7x57 Rifles

[oneshotonly]

Howdy
I have Zastava double trigger 7x57 Rifle. I use 7mm cartridges for it. I wanted to know if in fact I am use the right ammo, and is it correct to call 7x57 a 7mm rilfe, and what is the actual measurement of this bullets. I initially thought it was .284?

My other question is also in terms of 7x57. I want to have a pair of this caliber since I like the way it fires and if shot correctly I brings down big game. Any suggestions on 7x57 by Parker Hale? The one I saw is scoped and has carvings on the stock, being sold for $1350 in 95% condition.

[Boogyman]

7x57, otherwise called a 7mm Mauser, unless I'm mistaken.

If you compare it to a 8x57 Mauser and it's the same case but necked down, then it is a 7mm Mauser.

Factory ammo is generally marked "7x57 Mauser" or just "7mm Mauser" on the box.

Yep, it's a .284 diameter bullet.

This is atually a 'Turkish Mauser" link, but has a good little blurb on the 7x57 cartridge history:

http://www.y3news.info/services/turkish-mauser.htm

[hm2 clark]

Oneshot, your problem apears to be one of terminology. 7x57 means that the cartridge is 7 milimeters in diameter and 57 mm in length. .284 means that the diameter is .284 calibers. (there are 100 calibers in 1 inch)They come out to mean the same thing. It gets complicated when you talk about the British system of measurements as they talk about the diameter of rifle barrel and that is always a little less then the caliber of the bullet.

[Der Verge]

It is a good thing he asked though, because when you get right down to it, just because a bullet is called a certian size, it does not mean it really is. Examples, .380, 9mm, 357mag, 38spl........all .355 dia bullets if I am not mistaken. They are all the same actual diameter anyway. There are others like that, but I think he got his answer.

[P-Shooter]

Der verge, you are real close with your diameters but the correct diameter for the .380 and the 9mm is .355". The .357 Mag. is .357" and where they got the name for the .357 Mag., and the .38 is .357" in diameter also. You already know that you can shoot .38s in a .357 Mag revolver. These diameters are close enough that some reloaders, considering all of the factors of a particular firearm etc. have used all of these bullets in all of these guns. You need to have the experience to do it safely though. It is still best to follow good manuals. The nomenclature for caliber and cartridge names is not based on any consistant standard, the name has usually been a marketing ploy. It is also confusing and interesting to read the history of naming cartridges when you get the chance. Hope this helps.

[gossman]

That rifle is my favorite round, the 7x57 Mauser. It is my only custom built rifle I have had done for me, and most likely my last. It is a fantastic round, easy to shoot, and quite effective, Jack O'Conner wrote many praises about it. Karamojo Bell used it in Africa as a elephant killer, he turned the bullets around backwards to make them a solid. It is refered to sometimes as a .275 Rigby in British terms. The modern 7mm-08 is a ballistic copy of the round, again manufacturers reinventing a wheel to keep us buying and the writers writing. And yes, I have one also in a Ruger compact. Very effective for deer and elk with the right bullet.

[P-Shooter]

gossman, the 7x57 is an excellent caliber, and has a lot of fans. If you check your manuals, I bet it has an advantage over the 7mm-08 with the heavier 7mm bullets. The 30-06 has this same advantage over the .308 with the heavier bullets. A 7mm is always going to be popular. I never owned one but came very close to buying a 7mm-08. All of the new wonder cartridges can never completly obsolete the old favorites.

[gossman]

I decided to own both, hey, maybe I will get an enfield and call it a .275 Rigby

[oneshotonly]

My questions remains the same since I got some what confused reading through the replies. Is 7x57 .275 or .284?

And what is the proper name for this caliber:
a) 7mm Mouser
b) 7mm
c) something else.

ALso what is the difference between 7x57 and 7mm-08?

And does anyone has information on 7x57's range, power, etc?

[gossman]

7x57 or .275 Rigby or 7mm Mauser are all the same round. Performance wise, the 7mm-08 is close to the same in the 140 grain and smaller catagory, it came around sometime in the early '80s. I had my one and only custom build of a rifle done in 7mm Mauser. I had a Mexican Mauser action, douglas barrel, and myrtlewood stock all put together. I have a Ruger compact in
7mm-08, great round tho the short barrel doesn't burn all the powder. Both guns are great deer rifles, the Mauser is good for elk with the heavier loads that are available. Easy shooting, easy recoil, and enjoyable. Three hundred yards are acceptable distance to shoot. Unless a person has LOTS of practice, that should be the distance for most any gun IMHO.

[P-Shooter]

oneshotonly, I can add a few points here. .284" is the bullet diameter for a 7mm caliber, really any 7mm. The .275 Rigby, of which I am not real familiar, probably gets it name from the Lands measurement inside a 7mm barrel. When all of the obvious names are used up for a cartridge, they start using stuff like that. The naming of cartridges has been going on for over a hundred years at least and the industry has seen a lot of changes. A big change was from black powder to smokeless. The 45-70 for one example originally meant .45 caliber bullet with a charge of 70 grains of black powder. Back to the 7mm, the 7x57 is a 7mm (.284 diameter bullet) x 57 and the 57 comes from the length of the 8x57 case of the German 8mm Mauser otherwise known as the 8x57. 8mm is the caliber and 57 is the length of the case in millimeters. The 7-08 is a 7mm bullet using a necked down .308 case. The power of the 7x57 is pretty good, it is close enough to a 30-06 for a lot of hunting with less recoil. Here is one example of many, a 150 grain bullet can be driven to 2500 FPS (feet per second) which is pretty good. A variety of bullets can be used. Another varible with cartridges is the pressure for which they were designed, either a cartridge itself or the parent cartridge on which another cartridge is based. With questions like yours, I think you would find a reloading manual interesting, even if you don't start reloading right away. Oh yes, the 7x57 can be called a 7x57 Mauser because the Germans developed it in 1892, surprising huh? that it is that old of a design.

[Kenny_McCormic]

i bet an 8-06 beats them all

[P-Shooter]

Kenny, yes an 8mm-06 is pretty good, they called it the poor man's magnum. I guess you know how it came to be, German 8x57 Mausers were brought back as war trophies, but ammo was not availiable, so gunsmiths rechambered the 8x57 to accept a 30-06 case with the case opened up to 8mm. This combination from the 1940s worked out very well and is still popular. Again a lot of what is being discussed here can be found in Reloading manuals.

[gossman]

That is a pounder of a round, they were a little popular around here in the
'80's for elk rifles. I understood it gave 30-06 ballistics with heavier bullet weights. My old Nosler reloading book has quite a bit of info in it about reloading that round.

[Der Verge]

One thing most people do not know, is that true 8mm mauser ammo is more powerful than -06. The crap that is made for that chambering now, and for many years, is meek in comparason to what the germans actually used in wwII.
I once got my hands on a few of the old rounds. I cannot remember the actual velocity, but the round was 196gr. and flew faster than 3000 fps. I think it was actually just over 3100. Three shots was all I could take. Felt like being kicked by a mule. What ever they were, (I think they were german AP ammo, had swasticas on the brass, stuck to a magnet like hell), they shot 8" higher than turkish surplus at 100 yrds.

[markw76]

196 at 3100 is 300WM territory. Maybe Reich MG ammo?