my 700 "Classic" is 52 grains of Reloder 17 behind the 140 Partition or NAB.

The 4350's generally work quite well, too.

Regards, Dave.
 
Another classic load is in the range of 50 grains of IMR 4350 with a 140-grain bullet.

I personally use a 175-grain bullet pushed by a slow, discontinued ball powder.
 
I shoot a Brazilian service rifle mod 1908
It loves the 154 gr round nose from hornady
Some powders I've used with outstanding results
Are IMR4350, IMR4320, IMR4831,
now I've so tried 120 grain sierra spitzers and got really great groups
I.have some old.data manuals here if someone wants.a photo of a page
I'd gladly the and email or text seems this cartridge for some reason
but personally Any bullet weight fro. 139-154 are ex choices
I've tried the 175 grain spitzers fro. Speer but the 154 did best!
 
I was out today with my No.1-RSI 7X57... using the Hornady 154 Interbonds over 48.0 grains of W760 (my favorite 7X57 powder)... it was grouping 1.5 MOA on every four shot group... got it zeroed 1.5" high at 100... which keeps it +/- 2" out to 200 yards... which is as long as we can see to shoot at our deer spot... and it is going to be on stand tomorrow... I'm hoping for a yearling buck or a fat, dry doe... meat deer.

I have a bunch of loads worked up... what bullet are you going to be using two dogs???
 
I've done a lot of loading for three 7x57s, incl a M98 Mauser and two M700 Remingtons and never saw much need to look beyond W760, H414 and IMR4350 with 139 - 154 gr bullets. I've shot deer in sub-zero temps in AB, SK, and MB using handloads with W760 and H414 and never had a problem using CCI magnum primers.
 
I shoot a couple of them, they are very economical on powder for what they do, they are absolutely adequate for moose hunting at reasonable ranges, say out to 250 yards for sure, and you can do much better than factory ammo. If the 7x57 had been loaded to its potential it would have a huge following.
 
Lefty #### said:
Why should a guy "over prime" to get results?

4350, any breed, does just as good or better, than ball powders like 760/414.

Your comment is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Why underprime when it is an issue????? Ball powders are my favorites when all is said and done. One thing about magnum primers, I use them for everything. Reason for this. Guaranteed consistency. I can't say the same after close to 60 years of shooting and 45 of those with mostly handloads for hunting rounds with standard primers. Ridiculous????? Hardly, experience under all sorts of conditions YES.
 
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I've been trying quite a few different powders, with bullet weights from 130 to 145 grains in one of the twins, the one marked 7-08.
IMR4350 is sure a go to powder, except for the high compression. I've gone to 50 grains, but that fills the case to the top of the neck! Using the long, 140 grain semi boat tail Nosler ballistic tip on top of that, and considering the bullet has to be seated deep to work through my magazine, you wonder if it can compress that much, without pushing the bullet back up. But it works, and shoots very good, as high a velocity as can be expected and very accurate. The same charge of Norma 204 only comes up to about half way on the neck, will give equal, or a hair better, velocity and at least as accurate. Of course, the downer to Norma powder is you just can't trot to your local sporting goods store and get it.
If I had to choose one powder, of the ones I have tested, for the 7-08 with the bullet weights mentioned, it would be H414. Hodgdon on line shows 47 grains of H414, 130 grain bullet at 2925 fps. For me, that load gave 2848 fps, which is much closer to what the loading chart showed, than any other powder I tried. I use standard Federal primers and didn't find H414 any dirtier than any other powder.
I have also settled on H414 as being the best powder in the 243, at least with bullets in the 70-75 grain class. It has been very accurate in both calibres.
Back to the 7-08, I just couldn't get the velocity up with either 3031 or 4320 powder.
The two powders I was most disappointed in were Superformance and Reloader 15. I found an on line reloading chart that showed 41.2 grains of RL15 with a 130 grain bullet to give 2900 and 42.6 grains to give 3,000 fps. For me, 42.6 grains averaged 2694, a far cry from the 3,000 fps shown in the loading chart!
I am using a Tikka T3 Lite, with 22 inch barrel. Accuracy was excellent, with every full up load tried. If I used a very good rest and felt good while shooting, the group would go to under 1 MOA. No groups were much worse and all groups came surprisingly close to the same poi. It's a pleasure working with a rifle like that.
 
Lefty #### said:
Why should a guy "over prime" to get results?

4350, any breed, does just as good or better, than ball powders like 760/414.

Your comment is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

In my extensive reloading/testing with three different 7x57s I never found much to choose from among IMR4350, H414 and W760, but one may do better than another in a particular rifle. Using a hotter magnum primer with ball powders in cold weather shooting/hunting is a standard reloading practice, and why not? Magnum primers are made for a reason and they don't cost any more than a standard primer. Jeez, I even use magnum primers with H4831 for cold weather loads in a .270 Win. Ditto for ball powder in .308 Win cold weather loads. I like to use both extruded and ball powders to see what works best in a particular rifle and some of my most accurate shooting has been with ball powders. I wouldn't ignore ball powders just because magnum primers are recommended for them.
 
Lefty #### said:
Why should a guy "over prime" to get results?

4350, any breed, does just as good or better, than ball powders like 760/414.

Your comment is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

You get credit for introducing me to the notion of "over priming" for the previous 35 years of reloading I have not been concerned about it, I will put it on a list of things to worry about later.
 
IMR 4350 and H-414 work well for me.

I sold my Ruger #1 RSI to a friend a couple of years ago. 80 rounds loaded with IMR 4350 and 140 Ballistic tips went with the rifle. I have seen him shoot 1" groups at 200 meters with the rifle and load. He's harvested his moose the past 2 seasons with the RSI and that load. Last year was 1 shot @ 100 meters....dead moose. This year was 3 shots at ~ 300 meters.

My Brno ZKK600 loves the H-414 load with Speer 145 grain bullets.
 
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