What Have You Killed with the 7x57

Hi Trail Rated,

Good for you! My first and ONLY rifle for 20 years was an Original Sporting DWM M93 Mauser, what I received throught my grand father from my great grand father... In the cartidge it was created for, the GREAT 7mm Mauser. I still have the rifle in its original rust blueing.
One of my son used this rifle for his first red deer. Five generations hunting with it.

CF
 
All trophies were taken with a suppressed 7x57 Mauser action rifle with a Vortex scope.

I shot a 300 WSM Kimber rifle with a Swarovoski Z8i and a 165 grain Barnes TSX on my first trip to South Africa.

I had better sucess and cleaner kills with the 7x57 140 grain soft point bullet. I love the 7x57.
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Most excellent Justbryan!
 
Man.... this thread is so old I can’t even remember or want to look back if I ever responded. But, yes..... hartebeest, klipspringer, baboons, honey badger, hyena, etc....
 
So you killed time. But was the time wasted?
 
Great thread. I am interested because I very recently purchased a custom Winchester Model 70 'classic' in 7 X 57 with a Swarovsky Z3 3-10 X 42 scope. I've looking for a good LH 7 X 57 for some time. It will get it's first use on Coues deer near my home in So. Arizona.
 
Nothing yet, but planning to take my Mod 70 SG to Wyoming the next time I do an antelope hunt.

The 7x57 is basically in the same neighborhood as the 270, 7mm-08 and 308. I've read where people have used the 7x57 for elk hunting, but personally I would feel under-gunned. I realize W.M.D. Bell used the 7x57 on 1,000 elephants, but today it wouldn't be anyone's first choice. Lots of large PG has been taken by the 7x57, but give me a 300 WM or 338 WM.

BTW, if anyone is looking for 7x57 ammo, there is a relatively good deal on GB right now. A Florida gun shop has Hornady 139 gr BTSP, 10 box case (200 rounds) for $300. In today's ammo market, $30/box ain't bad. They had 3 cases available when I purchased a case a couple weeks ago and one other case has sold, so only one case is left.

 

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thank for the tip, i just bought the last case. for the spirit of this discussion ive taken deer hogs bear coyote groundhog. my young nieces and nephews use this same rifle for deer and ber when they visit/hunt.
 
I also like Gerrit's 7x57 and have used it on animals up to kudu. My 7x57 kudu is smaller though.

He keeps the big ones for himself!:D:D:D


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That little rifle gets around!

I took an outstanding warthog with Gerrit's 7x57 Musgrave in 2019...

Great handling, and very accurate rifle!
 
I shot my life’s first American whitetail deer ( before I was granted dual citizenship in America ) with a 7x57 mm Mauser ( a BRNO ZKK-600 ) .
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I used Winchester Super X 175 grain soft nosed cup & core factory loads . They worked okay . But I noticed that the powder charge was significantly lower than European factory loads for the 7x57 mm Mauser . I found them to be quite marginal for mule deer and elk . I have ( over the years ) come to observe that most American companies tend to load their 7x57 mm Mauser ammunition to velocities which are significantly lower than their European counterparts .

My favorite factory load for the 7x57 mm Mauser is the ( now unfortunately discontinued ) RWS Brenekke TIG 177 grain soft nosed round . It is an excellent performer on even the largest sambhar deer .
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Me? not so much but my wife killed a trainload of deer and elk with a 7x57. I know because I had to pack nearly every one of them out on my back, quarter by quarter! Seriously, no regrets nor complaints. It was intense but good exercise for many years. Maybe one of the reasons I'm healthy today is because I've always used my legs as my "ATV" for practically all my hunting and game retrieval.

I developed a good hunting load for her 7x57 early on and never changed it. Never a failure. Simple- 150 grain Nosler Partition over IMR 39.5 4064 for a hair over 2500 fps. Seemed to be the near perfect balance between bullet construction and velocity for best performance.
 
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I specifically created an account just to reply to this (old) thread! I have spent countless hours reading forums on the 7x57 and ammo choices for specific game and can finally contribute with a post of my own, since inheriting a 7x57 in 2020.

The rifle is an original 1929 Mauser Oberndorf 7x57 with a full wooden stock. The stock has been repaired with a metal plate, obviously been used quite a bit. So far I have taken springbok, kudu, impala, oryx, warthog and blue wildebeest all with one shot kills (the bwb received what turned out to be an unnecessary follow up shot to the neck). Here are some pictures. The kudu and bwb were taken with PPU 173gr soft points and the rest with PPU 158gr GROM, both factory ammo. Thank you everyone for the great info and interesting reads.

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I recently took two nice whitetails in south Texas, using 139 gr Hornady GMX. I have a variety of 150 gr Partions, 160 gr Swift A Frames and 162 gr and 175 gr ELD-X bullets to work up some various loads. Planning to take the 7x57 on a Wyoming antelope hunt later this year and a 2023 sable hunt in Zam with @spike.t


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The recovered 139 gr GMX weighed 96.2 grs for 69.2% weight retention.

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Now here is a golden oldie! :eek: The OP hasn't been here in years! I miss the contrary old cuss too!:(

Man.... this thread is so old I can’t even remember or want to look back if I ever responded. But, yes..... hartebeest, klipspringer, baboons, honey badger, hyena, etc....
It's been resurected a few times.
I have a 7x57 but I like the 7mm calibre so it's interesting.
 
Rifle:
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Churchill Gunmakers Deluxe Model, built on a military surplus Yugoslavian Mauser 98 action and assembled in Dosal (Pakistan)

Ammunition:
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RWS Brenneke TIG 177Gr soft points (In the past, I only used Winchester Super X 175Gr soft points as that was all I had)


Game taken with it:
- Chital deer ( multiple)
- Kakar deer (multiple)
- Serow (multiple)
- Jungle boar (multiple)
- Sloth bear (1)
- Royal Bengal tiger (1)
 

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