Do I need a 7x57?

[big ears]

I have shot 6.5x55 and am very comfortable with it. It has done all I wanted and has given me a lovely red deer trophy which is on my wall.
Most of my stalking is roe with a few fallow and the odd red. I do not shoot boar but might someday and have been to Montana to hunt elk and might go back (if the wife allows)
I am seriously thinking of trading everything in and getting a single shot lightweight stalking rifle. The two calibres which are shortlisted are the 6.5x55 and the 7x57.
To move to the 7x57 I would have to change all my reloading kit and get new powders and bullets etc.
So my question is. How much will I gain by moving to 7x57 over the 6.5x55 which I already know well?

BE

 

[dodgyrog]

A heavier and maybe slower bullet.
Great for Roe and Fallow, maybe for reds.
Not enough for Boar IMHO

 

[A Guy Out West]

So many good bullets for the little 7, get one, you will have a ball.

 

[.25-06]

If it was good enough for elephants I'm sure it cope with a little boar. It has a satisfying 'thump' on contact

A heavier and maybe slower bullet.
Great for Roe and Fallow, maybe for reds.
Not enough for Boar IMHO

 

[Jagare]

If its a break action single shot rifle your after then a 7x57R is what it should be chambered for. Ruger #1 can be had in 7x57. I've killed moose with my 7x57R and if your shooting boar over bait then a 7x57R or 7x57 will kill them perfectly well. A single shot rifle may not be the ideal rifle for driven boar but if it was the only rifle i owned then i would be giving a go. I've owned a single shot rifle for 40 years and never found it wanting.

 

[Heym SR20]

7x57 is a very good all round calibre, but so is the 6.5x55. Both are similar with 140 or 156gn bullets. Plenty good enough for most animals. If you need bigger then its 375 terratory.

If I was swapping to a single shot i would seriously look at the 7x65r. Nowt wrong with the 7x57R but it’s downloaded compared to the 7x57. I can load a 140 at c2650fps that mimics the 7x57, or I can use a 173gn for big thump, or you can ramp up the 140 to close to 270 type vel for a flat shooting open ground rifle.

Never felt disadvantaged by a single shot - mine is a combination, but have shot Roe out to 200 with it.

I have used both my 7x65r and my 7x57 bolt action on pigs. With the later i used a 156gn Brenneke type bullet. Pigs didnt like it.

 

[reloader54]

7x57 / 275 rigby is the rifle I always wanted to finish up owning,reading the exploits of walter "karamojo" bell and jim corbet, as a youngster, If I'm really honest I don't think I shoot enough "larger deer, [reds, sika,] and boar haven't got to my part of the world,,,,yet. there's still time I suppose for both to happen.

 

[Southern]

I have had a Ruger No.1A in 7x57mm, bought on a whim with a friend when we saw it in a gun store and both wanted it. It had a small Leupold scope on it, which was perfect. He finally bought me out, and I bought a No.1A in .280 Remington. I also have a CZ Brno ZKK in 7x57, and a 7x57 / 20 gauge combination gun. I love the versatility, from 100 gr plinking, 120-gr at 2,650 to 3,000 fps, to 160 and 175 for big game - so many good bullets.

I know a gun store owner who has a Blaser K95 in 7x57mm, which is his go-to rifle. He has hunted local deer and bear, elk out West, and all the UK deer with it.

 

[enfieldspares]

Of course there is some nonsense, also published on the BASC website, about .270 WCF being an advised minimum for wild boar in the UK. Yet of course the less powerful 6.5x54 MS was widely and successfully used for wild boar in continental Europe for decades. An in Scandinavia it'll kill elk dead. All these originally military "turn of the century"cartridges work effectively as deer cartridges.

IMHO better the devil you know than the devil you don't as long as you are using the appropriate bullet construction and bullet weight. So why not stick with your 6.5x55? If you handload 7mm does give entry to all the exotic RWS bullets if you can get hold of them. But if you only intend to shoot a maximum 140 grain bullet then 7x57 offers no advantage over an more easily found .270 WCF rifle.

 

[User00003]

You would get excellence over mediocrity by the move

 

[J&S]

I've been using a 7x57 for the past 25 years. Mainly for roe (30+/yr) and for a few red mostly at the rut and also for foxes. It's never let me down on any of them. I was tempted to buy a .243 barrel last year and was going to sell the 7x5 one. Alas, the .243 still sits in the cupboard and first choice is the 7x57. Love the 123gn bullets that RWS did, but also the 156gn Norma's. Both are good for anything, the 123's are my preferred choice for foxes, but the Norma's get the job done on deer with little to no mess on the roe.

Never shot a 6.5 so can't compare

 

[Uncas]

I used a 6.5x57 M+S for many years the127gr CP R.W.S. was the primary ammo that I shot every thing deer wise,
The 156gr H-Mantle worked fine one anything else.
I also used a 7x57 as well not much difference up to 160gr.

 

[big ears]

Guys thank you all for your comments. They echo what I’ve heard about the 7x57.
the only choice I have is 7x57 or 6.5x55 so it does narrow it down a bit.
This is going to be my final rifle so has to be the right choice and I am very comfortable with the 6.5x55 as a calibre.
It sounds like you don’t get much more from a 7x57 or am I wrong?

 

[User00003]

Guys thank you all for your comments. They echo what I’ve heard about the 7x57.
the only choice I have is 7x57 or 6.5x55 so it does narrow it down a bit.
This is going to be my final rifle so has to be the right choice and I am very comfortable with the 6.5x55 as a calibre.
It sounds like you don’t get much more from a 7x57 or am I wrong?

You get more weight in the bullet in diameter rather than length, along with ability to use 175g bullets and take large game and board for which 7mm is often a minimum requirement

I’ve used both for a long time, the 7x57 imho is far far superior in many ways to the 6.5, but esp in terminal performance (less runners) and bullet weight range

 

[big ears]

You get more weight in the bullet in diameter rather than length, along with ability to use 175g bullets and take large game and board for which 7mm is often a minimum requirement

I’ve used both for a long time, the 7x57 imho is far far superior in many ways to the 6.5, but esp in terminal performance (less runners) and bullet weight range

Thank you for this. The other thing in the mix now is the 7x67r!!
As this is a light rifle is the recoil significantly bigger in a 7x67r to s 7x57 under normal loading? I appreciate about Newton’s laws and equal and opposite etc.

 

[Southern]

The 7x65R can be loaded down to mild 7x57 levels, or up above that, if the rifle is strong enough - so it is a very flexible cartridge, as are the 7x64 and .280 Remington ( I love my Ruger No.1A in .280, but it is not the lithe break action like a K95 or Merkel K1. Still, a single shot is compact, even with a 22 or 24 inch barrel.

 

[Lateral]

I fell in love with the Blaser K95 a few years ago. I resisted for 3yrs, and then had a “sod it” moment ‍

I chose the 7x57r, because for me, a traditional style rifle, needs to be a traditional caliber, and being light rifle, this calibre is a good combination of doing the job, without too much recoil. That said, I just fitted the Blaser kickstop, which is even nicer to shoot.

There is nothing in the UK I wouldn’t shoot with it, including boar from a high seat, at night, but there’s no way I’d use it for driven boar, IMHO, one shot just isn’t enough, and could leave you vulnerable to harm !

Plus, for driven, I’d want a minimum of a 7x64, if not bigger.

 

[big ears]

I fell in love with the Blaser K95 a few years ago. I resisted for 3yrs, and then had a “sod it” moment ‍♂

I chose the 7x57r, because for me, a traditional style rifle, needs to be a traditional caliber, and being light rifle, this calibre is a good combination of doing the job, without too much recoil. That said, I just fitted the Blaser kickstop, which is even nicer to shoot.

There is nothing in the UK I wouldn’t shoot with it, including boar from a high seat, at night, but there’s no way I’d use it for driven boar, IMHO, one shot just isn’t enough, and could leave you vulnerable to harm !

Plus, for driven, I’d want a minimum of a 7x64, if not bigger.

Thanks,
Not planning driven boar ever. I am where you were a few years ago!! The sod it moment is almost there! And like you the 7x57 is tempting.
Oh decisions decisions. What fun!!

 

[Klenchblaize]

Waffen Manufaktur T. Jung GmbH – Waffentechnische Innovationen und Büchsenmacherhandwerk

www.waffenjung.de

K

 

[devon deer stalker]

have been to Montana to hunt elk and might go back (if the wife allows)
BE

You ain't going anywhere after I tell your wife how much the gun is you want to buy!
A Cornish pasty buy's by silence
Cheers
Richard