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The 7mm is a very interesting caliber with quite a pedigree. Ron Spomer refers to 7mm Rifle Cartridges as “The Sweet Spot” in the above blog article. Mr. Spomer is a huge proponent of the caliber and has quite literally written THE book on 7mm Cartridges. (https://www.ronspomeroutdoors.com/store/p/7mm-cartridges-from-around-the-world)

When it comes to the 7mm caliber (and the 270 caliber for that matter) the camp is pretty equally divided. There are those who either really like it or really hate it. Interestingly, those who like the 7mms really hate the 270 and those that like the 270 really hate the 7mms. I find the whole quandary ironic as the 270 caliber (.277 inch) is the only true 7mm caliber, while that which is called 7mm (.284 inch) actually converts to 7.21mm, check it out for yourself.

Personally I never had experience shooting any 7mm until around 2007. Up to that point I had ample observational experience most of which was not favorable to the 7s. For example my dad built a 7mm Remington Magnum for a family member on a Remington 722 action. He hand carved the black walnut stock from a blank he cut himself in Northern California. Topped it with a Bushnell 3-9x scope and gifted it as an anniversary present. They lived in upstate New York and came to Wyoming to hunt Antelope and Mule deer every year from 1986 until late 1994. In those eight years I had never seen anything shot with that rifle drop in it’s tracks.

During that same period I observed numerous hunters shoot deer and elk with the same result, the animal running off after the shot and often times requiring a follow up shot to finish. Hunting with high school buddies using “7 Mags” it was the same story. Observing me fill tags with a 270 Winchester, 264 Winchester Magnum, or a 257 Weatherby Magnum they were amazed that the game would drop at the shot.

Now anyone with a lick of sense will know that the caliber had nothing to do with the observed results. The issue was shooting ability and marksmanship but still I possessed this observational hang up with the 7mm caliber. I continued to be reluctant to give any 7mm cartridge a reasonable consideration in my arsenal. That is until I discovered one particular 7mm cartridge that was world renown. Paul Mauser created this cartridge as one of the first smokeless powder, rimless cartridge designs. It’s creation and impact was felt around the world giving rise to the development of the 30-03 Government cartridge that morphed into the venerable 30-06 Springfield.

7 x 57 Mauser

Being a 257 Roberts devotee it was only natural to latch onto the parent cartridge. Reading the adventures of W. D. M. Bell in Africa and Jim Corbett in India only peaked my interest in this particular 7mm cartridge. I happened to run across a deal and purchased two pre-threaded, short chambered 98 Mauser barrels, one in 7 x 57 Mauser (21 inch) and the other in 7mm-08 Remington (24 inch). The 7mm Mauser was matched to a VZ-24 Mauser receiver while the 7-08 was match up to a 1908 Peruvian Mauser receiver.

The first loads developed for the 7mm Mauser was an Antelope load using a Nosler 120 gr Ballistic Tip and an Elk load using a 175 gr Remington PSP. Both loads are mild for the bullet weights but have been very effective.

The “first blooding” occurred after we shutdown work on location in southern Wyoming. Right off the location a group of antelope had been mulling around in the morning and returned later that afternoon. As we were fueling the equipment a yearling doe to within 100 yards. The 120 grain Nosler ballistic tip entered the chest and exited in front of the last rib on the right side, puncturing the diaphragm and jellying her lungs. She crumpled right where she stood.

A few days after the “first blooding” we were driving down an oilfield service road and topped over a knoll to see a group of does in the bottom of a shallow draw. I pulled off the road across the burrow ditch and took a rest over the corner of the hood. They were slowly making their way up the draw not boogered by our presence. I put the crosshairs right behind the shoulder of the second to last fawn, took up the first stage of the Mauser trigger and waited for the fawn to stop. When it stopped I hesitated just long enough for the last fawn to double up and then I squeezed the trigger.

The back fawn dropped in its’ tracks and the one in front leapt in the air, gave a kick and lit out running. After about thirty yards it crashed headlong into the dirt. The distance was about 160 yards and I never did recover the bullet. Upon further autopsy the first fawn was struck center of the chest behind the shoulder while the second fawn was hit a little farther forward but behind the shoulder. I would later chronograph that exact load at 2710 fps from that 21 inch barrel. Impact velocity was about 2350 fps. This is a very good and accurate load for antelope.

A few weeks later during elk season a friend and a buddy of his were out hunting desert elk in southern Wyoming. I get a call asking if I had any 338 Winchester Magnum ammo or a rifle loaded for elk. I replied, “I don’t have any 338 but I got an elk load you can try out.” Forty minutes later I was on site. They gave me the run down of what happened and said they had tracked him into a draw just off the point of the rim. So down we headed through the Junipers staying on the downwind side of the ridge.

His buddy had the tag and was pretty flustered having fired nearly a full box of 338s at this bull. Long story short, I got to see what that 175 grain Remington PSP would do to a mature elk. It wasn’t until later I learned this load is moving at 2247 fps.

7mm-08 Remington

What is said about the 7 x 57 Mauser can be said regarding the 7mm-08. The 7-08 is loaded to a higher SAAMI pressure than the 7mm Mauser therefore load data indicates it is superior to the Mauser. However those who know, understand the 7mm Mauser has a larger case capacity and loaded to “modern” pressures in “modern” firearms will easily dominate the 7mm-08.

Ultimately the difference between the two ballistically doesn’t amount to so much as a rain drop in the ocean. The real difference is action lengths. The 7 x 57 Mauser requires an intermediate length action and is most often found on a standard length action often with a magazine block installed. The 7mm-08 can run through a short action.

I ran 140 gr Hornady SPs and 150 gr Nosler Partitions through the 7-08. I wasn’t as extensive with it as I was the Mauser, meaning I never collected velocity data for these loads. The first couple loads were accurate and yielded good result so we shot a few head of game and called it good. For some reason the 7mm Mauser just resonated with me, I liked it better and still do.

A couple antelope and deer fell to the 140 gr SPs. All were bang flops less than 120 yds. I did shoot a cow elk using the 150 gr Partitions during late 3rd season in Colorado after we moved from Wyoming. The closing days of season usually end with a good size winter storm that gets the elk moving down from the mountains toward their winter grounds. That year was no exception.

There was a large herd mustered up in a swale on the eastside of the highway (the Bull only side). We spotted them and guesstimated where they’d bust across when they finally got the nerve. This herd probably numbered about 500 head and the first ones to motor across the highway was a bunch of about 50 or 60 head. After dodging the cars and hunters parked along the roadway, and the whizzing bullets a hand full trailed away and happened into the draw we had staged in on the westside of the highway (my cow tag side). They came right up the sagebrush draw and jumped the fence right in front of the truck at 80 yds. I stepped out of and around to the front of the pickup and dropped a good size yearling cow right in her tracks.

Like W. D. M. Bell discovered the 7mm Mauser has a punch that far exceeds its’ class. Needless to say it has earned a spot in my arsenal. The 7mm-08 Remington is a cartridge I enjoy as well, so much so that it has become my middle daughter’s hunting rifle.

Now that I have a little more than just “observational experience” with the 7mms I can definitely say they are my favorite surprise hunting cartridges. From jackrabbits to elk these medium 7s will getter done without a hitch. For a surprise show up at elk camp with a 7×57 Mauser and observe the looks, that alone is a great observational experience.