My dad might go on an Alaskan hunt for 3 weeks hunting bear, caribou and moose.
He is going to take his custom 7x57 mauser because he has shoulder problems and can't shoot the larger calibers any more.
I am going to load him some Barnes X bullets but I wanted to know what everyone thought for weight. I have 140gr XLCs at 2900fps for my 7x57 Ruger #1.
Knowing that the X bullet expands to almost twice its diameter and retains almost 100% of its weight, I think this load would work well, but I was also thinking about the 150 or 160gr X bullets.
I think any of these loads would be adequate, how many 30-30s have killed moose in the past. The 7x57 mauser was used on Elephant in Africa and has successfully killed every species of big game on the planet.
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"Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie Odonnell FAT"
7x57 worked for Bell and others because they knew enough to use the "proper" bullet for the intended job. It will still work today if you match the bullet to the game. For moose and bigger game i'd NOT use less than a 160 grain bullet.
I killed some big caribou with a 7x57 useing 175 grain Speer mag tips. They worked very well. I used the heavy bullet because there was Brown Bears around where i hunted.
Nothing wrong with the Barnes bullets but If it were me I would load the 175 grain Grand Slam. I think Nosler Makes the Accu-bond for that caliber. That would be another good choice. Good Luck and Have fun.
I agree with your choice of the 160 Grn. Barnes-XLC,
The 7X57 Mauser with 175 Grn. Barnes-XLC bullets would also be an excellent choice, especially involving those big nasty brown bears.
As for moose and caribou, they're not that hard to kill, if a hunter does his part and places the bullet where it needs to go the 7X57 with 150's is a'plenty...
My dad might go on an Alaskan hunt for 3 weeks hunting bear, caribou and moose.
He is going to take his custom 7x57 mauser because he has shoulder problems and can't shoot the larger calibers any more.
I am going to load him some Barnes X bullets but I wanted to know what everyone thought for weight. I have 140gr XLCs at 2900fps for my 7x57 Ruger #1.
Knowing that the X bullet expands to almost twice its diameter and retains almost 100% of its weight, I think this load would work well, but I was also thinking about the 150 or 160gr X bullets.
I think any of these loads would be adequate, how many 30-30s have killed moose in the past. The 7x57 mauser was used on Elephant in Africa and has successfully killed every species of big game on the planet.
Use 160 or 175 grain premium controlled expansion bullets. Shot placement is everything! I used a .270 Win. with Nosler 150 grain Partition bullets for everything in Alaska, where I llived for three years, and never had to shoot anything more than once except for one bear who took two shots before he stopped running! Turns out the first shot had destroyed his lungs, and he would not have gotten far. The 7X57 with a 160 or 175-grain Barnes X would have done just as well! I now use the 7X57 (Ruger No. 1A) almost exclusively when not hunting with a muzzleloader!
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"Bitte, trinks du das Wasser nicht. Dahin haben die Kuhen gesheissen."
7x57 for caribou, Bear, and Moose
