7x57 Mauser
The 7x57 Mauser, also known as the 7mm Mauser, 7mm Spanish Mauser, and .275 Rigby, was developed as a military cartridge in 1893 for use by the military forces of Spain. It was very successful as a military cartridge, and was subsequently adopted by numerous countries as the standard military cartridge, as well as being the inspiration for other innovative cartridge designs. As a military cartridge, the 7.57 Mauser is obsolete, but is still a successful sporting cartridge.
History
The Mauser Company, founded by the brothers Wilhelm and Peter-Paul Mauser, existed from the late 1860's until the end of WWII. After several innovations, and years of trying, the company's first major success was manufacturing rifles for the Turkish army in 7.65 cal.
The Spanish military adopted a new Mauser design in 1893. The new rifle was chambered for a smokeless powder cartridge featuring a bullet with a nominal diameter of 7mm (.284 inch), and a case length of 57mm. It featured a 175 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of about 2,300 feet per second. For its time, these ballistic factors were very impressive.
The Spanish-American War and the Boer War illustrated the qualities of the 7x57 Mauser as a military round. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders took very heavy casualties attacking an inferior force armed with 93 Mauser rifles. Likewise, the British soldiers fighting is South Africa were obliged to re-evaluate rifle design and tactics after facing the Boers firing the 7x57 rounds over open ground, easily outranging the .303 British cartridges.. The U.S. Springfield rifle was adopted by American forces in 1903 along with the .30-03 Springfield cartridge, modified in 1906 as the .30-06 when a 150 grain pointed bullet replaced the 220 grain round nose. The British experimented with a .276 cartridge, but never adopted it as standard, retaining the .303 British cartridge through both world wars, and into the 1950's..
The 7x57 Mauser became technically obsolete as a military cartridge when the NATO countries standardized the 7.62 NATO cartridge in 1954, although it remained in production well into the 1970's.
Sporting Round
The ballistics of the 7x57 Mauser quickly became popular with hunters. The flat trajectory, along with the penetrating effects of the 7mm sectional density, ensured its place as a big game cartridge. It was extremely popular in Africa, where it was used on everything up to, and including, elephants. Though not so popular today, the 7x57 is still loaded by most major ammunition manufacturers, and rifles are still chambered for the cartridge.
Given the age and metallurgy of the rifles for which it was loaded, most American commercial loads do not exploit the full potential of the cartridge. European loads are loaded to higher velocities and pressures. Better results can be obtained by hand-loading, but should only be used in modern rifles chambered for the 7x57 Mauser cartridge.
