7x57 and 8x57 , who hunts with one ?

[bigrich]

hey fellas, i'm mulling over a plan to rebarrel a FN 98 commercial sporter to 7x57 or 8x57 . i'd prefer the 7x57 but brass is scarce , 8x57 is much easier to find .so any experience or knowledge with hunting with these two old cals ? i've played with 8x57 a little years ago , so i have a bit of a idea . want to get opinions on projectiles and game , and how much mucking around forming 7x57 brass ? cheers

[mchughcb]

Shot first moose with 8x57. Shot first sambar with 7x57R.

[No1Mk3]

7x57 brass is as common as 8x57, simply run 8x57 in 7x57 die. You can also trim and form 30-06 to 7x57 (much cheaper, 30-06 is so common I can hardly even give it away). When I still hunted I preferred 8x57 for the heavier bullets to cover a wider range of game.

[No1Mk3]

Just to show the forgiving nature of M93,95 & 96 rifles 7x57 ammo was used late in the Boer War with cases made from 7.62x53 Belgian, this was known as 7mm Kortnek (literally shortneck). Worked fine. As for game, everything on earth will fall to the 7mm, Bell took over 800 elephant with it using military ball ammo (173g FMJ R/N)

[bigrich]

7x57 brass is as common as 8x57, simply run 8x57 in 7x57 die. You can also trim and form 30-06 to 7x57 (much cheaper, 30-06 is so common I can hardly even give it away). When I still hunted I preferred 8x57 for the heavier bullets to cover a wider range of game.

thanks for your reply mate . with converting other brass , 30-06, 270win to 7x57, did you have issues with donuts/neck thickness at all . i resized 30-06 to 8x60 a couple years ago , and the necks had donut issues . i've seen first hand what a 170gn sst can do on pigs in a 8x57 , they hit hard .

commercial 7x57 brass is not common these days. sellier &bellot or norma is all i can find after a web search for availability in oz . PPU do make it , but i can't find any for sale, 8x57 is easier to find . target species is mainly pigs, goats and deer . i'm thinking 7x57 is probably more suitable . what were your preferred bullets in 8x57 ?

[No1Mk3]

The 8mm I used was a 1942 K98k sporter with a Weaver K6, my reload notes from the mid 70's show 3 loads a Hornady 125g SP with 46g of IMR3031 used for fox, goats, possum (I lived in NZ then) and fallow, Speer 150g SP, same charge, for pigs, goats, Javan Rusa and Red Deer, and Speer 200g SP, 2 loads listed were 51g IMR4350 and 48g Norma 203B, this load was used on Rusa (Unicolor, Sambar), Wapiti, scrub bulls. I had also intended to use the 125g on Thar and Chamois but decided to take the 308 Ruger paddle stock as a lighter rifle for alpine hunting. I firmly believe the 200g SP would take anything on Earth, including the Big 5 given the right shot opportunity, after seeing what it did to bulls and Wapiti and would have no hesitation going after NT Buffalo with it, Cheers

[Oldbloke]

I see 8x57 with 200g is almost identical to 30.06 in the ADI Manual.
2540fps
2577fps

[bigpete]

Just to show the forgiving nature of M93,95 & 96 rifles 7x57 ammo was used late in the Boer War with cases made from 7.62x53 Belgian, this was known as 7mm Kortnek (literally shortneck). Worked fine. As for game, everything on earth will fall to the 7mm, Bell took over 800 elephant with it using military ball ammo (173g FMJ R/N)

Remember when and where he did that,elephant had not been hunted extensively yet in the region and the terrain landed itself to easy stalking and precise shot placement. In later years he apparently tried similar with very different results

[bigrich]

The 8mm I used was a 1942 K98k sporter with a Weaver K6, my reload notes from the mid 70's show 3 loads a Hornady 125g SP with 46g of IMR3031 used for fox, goats, possum (I lived in NZ then) and fallow, Speer 150g SP, same charge, for pigs, goats, Javan Rusa and Red Deer, and Speer 200g SP, 2 loads listed were 51g IMR4350 and 48g Norma 203B, this load was used on Rusa (Unicolor, Sambar), Wapiti, scrub bulls. I had also intended to use the 125g on Thar and Chamois but decided to take the 308 Ruger paddle stock as a lighter rifle for alpine hunting. I firmly believe the 200g SP would take anything on Earth, including the Big 5 given the right shot opportunity, after seeing what it did to bulls and Wapiti and would have no hesitation going after NT Buffalo with it, Cheers

thank again mate , this is the sort of first hand information i'm looking for . how was accuracy with the 150's ? this weight is toward the lighter end of what a 8x57 can shoot , hence my concern over accuracy . 200gn is a bit on the heavy side for what i hunt , and i have no doubt about it's hitting power . .323" is a marginal jump in bore from 308 , but after lots of study i reckon the reduction in sectional density/bullet length would add to energy transfer with the right bullets. a short list of what i think would suit my uses in 8x57 would be the 150 speer and hornady, and the 170sst . these bullet weights are optimum in 7x57 , which in theory would suit me better . the data listed for 7x57 is lower pressure than what's used for 8x57. so there may be a bit more to be had from 7x57 ballistically as well .

[ruger 375]

I have taken game with both......lots of game actually, i had an 8x57 as my ute gun for a while as with bigger bullet diameter just seems to kill so much better, especially on donkeys and camels, although even big pigs i feel you can tell the difference just in the way it folds them as well. You wont go wrong with either though.

[bigrich]

I have taken game with both......lots of game actually, i had an 8x57 as my ute gun for a while as with bigger bullet diameter just seems to kill so much better, especially on donkeys and camels, although even big pigs i feel you can tell the difference just in the way it folds them as well. You wont go wrong with either though.

what bullets were you running in the 8x57 ?

[ruger 375]

I use Hornady and Woodleigh mostly, i tried the ACP thingies until he went out of business and they were good also.....it really doesn't matter what you use on mid and small game