Thread: School me on the 7x57 mauser

Have been offered one for a decent price,know nothing about the calibre,I already have a 243,308 and 44 mag ..do I need a 7x57/as well?like it cause it looks classic and still has open sights which I like.

If its got open sights you're allowed to call it a 275 Rigby for a lot of extra cool points . . . .

Old school 7mm08. Goes bang, kills stuff. But then so do the other ones you have.

Yes you do! looking at that list you aint got nearly enough rifles, and a classic 7x57 would be a great addition. A 140gn SGK or a 150gn Corelokt doing a tad over 2700fps and most anything goes bang flop. Easy to load for, nice to shoot, great cartridge. Look forward to the pic's.

Old school 7x57 had quite a fast twist barrel and could use up to about 175gr bullets. Think that's what Bell used on the elephants.
So loaded like a 7mm08 it's a ripper.
Need to take something bigger go heavy.
Absolutely nothing wrong with it

Awesome calibre with lots of history. You havn't said what it is so loads will be dependent. An older military model, e.g. Sth American made small ring will be more pressure constrained than large ring M98s e.g an Interarms MkX with an OEM Zastava action or perhaps a new Tikka or a CZ 550 (did they do a 7x57mm?)

I shoot an Interarms Mk 10 with the Zastava sourced M98 action. I run it around 2500fps with 160gn Remington Interlokts -.cause that's what I have and I hunt for the pot so.not interested in blowing the front end of an animal to little bits. Your mileage may differ of course. My Interarms is capable of being loaded a lot faster, but why? I load for another guy with a pre 1900 Sth American small ring Mauser... ex military and rebarreled. Lovely rifle.and a tack driver. He sticks to 130gn SP doing around 2200fps. Never had trouble killing anything in them thar hills.

So horses for courses really. You can load a strong action to best a 7mm08 and you can hunt elephants with one. As to the latter I'm reliably told that it takes 3 bullets, two for each of the front knees then you walk around and put one in the back of the skull to the brain called "the elephant shot". Not my game but each to their own.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by Tentman

If its got open sights you're allowed to call it a 275 Rigby for a lot of extra cool points . . . .

it's a very good cartridge to have. With a good rifle design (like a Mauser 98 or any modern action type) with a 24 inch barrel you can load the 140 grain bullet up to 2950-3000 fps and the 160 grain up to 2700-2800fps. It leaves the 7mm08 for dead and treads on the heels of the .280 Remington.
I used the 139 grain Hornady interlock at 2950fps and its a great combination. (In the 7mm08 as well)

But - it was never actually known as the ".275 Rigby". The old writers called it a ".275 Rigby-Mauser", the Rigby-Mauser System being what Rigby called their Mauser rifle products, and .275 being the cartridge chambering. The cartridge was always referred to either just the .275, or the 7mm Mauser. (Rigby did sell a popular hi velocity load which people often referred to as the .275 Rigby, but that meant that particular load marketed by Rigby, it's not the name of the cartridge either. (Which was actually made by Roth or Kynoch. Rigby didnt make ammunition.)

Anyway. Calling the cartridge it the .275 Rigby irritates me mildly. It's a mistake American gunwriters made when they read the old English hunting books and now people read it on the internet and its become an alternative fact. The cartridge has nothing to do with Rigby, other than they sold Mauser rifles chambered in 7mm.