I traded into a 98% 1982 mfg'ed Winchester M70 XTR 7x57 w/iron sights yesterday, and have never loaded for that caliber in my 50 years of reloading. I'm going to need insight and information from folks with hands on experience in this caliber. Not looking to replicate a 270's performance, as I traded into another one of those too.

Not in a hurry to hit the range, but want to take my time and collect all the components as time and budgets allow. Right now I expect to take this gun to the range after the next couple months of cold weather abates.

This is going to be a 3-400 yard occasional Hunting Rifle with collectors value from it's rarity, and not to confused with a LR Precision rifle, and will stay in the original factory super clean 99% Featherweight stock unless and until I find that the stock is a problem.

Probably going to start 1st with accumulating brass. Any suggestions on die's besides the "regular" RCBS stuff I'm used to that are worth the price upgrade? I am assuming it is a 9 Twist barrel but if someone knows for sure it'd helpful to know in choosing where to start with bullet selections.

Looking forward to getting enough info asap to get started...Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday To ME!! Last one of these I saw was 15 years ago....and this is the 1st one I've ever seen with factory iron sights...and now I got ONE.
Ron

Not a lot of options for brass. Norma and Nosler runs over $1/ea. You can pickup import Prvi Partizan from Graf's for less. If I were you I'd buy a few boxes of Hornady ammo, use that to see how your rifle shoots and then save the cases. That is how I accumulated my stash of brass. Have loaded mostly 139gr and 150gr bullets pushed by IMR 4350, never played with the load much but hitting MOA not very hard and they kill deer and pigs dead. 7x57 is known to be a pretty easy round to load and not that finicky. Great round, I currently have 3 rifles chambered in it.

The 162gr Amax was supposed to be a great bullet for 7x57 but I never tried them and now they don't make them. If I was planning on 400yd shots I'd look at the 162Gr ELD-X,

This is a pretty good article if you haven't run across it yet.

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/7x57.html

That rifle is one of my all time favorites, shot one for many years.7x57 brass isn't too hard to find in R-P or Win. Because of a long throat the rifle can be picky on bullets,I used mine for everything, deer up to elk and African Plains game so I shot primarily 175 gr. Nosler partitions. The rifle also shot Barnes 160 TSX really well, and for a lighter deer load the Nosler 150 grain Ballistic tip shot well and performed well. Powders used were primarily IMR 4895, IMR 4831, and your choice in 4350.
Even with 175s it made an easy 300 yard rifle.
I modified the stock and sights on mine a tad....

Great Pic...and looking forward to making a collection of those.

Broke out the Nozzler book just now and gonna look at 140's to try 1st, but the 160's look appealing too at my self imposed range restrictions I think, but we'll see what the gun likes 'cause I believe in letting the rifle tell me how to get the best of it. With a couple 270's and one of them in a 24" M70 CRF & wearing bigger Viper HS SF 30mm glass that I got last month, that's where the longer range shots I think will be attemped I think. The other 270 22" barrel is a Marlin XL7 I'm setting up as a East TX deep woods short range gun, probably with a short 1" tube 3x9x50 Minox to take advantage of the X guns Pic Rail base....and shooting 150's at less than max speeds.

The 7x57 will get the other Viper HS in 2x10x44 30mm that I bought before Christmas....and still enough glass for my limits...I'm too old to walk any farther than that to find a critter. Love it when a plan starts to come together.
Ron

Where do you find Remington and Winchester brass?

Brass is real hard to find. R. Graph has pri brass in stock.

Its been awhile since I bought any! Got it at the local store. Sure as heck, can't find any now! Midway looks like they've got a pretty good price on Norma though...

Looked at Midway,Natchez, Graffs and somebody else I don't 'member...uh mebbe it was MidSouth ...left a nasty gram at Midway only 'cause they asked....and cannot find any WW or RP or Hornady anywhere. Even looked at the Federal Ammo recycler in Idaho and got nada....they got a good deal on some 120gr Fusion Blems & 140gr Grand Slams though. Seems like I remember seeing some brass in the Nosler Blem store too ...aka ShootersProShop.com but the BH was yakking at me the whole time too.

Graff's has Privi at about $65 a 100ct in stock, prolly only because they are the Importer. I've used Privi from Graf's before in 9.3x62 and never had any problems with it, might be a tad soft but then I was loading 9.3's about a scootch above book and at 5-6 loads they got trimmed for the 1st time, with no real stretching or loose primer pockets from an old Finn Agaard published load in a 9.3 Factory ammo & Reload table I found in a Reloader magazine reprint. Got some good prices under $20 on loaded ammo too, specially in Privi @ 139gr'ers & 160g'ers and some other euro brand that'd work for practice loads and mebbe more.

I'll run some other old traps manana and see what I can find when we get back from Tyler after lunch.
Ron

gun writer John Barsness has written a lot about 7x57 data as its one of his pet cartridges, he talks about using 7mm-08 data as a starting point since a lot of the published 7x57 loads are watered down due to 100+ year old mausers still around.

I've never used the Privi brass but have heard that it is fairly good.

Edit: If Nyalubwe is who i think it is, he's got several decades of experience with the round to the point that I've heard he was around when it was invented.

I am very familiar with John Barsness, aka Mule Deer on the 'fire. I'll see if I can find his writings on the 7x57 subject, that are probably in Reloader Magazine's archive somewhere. Thx for the heads up.

I wish Dawaba aka Dave Baxter who was from not far from me, just across the north bridge on Big Eddy Road off Hwy 155...but Dave passed just before we moved down here late last April. He had made a lifetime pilgrimmage using almost nothing but a 7x57 and harvest game from all over the world ala Karamojo Bell. An experienced voice for sure who used to bust my chops anytime I cited a 9.3x62 as being as functional as a 375H&H, and could do it with a gentleman's style and grace. RIP Dawaba
Ron

How do you think the 9.3 holds up to the .375? I've about convinced myself that I need to something in that range in case I ever get to hunt buffalo and really like the idea of a 9.3, but i've no experience with either caliber.

He is who you think he is!

And yeah, It was my favorite all around cartridge for years. Anytime you don't know what you will encounter- like elk during a deer hunt, or African Plains Game of all sizes, the 7x57 was stoked and ready for anything. Killed scores of animals with it, ranging from jackals on the small side to Kudu, elk, and Gemsbok. I am fortunate enough to call John B. a good friend and we have discussed this cartridge,a personal favorite of both of us, at some length.

A couple pics....

Both are great, but the .375 H&H has the "panache"

tag

What a sweet looking Mouser!

As long as I have been in and around hunting rifles in more than one capacity since the late '60's, I've always had a fascination with 7x57, but never owned one until earlier this week, when an old friend traded me out of the WSM I needed to shed & into a push feed M70 XTR w/sights that I have never seen an example of before.

When I was offered a rifle of my choice as a gift during a plant tour in Rihimaaki, I asked for a 7x57 and they said they never had stocked one, thought maybe there might be an old 7x64 barrel still around, but came back the next day and Nope none available, so I settled for a non catalog 1 of 1 ever built 25'06 in a 1st Gen Classic Grade that could ginned up out of existing components, that wore the stock I had picked out off the hanging inventory...and later sold it to finance a new business venture ... Duoh ...Story of my Life it seems....just never really warmed up to a 25'06 after having a couple. BUT it is Time to finally STOP selling sacred cows....unless this M70 Mauser won't shoot straight for me or anybody else...and apperntly this one has a good rep from the previous owner.

My old SAKO buddy Mim's put me onto 9.3x62's when I called him looking for a 375 H&H with delusions of going across the pond, sez it kicks lots less and will do ALMOST anything a 375 H&H will do, even though he still shoots a 375 at bigger critters with bad attitudes. If you see hime him, get him to tell the story of his Mtn Buff Hunt and taking shots up real close ...there is a reason for CRF on DG guns.

If ya'll get to DSC or Reno say hello to Mims for me at the TuffPak Booth.
Ron