7x57 - the grand cartridge dedicated reloading thread, - let's help each other! :)

[Hanechdene]

I have recently started using a 7x57 and have used the method described by Heym to develop a load using Sierra GK 140gr with Reloder R17

 

[Scipio]

Congratulations with joining the club my friend How did you find that load ?

RL 17 i believe is quite close, if not a Clone of rs60 i believe

 

[Hanechdene]

Giving me an accurate load

 

[Heym SR20]

Giving me an accurate load

Don’t worry. The 7x57 in my experience is very forgiving cartridge. Case full of powder, stick a bullet on top and it shoots well enough.

 

[Scipio]

Don’t worry. The 7x57 in my experience is very forgiving cartridge. Case full of powder, stick a bullet on top and it shoots well enough.

Well that is good news for a newbie reloader like myself
The relevant powders all seem to pretty much cost the same as well so luckily cost won't be a deciding factor.

 

[Heym SR20]

Well that is good news for a newbie reloader.

With mine and factory ammo I can take a mixed bag of various different loads / bullet eights / brands etc and I am pretty confident I could happily and humanely shoot any deer inside 100m, if not a bit further. They will all shoot into a clay pigeon sized target.

 

[enfieldspares]

But a few questions then arise; -

Or is the much the same as for more modern chrome-moly barrels?

Barrel burning is to do more with the powder than the metal of the barrel. And the main culprit is double based rather than single based powders. Double base powders use nitro glycerin as did the old British cordite. These burn out the throat. Cellulose powders, so we used to say, burn out the muzzle. A bit of an oversimplification that is sure. But what isn't is that performance comes at a cost and with double based powders that give that performance that cost can be increased rates of throat erosion. But then again twenty rounds rapid of any powder isn't a barrel's best friend regardless of the alloy that it is made from. And likely boat tail type bullets don't help.

 

[Scipio]

Barrel burning is to do more with the powder than the metal of the barrel. And the main culprit is double based rather than single based powders. Double base powders use nitro glycerin as did the old British cordite. These burn out the throat. Cellulose powders, so we used to say, burn out the muzzle. A bit of an oversimplification that is sure. But what isn't is that performance comes at a cost and with double based powders that give that performance that cost can be increased rates of throat erosion. But then again twenty rounds rapid of any powder isn't a barrel's best friend regardless of the alloy that it is made from. And likely boat tail type bullets don't help.

Hello @enfieldspares and thanks once more for the input But why the suspicion of boat tails "likely not helping the issue" , if i may ask ? .)

I was looking over the data yesterday, and for the 130 fox i might go with the RS60. Ideally i'd have prefered the less barrel wearing and aggressive N150, but the extra velocity capacity of the RS60 allows me to search for the accuracy nodes a bit below max as well, whereas with the N150 it would be starting to get a bit slow if i did that. So there is simply more room to "play" so to speak with the RS60. And as you point out, as a hunter, and especially with this rifle, i wont be taking long string of shots, with a hot barrel anyways, reducing the extra barrel wear somewhat.

 

[Motard]

I have one only recipe for my Haenel Kipp 7x57R wich, as you know, should be loaded a tad less hot than a bolt action.But, as others just said. is a very forgiving caliber: just load it, shot it and hit. I did exactly this and took a male roe and a boar the first morning, neither was within 200 mt from me. So never changed the load wich is N150 43.3 gr before a Nosler BT 140 gr with 77,8 oal This is giving me 850 ms speed and exceptional repetivity and consistency. Use same load on my chamois hunting.
Another story is if you whant to make a real tac driver with 120-125 gr solid bulletts and 47 to 48 gr of n150. Have a very experienced shooting pal using this round for real LR hunting. Terribly effective and a tadd devastating

 

[Motard]

As per primers literature state to stick with Large Rifles kind

 

[Scipio]

I have one only recipe for my Haenel Kipp 7x57R wich, as you know, should be loaded a tad less hot than a bolt action.But, as others just said. is a very forgiving caliber: just load it, shot it and hit. I did exactly this and took a male roe and a boar the first morning, neither was within 200 mt from me. So never changed the load wich is N150 43.3 gr before a Nosler BT 140 gr with 77,8 oal This is giving me 850 ms speed and exceptional repetivity and consistency. Use same load on my chamois hunting.
Another story is if you whant to make a real tac driver with 120-125 gr solid bulletts and 47 to 48 gr of n150. Have a very experienced shooting pal using this round for real LR hunting. Terribly effective and a tadd devastating

Thank you @Motard , this is great information Do you know what solid projectile your friend is using?

 

[Scipio]

As per primers literature state to stick with Large Rifles kind

yes, i was more thinking what peoples opinion are on the brands, as there is quite a few, but i'll see what my local powder dealer has in the shop, and councils

 

[Motard]

Thank you @Motard , this is great information Do you know what solid projectile your friend is using?

Rather shure he was referrind to the hasler ariete or hunter. It is ane italian factory and as far as I know loads and pressures are very near to the barnes. If you scan their site you wil find reloading recipes for plentny of cslibers and gater some info comparing them with same loads from barnes. DROP me a message if you need some more reloading data.

 

[Motard]

yes, i was more thinking what peoples opinion are on the brands, as there is quite a few, but i'll see what my local powder dealer has in the shop, and councils

Before the current worldwide shortage my go to where CCI and among them the BR kind..CCI are known to be thrustable (rather no misfire) but (also very important to me) don't goes off easily..Now I have found some batch of RWS LR wich I feel are somehow hotter than CCI but perform well. I have one old "brick- wise" Italian reloading manuals with pics of the fire spears of most primers in the market. Interesting show. Did you consider RS62 monobasic powder? is a bit for conservative than Rs60 but will lead you at speeds.

 

[Scipio]

Rather shure he was referrind to the hasler ariete or hunter. It is ane italian factory and as far as I know loads and pressures are very near to the barnes. If you scan their site you wil find reloading recipes for plentny of cslibers and gater some info comparing them with same loads from barnes. DROP me a message if you need some more reloading data.

Thanks again Motard i did find them, and they look interesting. In fact i really like their weight options, going a bit inbetween what is typical. However unfortunately i cant find a Danish dealer for them, and as the Danish rules are at the moment it's a huge hazzle getting permission to import even just projectiles. Maybe one day it will change though, and i might give these ones a go

Before the current worldwide shortage my go to where CCI and among them the BR kind..CCI are known to be thrustable (rather no misfire) but (also very important to me) don't goes off easily..Now I have found some batch of RWS LR wich I feel are somehow hotter than CCI but perform well. I have one old "brick- wise" Italian reloading manuals with pics of the fire spears of most primers in the market. Interesting show. Did you consider RS62 monobasic powder? is a bit for conservative than Rs60 but will lead you at speeds.

Super, I think i can get cci here! And yep, having trustworthyness as a focus point in your primers sounds sensible .-)
I did consider the rs62, and for my 6.5x57, which i am also loading for, it comes out as almost the best option, but for the 7x57 with a 120-130 grn copper, it isnt projected to burn out completely (around 90% BR is projected).
But i have made a plan, in the coming days i will go to the range and shoot lead training ammo. That will in turn provide me with the empty once fired cases. Once i have those, i can measure my own case capacity and make up some mock loads (without powder) to obtain coal, seating depth etc, which should give GRT more accurate info for my load., Then i can recalculate in GRT and see if anything has changed with regards to the powders recomended. Then i'll buy a can or two. .-)

 

[Motard]

Thanks again Motard i did find them, and they look interesting. In fact i really like their weight options, going a bit inbetween what is typical. However unfortunately i cant find a Danish dealer for them, and as the Danish rules are at the moment it's a huge hazzle getting permission to import even just projectiles. Maybe one day it will change though, and i might give these ones a go

Super, I think i can get cci here! And yep, having trustworthyness as a focus point in your primers sounds sensible .-)
I did consider the rs62, and for my 6.5x57, which i am also loading for, it comes out as almost the best option, but for the 7x57 with a 120-130 grn copper, it isnt projected to burn out completely (around 90% BR is projected).
But i have made a plan, in the coming days i will go to the range and shoot lead training ammo. That will in turn provide me with the empty once fired cases. Once i have those, i can measure my own case capacity and make up some mock loads (without powder) to obtain coal, seating depth etc, which should give GRT more accurate info for my load., Then i can recalculate in GRT and see if anything has changed with regards to the powders recomended. Then i'll buy a can or two. .-)

hallo Scipio, if costs are not the main issue You can consider also Norma 204 and Urp. Both are not so mild on barrels as the Viht 100 line but anyway lighters than Rs60 wich is taught to be a real barrel eater. When developing my loads for 7x65R stutzen Urp was absolutely the best choose with that short barrel: speed & precision wise. And using the gun mainly for hunting and seldom at the range for zero check also a half a kilo of Norma can last decades. recently had to waste some n150 12 years old cause the horrible smell raising as soon as I opened the bottle. chemistry, not whine. unfortunately cant help with Hasler: have some spare bulkets in 308 and 6.5 but none in .284.

 

[Laurie]

You can consider also Norma 204 and Urp

Unavailable in the UK as per all Norma powders. RUAG brought in a single shipment of the entire range back when REACH banned most IMR, Hodgdon etc grades. They didn't sell well, probably due to British shooters' unfamiliarity (Norma powders hadn't been imported since the 1980s) despite keen pricing. I don't know how much effort the importer put into marketing / publicity, not a lot I suspect. Anyway after a few months RUAG sold all its remaining stocks to a few large dealers at a discount and that was it.

 

[Motard]

With mine and factory ammo I can take a mixed bag of various different loads / bullet eights / brands etc and I am pretty confident I could happily and humanely shoot any deer inside 100m, if not a bit further. They rdrddc,9i f all shoot into a clay pigeon sized target.

Unavailable in the UK as per all Norma powders. RUAG brought in a single shipment of the entire range back when REACH banned most IMR, Hodgdon etc grades. They didn't sell well, probably due to British shooters' unfamiliarity (Norma powders hadn't been imported since the 1980s) despite keen pricing. I don't know how much effort the importer put into marketing / publicity, not a lot I suspect. Anyway after a few months RUAG sold all its remaining stocks to a few large dealers at a discount and that was it.

This is a nightmare scenario..every effort done for developing a good and reliable load wasted. Something to think about and make me regeretting (well not really but somethime nearly ) having started reloading.

 

[Scipio]

Unavailable in the UK as per all Norma powders. RUAG brought in a single shipment of the entire range back when REACH banned most IMR, Hodgdon etc grades. They didn't sell well, probably due to British shooters' unfamiliarity (Norma powders hadn't been imported since the 1980s) despite keen pricing. I don't know how much effort the importer put into marketing / publicity, not a lot I suspect. Anyway after a few months RUAG sold all its remaining stocks to a few large dealers at a discount and that was it.

hallo Scipio, if costs are not the main issue You can consider also Norma 204 and Urp. Both are not so mild on barrels as the Viht 100 line but anyway lighters than Rs60 wich is taught to be a real barrel eater. When developing my loads for 7x65R stutzen Urp was absolutely the best choose with that short barrel: speed & precision wise. And using the gun mainly for hunting and seldom at the range for zero check also a half a kilo of Norma can last decades. recently had to waste some n150 12 years old cause the horrible smell raising as soon as I opened the bottle. chemistry, not whine. unfortunately cant help with Hasler: have some spare bulkets in 308 and 6.5 but none in .284.

Hello guys, and thanks for giving this thread a look @Laurie .-)
I am based in Denmark, and getting Norma powders here isnt a problem. Lovex, Norma, Vihtavouri and RS all seem quite gettable
Going with GRTs and xxlreloading.coms advice (with the limited input from own once fired cases and coal for my chamber that i still have at this point), N150 seems the best option. That is if i go with a 120 grn barnes ttsx . if i go with the fox 130 RS60 seems thebetter fit, but tbh i am unsure of just how precise these software predictions really are??
Especially without the input of my own case capacity data and coal.

This is a nightmare scenario..every effort done for developing a good and reliable load wasted. Something to think about and make me regeretting (well not really but somethime nearly ) having started reloading.

haha, yeah. i will be going for a powder i hope i will be able to get in steady supply, going forwards

 

[Motard]

Hello guys, and thanks for giving this thread a look @Laurie .-)
I am based in Denmark, and getting Norma powders here isnt a problem. Lovex, Norma, Vihtavouri and RS all seem quite gettable
Going with GRTs and xxlreloading.coms advice (with the limited input from own once fired cases and coal for my chamber that i still have at this point), N150 seems the best option. That is if i go with a 120 grn barnes ttsx . if i go with the fox 130 RS60 seems thebetter fit, but tbh i am unsure of just how precise these software predictions really are??
Especially without the input of my own case capacity data and coal.




haha, yeah. i will be going for a powder i hope i will be able to get in steady supply, going forwards

You'll need chroning your's round grom starting at the range. With preview and real speed (and other dignes of pressure) you will exactly know kow where you are with the charges. in my experience QL does often nail the preview speed at a rate of more or less 10/20 mt per sec. Incredible. But this depend from the reliability of the data you provide. within common hunting distances not a ballistic program will report any differences in clicks you'll need to hit the target.