Any of the __X57s have the same bolt face, so does the '06, 308, and every standard American cartridge. A '06/308 has a bolt face of .473 Guess what the 7X57 is?? Yup .473; 280 remington? .473 8X57? .473, seeing a trend here guys??? 6mm Rem and 257 Roberts are built off the ___X57 case, thus any standard bolt face will not require modification to work. Now here's the REAL PROBLEM with the 7X57 (aka 275 Rigby), 257 Roberts, and 6mm Rem = They are too long for American short actions and not long enough for American Long actions!!! SHort action requires seating the bullet too deep (intrudes on powder space) Long action is "wasted space" which is why the 280 Rem (7X57 stretched) and 25/06 Rem (257 Roberts stretched) are better performers on paper. A friend had a 257 Roberts, great gun, great round, really nice but on a Ruger long action and lots of air space when you open the bolt. A loaded 7X57 has a maximum cartridge overall length (COL = as big as it gets!) of 3.065; the 280 Rem is 3.330 thus about a third of an inch of unused action space. All this helps to explain why the 7-08 (based on a .308 and guess what?? Case head diameter is .473!!!) is a ballistic twin to the 7X57 but in a short action. I LOVE the 275 Rigby - I don't own one, but always looking, maybe one day....... Lastly, probably cheaper to rebarrel than to rebore a barrel and cut a new chamber, of course your $$$$; your choice.
@greyfox et al, Excellent points on the 7x57. There are custom actions on the market that are for medium length cartridges but they run in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars. Defiance is one of those and will make it in CRF. Total cost for a custom, you could possibly get away with around 2500 to 3000 and have a real tack driver. https://defiancemachine.com/actions/deviant/
Or you can do what I did in a recent moment of weakness (I blame cbvanb!), and order a Dakota Model 10 in .275 Rigby!
A 270 will do everything a 7x57 will.. I'm sure you got a fine rifle... no one is going to believe you though if you dont post pics!
Good choice of donor actions. With monometal bullets becoming more popular it pays to have the long action so you can seat the monometals out and not eat powder space.
The current S&L looks to be a re badged Titan. Some cosmetic differences is all. Could be wrong but the bolt looks to be the same. Keep looking at the classifieds for a second/third/fourth hand M98 that has been sporterized. Meant to add. QGE just sold a ZKK 600? in 7X57 had it listed for $1600, went for considerably less.
My next thing now is deciding what to reload through it. Few things Legal minimum is 130gn Rifle will have a 1:9 twist Shooting will vary between stalking thick bush shots to 20m and open country mountain hunting to say 400m I've considered interlock, interbond, sst, vld partition, Oryx. I was considering Barnes but they've just become so expensive in Aus these days. Any suggestions?
My 7x57 has a 1:9 twist.. it shoots everything from 139gr PPU soft points to 160gr barnes TSX well.. My plan is to try some 175gr in it next, but I havent had the chance yet.. I picked up some 175gr hornady interlock on sale last week and thought I'd give them a go and see how they work (will let you know after I shoot 5 or 6 loads and figure out which is best)..
Based on the sound advice of this thread and AH in general, I did make the purchase on the Win M70 Super Grade yesterday. I asked the seller to send me some more photos and the wood looks really nice. The rifle is NIB. I then got on Midway and ordered a Leupold scope (2.5x8) and a variety of ammo with 139, 140, 145, 156 and 172 grain bullets. Should be fun going through the barrel break in process, checking the iron sights and finally zeroing the scope.
Woodleigh's, Oryx , 160 grain to 170 grain pills. After all the 275Rigby/7X57 made its name with 170 grain bullets.
Hey there. I am also a tremendous 7X57 aficionado. However I only have a beer budget. I'm sure most of our fellow responders would turn their noses up at Savage firearms, but since your family is growing, I offer it as an excellent option. I ordered one from Savage custom shop. New accustock, accutrigger, 24" barrel matte finish. Price to my dealer was $625. I paid $725. Using Hornady Superformance 139gr SST, 3 shots @ 100yds went into 3/4". I couldn't afford to turn my nose up, I wanted an affordable 7X57. This would fill the bill, fine accurate rifle. You can save enough money to start saving for that Rigby Highland Stalker.