7x57 Mauser

[Mikeflies]

I have a chance to buy a 7x57 Mauser rifle for my son from a co-worker and I just don't know much about the round. For what I have found, it looks like a mild recoiling rifle with some ok ballistics and could be used for some Big Game animals. My questions are:
How available are rounds for this rifle if you do not reload?
Would it be a good round for my son(10) to use on Big Game animals?(Deer, Antelope, Elk)
Does anyone here use this rifle and could you please give me some feedback?
Thank you for your time & God Bless.

 

[sbhooper]

It is a great round. I don't personally own one, but I have read tons on it over the years. It does not have the curb appeal of a fancy magnum, but the 7mm bullets have great ballistic coefficient and just plain kill stuff.

Ammo is not as available as some, but can be ordered from many places-unless the government bans the mailorder sales.

That should be a good gun for the kid. He can use it on anything he wants to hunt.

 

[Goldtip]

I killed my first, deer/elk/bear at age 12 with a 7x57 in an old sporterized Mauser my grandfather had converted. Was a peep sight, so as a kid didn't shoot farther then 125 yards or so, but each animal was a one shot kill with good old Remington core lokts. Certainly it is not a long range type weapon, but for any of those animals out to 300 yards it will do the job quite nicely in the right hands. Does have low recoil so a smaller stature individual will be able to use it at the range without developing a flinch.

 

[Bambistew]

For me it would depend on what make the rifle is... I'd pass on some of the Mausers

It's balistically a twin of the 7-08 or a tad better depending on loads.

I'm not sure on the availablity of factory ammo. I imagine most is loaded pretty mild due to all the old rifles floating around. If you were a handloader you could really make that round hum though.

Elk, deer, lope... it will work fine for any of them

 

[jryoung]

I've got a R700 7x57 in a mountain rifle....well my wife does I should say. It is a killer round and can kill just about anything in NA. Factory loads are limited, many of what is available are 175gr or similar (the classic 7x57 load).

I handload and have found a killer load with 120 Barnes TTSX. Many others have had great luck with other 120s moving fast too. I may poke around this winter with 140TTSX, 145LRX, 150TTSX and 168LRX load to see what happens, but I think it is going to be hard to beat that 120 @ 2,950fps.

 

[BuzzH]

I killed my first, deer/elk/bear at age 12 with a 7x57 in an old sporterized Mauser my grandfather had converted. Was a peep sight, so as a kid didn't shoot farther then 125 yards or so, but each animal was a one shot kill with good old Remington core lokts. Certainly it is not a long range type weapon, but for any of those animals out to 300 yards it will do the job quite nicely in the right hands. Does have low recoil so a smaller stature individual will be able to use it at the range without developing a flinch.

I agree with everything stated here regarding the 7x57...great round that is nearly identical to the 7-08.

I disagree that it cant be a longer range rig assuming an accurate platform.

My wife shot this 8-shot group with her 7-08 at 441 yards...I'd reckon that just about any animal would be in deep doo-doo with the 140 accubonds to at least that far. I've seen some convincing evidence that even at 550 yards I'd not be real comfortable if I were an elk, deer, or pronghorn.

 

[Papa-Zulu]

I've owned a 7 X 57 since the late '80s and like it very much. Mine is built on a pre-'64 Model 70 action with Shilen barrel. But I reload so don't know much about ammo availability. It is a longer-necked case than the 7mm-08, thus it is ideal for reloading. I have used the 140-gr. Nosler Partition and 139-gr. Hornady to good effect ahead of 45 grs. of IMR-4320.

 

[choc dogs]

I've got a m70 fwt, from the early 80's seems to kill everything I've pointed it at. I mostly load 140 partitions in front of 4350. Like has been said before, it's a ballistic predecessor to the 7mm08, and can do a little more than that popular cartridge.It's what my son will be packing when he turns 12 in a couple of years and can deer hunt here in ID

 

[tarheel]

Great round in a great rifle. The Mauser action should be able to handle anything you can stuff in the case as long as you don't rebarrel to a higher pressure round. Almost all of the South American and Central American countries used the rifle to great effect, including shooting the crap out of American soldiers during the Spanish-American war. Don't recall his name, but one of the most famous African safari hunters used nothing else for many years, harvesting a large number of elephant with well placed shots. The recoil is relatively light and the 139/140 weight bullets are naturals. Hurry up and get it before news of the UN gun control talks drive the price of it out of sight. The move has started.

 

[Papa-Zulu]

Tarheel, you are thinking of Karamojo Bell.

The 7 X 57 is also called the 7mm Mauser, was created in 1892 and chambered in the Spanish Mauser. Teddy Roosevelt and company took many casualties due to the 7mm, and it got the military to thinking, eventually discarding the .30/40 Krag and going to the .30/06 Springfield which was used in WWI and to a degree in WWII. Of course, by WWII the military began issuing the M-1 Garand, which also fired the .30/06 round. The Garand was invented by a Canadian of same name.