7x57 for big game

[7x57Joe]

Never used one on anything larger than elk but, could not tell the difference between it and .30'06, .358, and .45/70. About 25 yards and down.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

From your experience with the 7mm Swifts have you any advice regarding minimum impact velocity for effective expansion? I’ve seen the photos of the test bullets on the Swift website but it’s good to hear what actual users have found.

Regards
Russ

Just recently purchased a 7x57 and have only shot it on the range, so no real world hunting experience with it. I have used the SAF bullet in my 7mm mag, as well as my 270, 338 WM and 375 Ruger. The 7mm mag is right around 3000 fps muzzle velocity, but all the others well below. Everything I have shot with SAF are usually dead and the bullet is usually a pass through with an exit would that is larger than the entrance would. The only exception to this is the eland I shot did not have exit wounds and took 2 SAFs from a 375 H&H.

BTW, just to comment on your comment about possible use on buffalo: I wouldn't go there with a 7x57, regardless of bullet selection. The 7x57 is in the same class as a 270. Good for deer size and up to elk/kudu size animals.

 

[JPbowhunter]

I shoot them out of my CZ 550 with H4350. Sub MOA and kicks the crap out of whitetails and hogs. Recovered one last year with a perfect mushroom that weighed 146 gr, not too shabby. It's all I use for the 7x57.
View attachment 250188

Did you say on another thread that you load with 46gn 4350?

 

[stug]

when I had a BRNO ZKK 600 7x57 I used a 162gr Hornady BTSP seated very long. 50gr ADI 2209 gave 2672fps.

 

[BenKK]

I do understand and believe that bigger is better for buffalo, but we shot about three dozen and never lost one - with the little old Rigby. Happy memories of hunting beautiful wild country. But we mostly had a safety rifle present (which we never had to use), and we had the ability to pick our shots. And we never admired the shot, but kept working the bolt. It accounted for huge boars and plenty of scrub bulls, too.

 

[JPbowhunter]

I do understand and believe that bigger is better for buffalo, but we shot about three dozen and never lost one - with the little old Rigby. Happy memories of hunting beautiful wild country. But we mostly had a safety rifle present (which we never had to use), and we had the ability to pick our shots. And we never admired the shot, but kept working the bolt. It accounted for huge boars and plenty of scrub bulls, too.

If we can end up getting onto buff next year i won't have the money to buy a bigger rifle beforehand so the 275 will have to do as I'm sure it will.

Worst case scenario I've had plenty of practice head shooting cattle over the years on the farm.

 

[BenKK]

We mostly heart-shot them. Using little Hydros or Barnes TSX would make it even better - I never did because I wasn’t sure about those modern bullets in a vintage rifle.

 

[Sand Rat]

Did you say on another thread that you load with 46gn 4350?

That's what I worked up to. No chrono, minimum recoil and no pressure signs. Bullets caught was quartering away and broke the spine, great penetration.

 

[Von S.]

When someone is hunting for meat I often wonder why they just don't shoot everything in the head?

 

[sgt_zim]

If you're a little high, no harm done. If you're a little low, you might shoot off the animal's jaw to have it run off and die slowly.

There's a much bigger margin of error, both for windage and elevation, when you're aiming for the boiler room.

 

[Von S.]

Good morning Sarge.

Of course you are right, as there can be no other conceivable answer given without admitting that someone isn't the gunslinger they believe they are.

When we sight in a rifle we do so to prove just how accurate the rifle is. And with very few exceptions, like someone shooting the rifle with more recoil that a person can handle, the results will similar with all that fire the rifle off a bench.

Unfortunately, very few people are all position shooters with most having the greatest of difficulties hitting a 6" target offhand 3 times in a row with anything and it gets worse once they put their big murderous magnum in their hands. Many would be damned lucky to hit a 55 gallon drum off hand and not leaning on something with any round 500 grains or over with a 2200 + fps.

At 100 yards for any bullet to be " blown off course" from head shot accuracy you'd have to be shooting in da hurricane, and as far as up and down goes, well that's all on the shooter.

I have heard the saying ," boiler room" since the first time I picked up a firearm, mostly spouted by my father who was a great wing shot, but never,and I mean never did he ever kill any big game animal ever!

This " boiler room" is an area of great puzzlement to me as it's area appears to grow with the size of the animal. Which kinda make me think that larger animals should be held specifically for those who are the worst shots out there as their " boiler room" should be the easiest to hit due to it's enormity.

OK, in a seriousness, it is probably not the best idea in the world for the majority of people who even shoot well to attempt head shots at any distance simply because of the inability of many to simply see any animal simply as a target and have the wherewithal to blast the top of it's coconut off and then truthfully say that the sight of it doesn't bother them at all. Kill um, yes!, but mangle them so it looks like the Manson Family took up hunting? .....errrr...no! A head shot anything just isn't a pretty sight.

By the way. About the worst animal in the world to head shoot is a bear. The guy who invented the term " meat head" and " pea brain" must have had a job fleshing out bear skulls.

If he is facing you straight on and you shoot him through the eye you will blow off the side of his head, but you won't touch the brain. You may drop him, you may knock him out cold, you may even get the award for the grossest mangling shot of all time, but he might all of a sudden wake up and do some mangling of his own.

One guy on this site gave some very good advice about shooting animals in Africa. He suggested that once you drop an animal to pour on the bullets and keep it down and to not worry about shot up meat as you can't keep it anyway.

So does not make any sense to head shoot as most people are shooting game for head trophy's to begin with.

Of course elephants and crocks kinda need holes in their heads. I never shot a rhino, nor do I ever want to, so I don't even know exactly where to shoot them. Hippos could also benefit from 900 grains to the head,but once was enough for them.

There is one truth about head shooting that no one can deny, it that a bb to the brain kills much quicker than an anvil to the ass any day of the week.

Best of luck

 

[sgt_zim]

the boiler room (vital zone) does expand as the game pursued gets larger. a moose has a bigger heart and bigger lungs than a white tail or feral hog.

that's the reason why sea level MPBR for a white tail (shooting a 300 WM with 180 gr NP) is about 325 yards, and for a moose is about 450 yards.

I head-shoot hogs when they're inside about 75 yards. But nothing else.

 

[Von S.]

I was having a bit of fun Sarge.

There are only two other guys who I hunt with who are cold hearted and capable enough to head shoot not only Bambi, but Bambi's Mammy as well. One is from Alabama and the other from Texas.

I enjoy popping little porkers in the dome with a silenced 22 semi and still have quite a few ready to throw into BBQ after they defrost.

 

[WAB]

Regarding game with the 7x57, I have been hunting extensively with the 7x57 for going on 35 years. I have no idea how many animals I have harvested with it, but the species have included: whitetail deer, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, elk, black bear, caribou, dall sheep, zebra, wildebeest, bushbuck, kudu, oryx. I suspect I'm missing a few. I shoot 145 gr speer BTSP on NA deer and swift A-Frame 160 gr and 175 gr bullets on everything else. All loads are sub moa in both of my 7x57's. Very seldom is a second shot needed. On a recent eland hunt I left the 7x57 behind and used my .375 H&H so that is probably my line. However the eland was a neck shot at 160 yds (the only shot possible). It would have been just as dead with the 7x57 but I could not predict that I wouldn't be taking a quartering shot on an eland and to me that could be a stretch for the caliber.

I have found a reputable engineering company willing to make a special run of 175 gr solids for the 7x57. The minimum order is 500. I'm seriously considering it, who know where this could lead!!!

 

[WAB]

Regarding the original query regarding the 7x57 on cape buffalo, I have only shot 5 so I am not an expert, but my experience has led me to jump right past my .375 and grab my .458 Lott when I am buffalo hunting. I would be more likely to try a brain shot on an elephant with a 7x57 than play with a grumpy old dugga boy in the mopane scrub with one.

 

[Bruce]

Years ago in Zambia I met an elderly gentleman by the name of JACKSON...can't recall his first name. He was a real expert and ONLY used his 7x 57 on all animals, ibcluincl buffalo! He showed me his journal collection where EVERY SINGLE SHOT FIRED was recorded...date/ time/weather conditions/ light condition/ distance shot,/ angle of entry etc etc.
He was a MARKSMAN and shot placement was 100%...I have NO idea what bullets/ loads he was using but the facts are there and he lived to a ripe old age.

 

[sgt_zim]

I was having a bit of fun Sarge.

There are only two other guys who I hunt with who are cold hearted and capable enough to head shoot not only Bambi, but Bambi's Mammy as well. One is from Alabama and the other from Texas.

I enjoy popping little porkers in the dome with a silenced 22 semi and still have quite a few ready to throw into BBQ after they defrost.

I like popping the little porkers in the head with my 45-70.

 

[Von S.]

Now there's some leg wetting excitement!

Good shooting Tex.

 

[8x68]

Hi JP,

I use the 7x57 since 1972. I have hunted with it for big Red Deer and Wild boar.
To me, there are no better big game bullets for the 7 mm Mauser than the 160 and 175 Nosler Partition ones. Period. And not only for this cartridge...
You can load them, easily, in a good 7x57 rifle, for a muzzle velocity of 2700 and 2600 f/s respectively.
The Nosler Partition is, in my experience, one of the few (the best to me) bullet that combines unique expansion and penetration properties: They expand at VERY low velocities and, also, penetrate at VERY high velocities breaking bones and, most often than not, exit, leaving a good exit hole for, eventually, track the animal.

Good luck!

100% agree. I might throw in the Woodleigh 160 & 175 gr series of bullets as well. As many know Mr. Bell dispatched a multitude of pachyderms with the 7x57.

 

[Von S.]

8 x 68,

Ibet that with a sub moa 22 with a top notch scope and silencer on it you could shoot 5 bullets through the drinking hole of a soda can.

I bet that with a 223 that shoots an equally tight group you can do the same.

As you might also be able to perform the same surgery with a 7x57 as well.

Where is it that you think you would fall off the cliff? What round & caliber would you start shooting trash can lids?

Oh! No bench rest or sand bags on anything. Any position you want. You can use a bipod.