New Rifle Day

[RBHarter]

It's time for the 257-08' aka 25 Souper ........

If the Savage 260s were anything like the 308 and 06' room to load out would only be cramped by the mag length and I don't see that as a problem in the Axis etc as they are all long actions anyway . The throats are generous .

 

[BBerguson]

I just bought my first 6.5 creedmore, a caliber/cartridge I didn’t think I’d ever own. I don’t jump on bandwagons and never minded being a little different. So, I bought a 6.5 cm... Actually, it was the gun I wanted and it just happened to be the 6.5cm. It’s a CZ 557 American with a black synthetic stock. I couldn’t stop looking at it (and handling it) for 3 weeks and finally bought it. Can’t explain it but I don’t think I have to to those here, it’s just a gun I wanted. Waiting for the oddball 19mm rings (no, not really happy about this) and I already have everything needed to start reloading but I’m waiting to get a scope on it first. Well that and I have to get surgery on my neck this week so I have other things I want to do first... It will be a post surgery recovery project...

Bit yeah, I have a 6.5 creedmore now!

BB

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Yep, I would've been an enabler.

I woulda just bought it to replace the tang safety X57 Littlgirl appropriated.

I can give the short version.
Remington sucks.... see 6mm Remington, or 280 not the ackley as a reference.
they coulda went 6.5-06 or 6.5 X 57 but no... wow now your getting me going... LOL

Thats the reason I dont buy a CM. I built a 6.5/06 back about 1988/89. Its been very good to me. My smaller 6.5 was the Sweed but I never used it once I got the 6.5/06 so it was sold.
About three years back I bought a Grendel.. then another. Great lil caliber that Grendel!! Now I dont use the 6.5/06 much!!

CW

 

[Ian]

Geeze, is everybody I know going to get cut on this year? Best wishes for a good outcome BBerguson, and don't let them get near your thoracic ducts with a blade.

 

[L Ross]

Back in 1990 I laid down my shekels and placed my bet on an all weather custom built 7x57 that I have mentioned on this forum before. I still have no regrets. It handles bullets from 130 to 175 with equal aplomb. It has never had a cast bullet down its bore. That was not what it was built for.

If a person got a 7x57 as their first big game rifle and there was appropriate factory ammo for it there would never be a need to up grade unless one regularly had to hunt dangerous game. I have never recovered a bullet from a game animal. I was unable to autopsy the 1,200 lb. feral angus bull, but I know the broadside shot exited. The insurance shot I put in as it lay on its side from the brisket up into its shoulders did not exit.

If I had to cull the safe in dire extremis, it would be the last to go. Why that grand cartridge has withered on the vine I do not understand.

 

[Glaciers]

The 7x57 is the only 7mm I would own. My Father used a 7 Remington mag he used it very well and brought down lots of game. I've always been a 30-06 guy because of the versatility of the 30 calibers. The extra 10 - 15 yards point blank range with the mighty 7mm left me unimpressed. Tried a 264 mag, naw, 25-06, I liked that one but it went away. Came to Alaska and my ideas changed. The 30-06 was even more appropriate. But a bit light for some cases, enter the 338 mag, 35 Whelen and 458 mag. If your going to have a thumper, don't be a piker. But the 30-06 got the job most of the time.

243, not need as I already had a 22 LR. But I always wanted a Featherweight Winchester in 7x57 and 6.5 Swede. I have seen what the blister cartridges like the 264 mag, 25-06 would do to meat with the bullets available back then and compared that to more moderate velocity cartridges. I became a fan of the cartridges in the mid 2400 to 2800 fps. In the case of the 30-06 with 180 to 200 grain loafing along at 2600 to 2700 did great work.

With that in mind a 7x57 was on the list, but, never coincided with the jingle in the pocket. The 7x57, 6.5 Swede, 30-06, and 35 Whelen along with a few others fit well in that department.

Advance to the modern times. Lots of great cartridges have been developed. But slow and steady, or should I say moderate and steady get the job done even better when you take into account all of the advantages of the new bullets a person has to choose from. The venerable cartridges I've listed, and some I haven't, do the job without a lot of fluff.

I have to agree with L Ross, the 7x57 is a pretty fine work horse. You can keep all the other 7 millimeters. They won't do anything the 30-06 won't do.

 

[RBHarter]

African game ...... Bell . 7×57 175 gr FMJ for elephant . But he didn't shoot chest vitals either .

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I always respected the writings of folks having used the 7x57. My first "deer rifle" was a 8x57 k98 sporterized by my grandfather. Mostly a welded bolt, d&t Peep and a Fajen stock. Now over thirty years later... I really wish I never changed that. But I had it D&T for scope and pruned barrel back to 20".
Reading gun stories writers where enamored by the new 7mm/08. Larry Wysoon (sp) called it the ideal whitetail caliber. So I had ta have one. And have had one ever since about '86/87. Im on my third now. Its most everything the 7/57 is but its "class". It and a 7Mag cover my 7mm battery. I had a TCU for a while but it went when the barrels was sold off.

CW

 

[L Ross]

African game ...... Bell . 7×57 175 gr FMJ for elephant . But he didn't shoot chest vitals either .

The most stunning thing I recall from reading Bells' book , (Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter I think), was when Bell told his Rigby's barrel had never been polluted by a soft nose bullet. He shot hundreds of meat animals to feed his crew of packers etc. His shot game animals through the renal arteries with a FMJ bullet.

Imagine that? The repeated precision of shooting hundreds of medium game animals clipping the renal arteries with a .284" FMJ bullet with barrel mounted iron sights! I feel totally inadequate.

 

[Rockydoc]

Should work perfectly!

It does! I have a 260 Remington Kimber 84M Classic. Blue steel and walnut beauty. Deadly accurate with 129gr Interbonds or 120 gr Ballistic Tips.

 

[Joshua]

The most stunning thing I recall from reading Bells' book , (Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter I think), was when Bell told his Rigby's barrel had never been polluted by a soft nose bullet. He shot hundreds of meat animals to feed his crew of packers etc. His shot game animals through the renal arteries with a FMJ bullet.

Imagine that? The repeated precision of shooting hundreds of medium game animals clipping the renal arteries with a .284" FMJ bullet with barrel mounted iron sights! I feel totally inadequate.

Bell also used two different .256 rifles quite a bit. One was an M/S carbine and the other was a George Gibbs rifle. Those rifles were built on Steyr factory surplus barreled receivers. I believe they were part of an overproduction from a cancelled contract.

I knew nothing of Bell until about ten years ago. I was in a local Pawn shop and came across a Bubba hacked up rifle with a deep hand filed rear sight dovetail. The barrel was marked Steyr 1895. It had the weird magazine belly where the enbloc clips would have nestled. It was priced at $95.00 and had a tag that said “6.5 Something”.

I shined a light down the barrel and it was in good shape. I didn’t buy it. I did however research the Belgian 6.5x53R/.256 Gibbs Rimmed. I wasn’t reloading at the time so forming brass and making ammo for that rifle was out of the picture. I already had my Arisaka basket case to deal with. Also, the dovetail bothered me. And, I was quite a bit poorer back then, $95.00 dollars seemed like a lot of money back then. Hell, to put that in perspective, I just spent that much money on five tins of air rifle pellets, for my Sheridan Blue Streak.

I wish I had bought that rifle. I could have found the money. I have seen a few modern “tribute copies” of Bell’s original Gibbs rifle, all made from hacked up Belgium surplus rifles. I would have liked to have put one of those together.

Josh

 

[BBerguson]

Geeze, is everybody I know going to get cut on this year? Best wishes for a good outcome BBerguson, and don't let them get near your thoracic ducts with a blade.

Thanks Ian. I have the same surgeon that fixed a herniated disk for me in 2005, I’m in good hands!

BB