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[Ron Myers]

My dad bought a 1922 7mm Spanish Mauser in the mid 1960's which he sporterized by cutting the stock down. I inherited the rifle three years ago, took it to a gunsmith and had him check out the barrel, action, head space, and bolt and everything checked out good.

This rifle shoots very well with iron sights but it has never had a scope. The bolt is curved but too wide to use with a regular scope mount.

I've decided to use the rear sight to put on a scout scope mount so I can use a scout scope and possibly an ATN Gen 1 NV scope for hunting deer/hogs. I don't want the rifle to sit in my gun safe gathering dust, I think dad would want me to use it!

So with that in mind, anyone have any experience with the 7x57 round and how were the results?

[Burt]

It's like most rounds, in that good shot placement with any decent bullet will get the job done.
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Ban guns to eliminate crime ?
Let's ban cars, to eliminate drunk driving.
Makes as much sense.

[Ron Myers]

Sounds promising Burt!

Hornady makes a 139 grain SST in 7mm, so after the dies come in I hope to load some of these.

Looks like Hodgdon has good loads with IMR 4064, which I have plenty from loading .308.

I'm looking forward to shooting the rifle out in the field, it was very accurate with iron sights out to 100 yards at the range!

[Goatwhiskers]

You're gonna love that rifle and the scout rifle concept. For one thing, the 7mm is well capable of killing anything on this continent without breaking your shoulder or burning a pound of powder per shot like some of these magnums. As you can tell I love the 7 and got a bad case of anti-magnumitis. I built one exactly as you describe for a customer who didn't want to change anything major. He loved the balance of the gun with the scope mounted as you describe. Don't remember what scope I used. Keep up posted as to your results. Goatwhiskers
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Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the he-- happened.

[Mike H]

A famous Ivory hunter in Africa killed many, many elephants with a 7mm, and the 139 gr bullet has a reputation for power and accuracy. A thought on the N/V scope, though - it will have very little eye relief, so it isn't suitable for mounting in the "Scout Rifle" position, will need to be much closer to your eye.

[Ron Myers]

I'm really torn about the whole thing.

It was the only rifle my dad ever owned.

A scout scope mount has to go very far forward due to eye relief. The rifle has a bolt which requires a scout scope or a long NV eyepiece because it is the wide-angle bent Mauser bolt.

The barrel is VERY long:

http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc429/Soonlobo/7mmmauser4.jpg

But it would be a shame to let this rifle sit around. And I do not want to screw it up!

[Goatwhiskers]

Ron, nothing to be torn about. Don't worry about the night vision, just go ahead and scope it. Every time you hunt with it it'll bring back the warm memories. You can even put the original sight back in later if you want. Goat
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Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the he-- happened.

[Ron Brown]

My first rifle was an Argentine 7 x 57. It didn't like the 175 gr military loads or the 175 gr factory loads. I learned how to hand load.

It was destroyed in a house fire in 1966. I wish I still had it.

Ron
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Voting should require respiration.

[Ron Myers]

Sorry to hear that, it's amazing what gets lost in a fire

[captdavid]

The 7x57 is my go-to hog/deer gun. I use 150gn Partitions for deer and hogs if I think my shots might be over 150yds. I use 175 Hornadys under feeders and lights where the shots are closer. If you reload: it's a long story, but if I were to do it again, I'd probably go with 160Sierra pro hunters or 162 Hornadys. If not, any of the factory loads are good. Id still go with the 175s for close and 140s for farther. capt david
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150gn 7x57, 165gn 308 Partitions or, 308 180gn Power Points, not a better pig load anywhere!

[analog_peninsula]

I've got 2 (1 spare) 1x Pentax Lightseeker scopes that I use in a scout setup, one Burris 2.75x IER unmounted and a Burris 3-12x IER in scout configuration on a BLR takedown.

I like the scout setup with reservations. the 2.75x Burris was purchased for a .500 A2, as I didn't feel like killing myself with a scope through the forehead during a moment of inattention with a rifle that generates something like 100lbs of recoil with each shot. It worked very well and was quite accurate, but I decided to drop down to a 1x scope for the wider field of view. I was so happy with the results (I was able to shoot 1 hole groups from shooting sticks at 40+ yards; not as impressive as it sounds when each bullet is the size of your thumb) that I tracked down a second 1x Pentax Lightseeker with great difficulty (not exactly a common scope model), for a spare.

Recently, I bought a BLR takedown for traveling, and got the Burris 3-12x IER scope for maximum flexibility. In all honesty, I don't find the optical quality to be very high on most of the Burris scopes that I've owned, but they make the only decent scout scopes on the market that are over 2.5x, so you get Hobson's choice. I find the scope mediocre for 100 yard shooting, but it seems to improve for 200 yard shooting for whatever reason. Bear in mind that a scout scope doesn't work as well as a regular scope in very low light.

If you set your expectations to a reasonable level, you'll be happy enough, but remember the scout set up has its quirks.
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analog_peninsula

When did ignorance become an opinion?

[John L]

You can get the Leupold custom shop to build a variable power scout scope. You might want to give them a call. I did a while back and the price wasn't as bad as the word "custom" would suggest.

[analog_peninsula]

That's a very interesting idea; maybe I'll give them a call some afternoon when I've got too much time on my hands.
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analog_peninsula

When did ignorance become an opinion?